Children from eight schools in Donbas will study English at GoCamps

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All-Ukrainian language camps project will engage children from East Ukraine to distract them from conflict and expose them to a new language environment.

Kyiv, July 7, 2016. This year the organizers have selected 126 out of 560 schools that applied from all the regions of Ukraine, notes Lyubov Zalyubosvka, GoCamps project coordinator. The main selection criterion was motivation for the project. 80 per cent of schools are based in cities or villages, where access to a foreign language environment is limited. “We paid extra attention to children from Luhansk and Donetsk regions. We saw a strong interest towards our project, thus decided to organize a special travelling GoCamp for children from eight schools: from Sievierodonetsk, Kostiantynivka, Mariupol, Popasna, Kreminna, Novopskovka and Dimitrov. On July 4 the first camp opened its doors to 150 children in Volodarka. “We all live in a very closed society. And this is the direction to change. Language camps like this destroy the previously created stereotypes in the children’s psyche and world outlook,” shared Goergiy Tuka, Deputy Minister on the issues of the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons of Ukraine.

“Half a million children from the East Ukraine have suffered from the armed conflict. Children are the most vulnerable category. Many of them have very “adult” stories. We are trying to engage them into new communities. This language camp is a unique opportunity to get a piece of warm summer and quality education,” claimed Nina Sorokopud, Adviser on community information at the UN Refugee Agency, UNCHR.