On July 22 – August 4, the Educational and Recreational Summer Camp “Kindness” took place at Pigeon Lake, Alberta. The camp was devoted to the 70th Anniversary of CYM in Canada.
For two weeks, CYM-ivtsi learned interesting things about Ukraine, played games, made crafts, sang songs near the campfire, swam in the pool, enjoyed canoeing, and much more. During the first week of camp, our CYM-ivtsi prepared for the CYM Canada’s anniversary concert.
During the middle weekend, more than 250 CYM members, parents and guests joined the celebrations. The event began with a tasty BBQ and a carnival with bouncy castles which were really enjoyed by the youngest youth. The BBQ was followed by the Flag Raising Ceremony and a youth concert. The guests in attendance were very impressed by the performance of the young bandura players, the wonderful dancing and singing. The guests of the concert were brought to tears by the song “Don’t Laugh at Me” performed by all the CYM-ivtsi.
The singing continued on at the holiday camp fire near the lake, and was followed by the zabava. All participants were excited by the beautiful fireworks that concluded the event. The next day, a Divine Liturgy was held. We were honoured and grateful that the Consul General of Ukraine, Nadiya Kostenko, shared this celebration with us.
Some highlights of the second week were an UPA camp for the older youth and a “camp wedding” for the younger youth! The wedding was organized and reenacted by the molodshi CYM-ivtsi, thus the kids learned about popular Ukrainian wedding traditions.
All the camp participants from cymenyata to starshe yunatstvo leave camp with new friends, new knowledge and experiences and also with much anticipation of the following summer’s camp and what new adventures await them!
Hartuis’!
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