Cultural - in Poland - Doing Weekly Bible Clubs/Day Camp for Ukrainian Kids

In July a few of the people from our church organized a weekly (Saturdays) Bible Club/Day camp for kids from Ukraine which was held in our church.

They had a Bible lesson, memory verse, some songs, games, and a craft. Each thing was organized by a different person - all Ukrainians. I thought it was pretty neat. I was there every week in case Polish kids showed up and they needed help with translation or general help with snacks (which I failed to mention before).

Anyway….here are some photos from it. The month long effort is over now. I cannot lay claim to the wonderful experience - but that is part of the beauty of it - it was run by the local Ukrainians (and a single lady missionary to Ukraine - American). But it did take quite a bit of my time each Saturday. It really took most of the day - at least the best part of the day for me. :)

Here are some photos. We did have an average of about 25-30 kids each Saturday. Some of the kids were the children of the moms we helped last year - the refugees in the refugee center in Otwock.

They received prizes for attendance - a really special one if they came all 5 times - and then all the way down to a piece of candy for attending once.

Here are some photos from the games and other outside activities and talking.


And each week they did crafts. I thought they were great! I failed to get a photo of the last week which was making a bracelet with the Wordless Book bead colors (Black, red, white, green, gold). I’m sorry. I was doing something else and almost completely missed the kids doing the craft as it was pretty quick and easy. Plus, they were doing it outside, so I had to get out there and get the photos.

So the five weeks - they made bookmarks (paper crafting), a frame for their Bible verse, made candles from beeswax rolls, made simple terrariums and then the beaded bracelets. It was a great variety!

So what exactly did “I” do?

Well, besides being there in case Polish kids came (they did not), I did help pass out some drinks at the end of the time, took a lot of photos which I was able to share with those doing it, cleaned up some, and helped find some of the supplies as needed.

I did act as a go-fer when needed.

I didn’t actually feel like I did much. (And let me tell you - that was a pretty wonderful feeling - because in other years when we’ve done this kind of thing it was all up to my husband, Mike and me.)

But I enjoyed the creativity of the Ukrainians who were running it - and was especially impressed by the crafts. I had no idea that Vika, the lady in charge of it was so creative! She is a mom to three kids - and did a great job. Well, they all did a good job and there were quite a few people helping out - so that was a wonderful thing.

These are all refugee children - all Ukrainians. All are living a life “on hold” while they live in Poland while their moms hope that the war in Ukraine will soon be over and they can return home.

And that’s ONE of the things I’ve been doing lately. I know it’s not related to quilting, but it’s related to my life.

Thanks so much for coming along with me on this journey.

Have a great day wherever you are reading!

Becky Petersen4 Comments