July 14–20, 2026, at the Bethany Charity Foundation in the village of Polyana, the Carpathian region, our mission employees, Arkady Slyoza and Ruslana Kovalchuk, with a team of volunteers, with the assistance of the Mennonite Center Charity Foundation, Hilfe für Menschen und Kirche, and ABEJ Tours, held a camp for orphans and children from families that are in difficult life circumstances.
For Bible lessons, they chose the “One Way” course, developed by the “Children’s Evangelism Society,” which allowed the mentors to share the Gospel understandably, enabled children to write down their thoughts and spiritual takeaways, and encouraged them to complete creative tasks.
In total, 46 participants were in the camp, including 37 children aged 10–14, 8 team leaders (young Christians from evangelical churches in the Rivne region), and a driver. The orphans from the Social Center for Minors in Rivne, from two foster families from the Goshchansk territorial community, and from a Special School for children with Visual Impairments in the village of Klevan were the first to be invited to the camp. There were children whose parents are currently fighting in the war, children from the families of fallen heroes and missing in action, children from families of internally displaced persons, and from single-parent families.
Approximately 70% of the participants were in a Christian camp for the first time. Some children had never traveled so far from home without their parents before. One boy and one girl initially missed their mothers very much, but with God’s help and thanks to communication with mentors, they successfully overcame the week of separation.
From the first day, everyone had to get used to discipline and a routine. 8:00 a.m. — general wake-up call, 8:15 a.m. — exercise. Every morning and evening, there was a corporate spiritual activity: worshiping God with singing, listening to the Word of God, and praying together. Every day they had Bible lessons and learned key verses from the Bible. The main verse of the camp: “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Each day had its own topic, title, and its own biblical hero. Every day at the morning meetings, one of the mentors shared his testimony about how God found him in this world. From 11:00 to 12:00, a general Bible lesson was held. After lunch, there were educational excursions to the picturesque Schönborn Castle, to the healing thermal waters in Beregovo and Mukachevo, and to the beautiful Kosino water park. Every day, the teams prepared and performed creative tasks, played sports, and played various camp games.
Children’s reviews:
“I really enjoyed the Bible lessons, especially the story about Naaman, who didn’t really want to listen to what they told him about his healing. I also sometimes don’t obey my parents who tell me what I should do. In the camp, I went down the different slides in the water park many times. It was the first time I went to camp without my older brother; it was cool” (David, 12 years old).
“Every time I go to camp, I admire the nature that the Lord created on my way there. I enjoyed playing different games, especially the quest, where our team won third place, and we received a lot of candy, which we shared among ourselves. As for Bible lessons, I liked the lesson about Rahab, who saved the Israelite spies. This lesson reminded me of our current life” (Nazar, 12 years old)
