Children's leisure and recreation area
Published: Jul 13, 2023 Reading time: 2 minutes
The village of Severynivka, Vinnytsia Oblast, has a unique summer recreation area: The “RESTART” campsite. This recreation area has a playground, climbing area, stage, and access to the river for canoeing and kayaking. The Podil Regional Development Agency welcomes mothers with children who have been displaced by the war to make use of the RESTART site. Last year, over 150 people gained respite in the camp during 5 visits; this summer, RESTART plans to welcome more than 300.
To create a beneficial recreational experience, the camp staff carefully consider the children's age, health and specific needs. This time, the programme includes physical activities, interactive and creative classes, individual and group meetings with psychologists, and socialisation classes for the youngest children. The highlights of the list of activities include cycling and hiking in Severynivskyi Park, as well as family rafting on the Riv River.
"We try to organise the programme in such a way that people not only have a physical rest but also get filled up spiritually. It is important for us that people who come here to relax return to normal life with new goals and aspirations. We cannot influence the war, but we can influence what is around us and make the world a better place," says Anastasia Tkachenko, a Podil Regional Development Agency employee.
This year, our team at People in Need is supporting RESTART. At the beginning of the season, we donated equipment for sports games, tents, hammocks, a children's obstacle course, a freezer, and a microwave to the recreation space. Our experts also helped set up a stage with high-quality lighting, powerful speakers, a projector, and other performance equipment. Every evening, all the guests of the town showcase their talents on this stage.
Olha Tkachenko brought her fourteen-year-old daughter (Lidiya) and her two sons (Yaroslav and Bohdan) for a vacation. In 2022, they lost their father and were forced to evacuate from Melitopol to Zaporizhzhia. Stress and sudden forced changes affected the whole family. During this period, Lidiya withdrew into herself and practically stopped communicating with others. During the outdoor recreation—thanks to work with psychologists—she took to the stage, began to perform and participate in theatrical productions. Olha did not expect to see such positive changes.
"When my husband died, it was hard for all of us. I was unemployed, the children were in a new school in Zaporizhzhia, and we lived in someone else's house. My children stopped smiling—here they learned to enjoy life again," says Olha.
This summer, in Vinnytsia Oblast, we supported 8 more child-friendly spaces—in addition to the children's leisure area in Severynivka—that we had previously opened by providing them with equipment for children's recreation.
