The first, junior session of the traditional international inter-ethnic children’s camp “Roots of Tolerance” began work on July 16, in the Chinadiyevo village of Zakarpatska Oblast. This unique project has been held by the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine (CNCU, Executive Vice President - Euro-Asian Jewish Congress General Council Chairman Josef Zisels, Executive Director - Anna Lenchovskaya) with the support of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) for twelve years now. In recent years, the Roots of Tolerance program has also been implemented in other FSU countries.

The EAJC has been the initiator and main sponsor of the camp from the first years of its inception.

87 children age 7-13 from 12 national communities of Ukraine (Bulgarian, Armenia, Gagauz, Jewish, Crimean Tatar, Polish, German, Romani, Russian, Tatar, and Ukrainian) came to Zakarpatye to participate in the junior session of the Roots of Tolerance - 2013 summer camp.

The aim of the “Roots of Tolerance” project is to foster inter-ethnic and interfaith tolerance, to counteract xenophobia, to form an active civil position among members of national communities, and to disseminate information about the national and religious diversity of Ukraine and other countries.

The concept of the camp is for the children to live each day at the camp as if they were members of a certain ethnicity. This allows for an empathy to form between members of all ethnic communities, including the ethnic majority, with ethnic minorities. This unique method of forging a connection with the culture of every ethnicity creates a lifetime -long tolerant attitude towards other cultures.

The method of psychological immersion is a unique teaching aid created by CNCU psychologists and educators. All of the workers of the camp have received special training.

A special seminar for the counselors and all other camp workers also took place directly before the beginning of the Chinadiyevo session.

The Roots of Tolerance - 2013 camp is taking place in the “Vodograi” tourist complex with the support of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, EAJC Vice President Mark Shabad, the Renaissance Foundation, OOO Infopulse-Ukraine, the embassies of Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany in Ukraine, the Xena Charity Foundation, the Espero Community Foundation, the International Organization for Migration, “Autoalliance-Invest,” as well as the parents who made charity contributions.

Reference information: the international children’s camp Roots of Tolerance has been active somce 2002. The camp is held in the summer for 12 to 21 days, depending on available funding.

The summer camp is held at different places each year so that the method for working with children who are representatives of different national communities is tested and implemented all over Ukraine, as well as to widen the geographical reach of the project and to acquaint the participants of the camp with the different regions of Ukraine.

To participate in the camp, the children must take part in a competition. They must also be active members of their respective national communities, speak their language and be part of their culture.

As of 2006, the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine has been holding two camp sessions per year.

Since 2011, an annual Roots of Tolerance camp has been held in Moldova.

In 2012, a Georgian version of the project was implemented; this version also won a competition among projects that foster tolerance in children and youths.

Since 2002, approximately 4000 children from 25 national communities of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan have participated in the project. As of 2008, children from refugee families that came to Ukraine from Angola, Afghanistan, Iran, Congo, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan have also participated in the project.

Approximately 250 counselors from Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Poland have been taught the unique “Roots of Tolerance” method of organizing and holding an international children’s summer camp.

Photo below: a moment in the busy work of the preparatory seminar for camp counselors. (photo by tolerspace.org.ua)