On July 21, the international inter-ethnic summer camp Roots of Tolerance finished its work in Moldova.

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 camp session.
The project was organized by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC), the Kedem Jewish Cultural Center (ECC), and the ECC Kedem Tolerance Club. The project was also supported by the Embassy of the United States of America, EAJC Vice President Mark Shabad, the Embassy of the Netherlands, the Embassy of the Russian Federation, the Embassy of Poland, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the Gok-Oguz restaurant.

Children and teenagers age 11 to 17 from the Armenian, Bulgarian, Gagaus, Georgian, Jewish, Moldovan, Polish, Roma, Russian, and Ukrainian communities all participated in the camp. The Moldovan organizator team also had Ukrainian and Georgian members. The summer camp took place in the Dacia-Marin resort at Vadul-lui-Voda, near Chisinau. This is the third Roots of Tolerance camp that had been held in Moldova.