By: Shaul Wolf
For the average summer camp goer, the weeks spent in overnight camp are an enjoyable way to spend vacation. For a five-year-old Ukrainian boy still nursing the emotional wounds of losing both his parents, the three weeks spent at camp Yeka are his window into a second chance at life.
Abrasha Krichevskiy, of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, was only five years old when his life was torn apart, his tragic loss leaving him entirely on his own, with no financial means or family to care for him. “In school they notified us that there would be a Jewish camp,” recalls Abrasha, now in 8th grade and having recently celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. “I decided to try it out.”
For a boy like Abrasha, a summer in Yeka was truly a life-changing experience. “Camp gave me a big chance in life,” he says emotionally, as he describes his relationship with his first counsellor, Yossi. “At that time is wasn’t easy for me, and Yossi taught me everything he could. He taught me how to be a Jew.”
The Yeka experience breathed a ray of hope into the stormy life of this Ukrainian child. His summer counsellors found him a new home in the Dnepropetrovsk orphanage, and introduced him to a new family in the local Yeshiva. “He’s a really happy boy now,” says Shneur Chein, a longtime Yeka summer counsellor and manager of communications. “He is very proudly Jewish, and returns to Yeka every single summer.”
Camp Yeka began as a grassroots initiative – coordinated, directed, and entirely funded by dedicated American staff, who volunteer their time and energies to help create a brighter future for Ukrainian children.
Yeka organizers have recently teamed up with Shiurei Torah Lubavitch – a Dnepropetrovsk-based Chabad organization that runs programming for Jewish youth throughout Ukraine – which has given them the ability to reach a greater pool of Ukrainian children.
This year’s camp took place in beautiful new grounds on the Azov Sea, with a record number of 150 campers from across a broad socio-economic and religious spectrum. Yeka’s recently founded girls division was held in Zhitomir and drew in 100 girls from cities throughout Ukraine, and included a preschool bunk for campers ages 2-4. An astounding 8 brissim were performed over the summer, 16 girls were given Jewish names, and 1000’s of lines of Torah were learnt by heart. Due to popular demand, a new winter camp is now is in the planning stages.
“Our new partnership gives us the opportunity to help more children like Abrasha,” Chein said. “STL has contact with thousands of Jewish families throughout Ukraine, and with their reach we can bring the joy of a Yeka summer to so many more children.”
Although Yeka’s new partnership with STL gives them access to state-of-the-art facilities and helpful local knowhow, it is still the foreign American staff who remain the highlight of camp. “The American counsellors are crazy”, a boy says, smilingly, on a recently released video documentary. “They’re not like counsellors in other camps.”
Abrasha was given a magical experience with American staff members, when his first time counsellor Yossi – who had such a life-changing impact on him – returned to Yeka this past summer, seven years later and married, as head counsellor of the camp.
“I adore Yossi,” Abrasha says. “He was like a father to me. I really, really love him.”
Filmmaker Avraham Edery was so taken by his experiences in the previous year’s summer, that he accompanied Yeka pro-bono this year to produce a documentary film of their camp. “Camp Yeka 2016: Campers Reflect” allows viewers to experience the Yeka journey first hand, with its breathtaking cinematography and resonating message. The film focuses especially on Abrasha’s unique connection with his counsellor — a relationship that has drastically redefined the outlook of this child’s life.
To follow Yeka’s journey, like and follow us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/CampYeka
Yisroel Eichenblatt put it together this year, ran it, and recruited the kids to come. He worked hard! Yasher koach!
Kol Hakavod! keep up the great work
Such shlichos! And fun at the same time!
You are an extremely talented video producer
that really gave me chills down my spine! that is really something special!
well done Avraham Edery, your captured the essence of Yeka!
Sassoooooonnnnn boys kol hakavod
I have never been a staff member of camp yeka, but I’m close with alot of the staff members and I see the work they put into the camp before, during, and after the summer. These Bochurim selflessly fundraise and toil to give these kids an unbelievable summer
In a few months when they start preparing for summer 5777, just open your hearts and wallets and donate generously.
– a major admirer of camp yeka
Great article, Yekatrinoslav does it again! From Mendy Pellin to Moishe Hecht, Yeka attracts the most amazing staff each summer and each year they up their “game” a bit more.
Kudos to Minka and Yoske, you guys rock! Can’t believe you guys did EIGHT brissim, that’s awesome!
Keep up the great work!
Amazing amazing amazing
Shneur, ike, peysman, you guys are heroes
Efi dog, you too
Shneur we are very proud of you!