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Children's christian camp in the village of
Rodnikova Guta in the transcarpathian region
The camp is situated in a marvellous nook of the Transcarpathian lands in the village of Rodnikova Guta, Svalyavsky Region. The name of the village comes from the local name for a glass-blowing plant ("guta") that had been operating near the neighbouring village of Rodnykivka as far back as the time before the First World War. You will find there extraordinarily clear air, the mountain river of Pynya flowing across the village and amiable people with their unique Guta patois (the members of the local evangelic church make up one third of the village population ). The camp lodging is a wooden building of the former school erected in the mid thirties during the rule of Check Republic. And mountains, oh, those gorgeous mountains!
The camp can house about thirty children at a time. The usual visit lasts two weeks. The age of the children oscillates between 10 and 16 years. The organization of the summer camp is carefully prepared. The leaders and assistants are the young members of the church who first of all have already been there (the leaders as assistants and the assistants at least as campers), secondly, they are skilled in working with children, and above all are capable of conveying the Good News to their charges. The camp is Christian, hence they pay considerable attention to the Bible classes that are usually adored by the kids. Besides, the children take part in the services of the local church.
Some sisters, mainly from the Kievo-Svyatoshynska church, work as cookers, so the children enjoy four meals a day. The members of the local church with their pastor Ivan Yosypovych at the head show fraternal concern for the camp.
From the beginning the children are divided into several teams to contest the title of the best one. Many sport games and competitions are held in the camp, e. g. football matches with the native youth. The camp program often includes a bus excursion to Uzhgorod. The children especially enjoy "Angel Days", contests in reciting verses from the Bible, humor concerts, the day of self-made things, the farewell dinner as well as celebrating birthdays and watching the sunrise on the last day.
The children don't give themselves up just to amusement, they also do what they can to help to run the camp: they keep order in the living quarters, clean the camp territory, go shopping together with the elders, bring water. Since every kind of job is rewarded with points the children take it as a game and fulfill their duties willingly. It happened once that one of the teams hid all the buckets under the beds for the night to win more points the next day.
The fortnight is going by very quickly, and although all the children miss their home, when asked whether they liked the camp and want to come again, the unanimous answer is "Ye-e-e-es!!!"
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