The first session of the Olameinu summer camp for kids at the Dubingiai-Litorina recreational area in Dubingiai, Lithuania, took place from June 30 to July 9, under the direction of camp director Dorin Rosenkov and a creative and active team.

One-hundred and seventy children from the Jewish communities of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia aged 7 to 13 gathered for the summer camp. There were 11 groups of children under the supervision of madrichs, or camp counselors and teachers, from the three Baltic states. The camp lasted for 10 days. The coordinators were Simona Psonikaitė, Yuliana Kravets and Veda Kucko. The camp counselors organized the entire program for the kids.

Every day brought something new, including activities with counselors emphasizing Jewish identity through different games. The entire camp visited the lake and learned Jewish songs with Uri Zer, a singer from Israel. Jonah Adams from America taught the children Jewish dances. Chagita Rus gave art lessons, Dan Bauman and Pavel Gulyakov conducted athletics and sports, Rabbi Isroel Eizensharf taught the children about Jewish history and culture and Edgar Fukson taught them about video animation. Complementing the full daily program were events for all the groups at camp to participate together, including puzzles, lotteries, contests, games of logic and knowledge, and an evening program of events for the children which they themselves often came up with together with the coordinators from Latvia, Evgenija Iljina and Konstantin Davidenko.

The campers encountered two special events this year: an amusement park program with large balls on water and trampolines, and a police patrol who came with their own demonstration.

 The culmination at camp was the Havdala ceremony to mark the end of Sabbath on the shore of Lake Asveja. Everyone linked arms in a circle around torches and listened to a nice story about family values. A bonfire was lit after the ceremony and the kids tried campfire treats including baked banana with chocolate.

 The rain during the first day of camp failed to dampen the campers’ enthusiasm, and, as always, the saddest part was parting and going our separate ways. We bid one another farewell, saying we would again next year on our summer Olameinu holiday.

 The children and their parents thank the Jewish Distribution Committee and the wonderful team of camp organizers for making this possible!

 The photographer Garik Šapiro has compiled a photo album of this year’s summer camp.

Šokiai pokiai nuteikia gerai