On July 17, Hope Land officially welcomed its first group of children.
For the next 10 days, they will play outdoors, create, learn, build friendships, and experience something every child deserves: the freedom to simply enjoy being a child.
Hope Land is Hope for Ukraine’s summer camp for children whose lives have been shaped by war. Throughout the summer, the camp will welcome four groups in total, with each group participating in a 10-day session.
Ten Days to Play, Connect, and Feel Supported
The children arrive carrying experiences that no young person should have to understand.
War has disrupted their schools, separated families, changed their communities, and filled ordinary days with uncertainty. At Hope Land, the focus shifts away from what has been taken from them and toward what childhood can still hold.
Games. Creativity. Movement. Friendship. Laughter.
Across each 10-day session, children have opportunities to spend time outside, participate in group activities, express themselves, and create memories with other children who understand what they have been through.
These moments may appear simple, but they matter.
A shared game can help a child feel included. A creative activity can provide a way to express difficult emotions. A new friendship can remind a child that they are not alone.
Four Groups, Forty Days of Hope
Hope Land will host four groups of children throughout the summer.
Each group will spend 10 days at camp, giving more children the opportunity to step away from the daily pressure of war and enter a safe, encouraging environment created for them.
For 40 days in total, Hope Land will be filled with children learning, playing, laughing, and reconnecting with the parts of childhood that war has tried to take away.
The first group’s arrival on July 17 marks the beginning of that journey.
Childhood Cannot Wait for the War to End
Ukraine’s children have already spent years living through instability and loss.
They should not have to wait for peace before they are given opportunities to experience happiness, belonging, and friendship.
Hope Land cannot erase everything these children have endured. But for 10 days, it can give them space to breathe, explore, laugh, and feel like children again.
And when one group returns home, Hope Land will prepare to welcome the next.