In 2006 UCARE organized a summer camp for orphans in Crimea, near the shore of the Black Sea.  The camp was held at the Dom Materi Mariyi (The House of Mother Mary), a lovely ecumenical facility on the side of a mountain in Nikita. During the session I attended, we had children from two internaty, one group from the north (Chernihiv oblast) and the other form the west (Zakarpattya oblast).  They spent much of their time swimming in the sea or on excursions to the sites of Crimea: Chersonesus, the botanical gardens, Yalta, Bakhchysarai. 

Much of the rest of the time was taken up by soccer and arts and crafts.  They drew, painted, wove friendship bracelets, learned beading, and wrote pysanky.  None had ever made a pysanka before, but they learned quickly, using both stylus and drop-pull techniques to create beautiful pysanky.  Because white eggs were abundant in Nikita, the eggs were quite colorful.

The children were supposed to sign their pysanky, but didn’t always follow instructions. Still, they created some gorgeous pysanky!

(Be sure to view both pages!)