With funding from the Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation, the Olena Zelenska Foundation and the Voices Camp project have been able to provide over 220 children in Ukraine with a safe space, emotional support, and a chance to begin healing from the traumas of war. The camp is a powerful example of how civil society can foster resilience, recovery, and hope – even in the most challenging times.
The Voices Camp is a camp created to ensure the psychoemotional recovery of children affected by the full-scale war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine. Two hundred twenty-four children participated in the camp this summer.
Children who come to the Voices Camp have various but painful war-related experiences—the loss of loved ones, living under occupation, or forced relocation. This leaves deep marks and affects their sense of security and trust in the world.
While staying at the camp, they relax and, in addition, undergo essential internal changes. Based on psychologists’ observations and the results of surveys of children who participated this summer:
Moreover, children restore trust, find new friends, and re-open up to others. They were trying their hand at sports, creativity, and team tasks, and gradually regained their self-confidence.
Among those who participated in the camp this summer was 14-year-old Yaroslav. He was staying for three years under occupation together with his grandmother, and after her death, he remained there alone and separated from his family. At the camp, the guy could share his story for the first time in a long time and found friends.
Yaroslav’s story is just one of many. For every child, the camp becomes a space where, in addition to a sense of care, professional support is ensured that helps them recover from their past experiences.
The Voices of Children Charitable Foundation organized the Voices Camp with the support and cooperation of the Olena Zelenska Foundation. In the summer of 2025, the Foundation’s partner, the Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation, fully funded this project.
We and our partners help children recover, gain strength, and confidence in their abilities.
Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine and founder of the Olena Zelenska Foundation, describes the initiative as follows:
– Loss, forced maturity, constant stress – unfortunately, all of this has become part of childhood for many Ukrainian children. That is why psychosocial support is one of the core areas the Foundation is developing. Voices Camp is not just a place for rest. It is a safe space where a child is heard, accepted, and supported in coping with their experience of war. We see such initiatives as an investment in future generations and in the future of our country.
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With funding from the Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation, the Olena
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