LLUCH Foundation sponsors volunteers at Croatian camp for war-traumatized children
 Dino makes his sand tray during activity time. He also drew a picture showing the land mines in the ground near his home. He couldn't play outside because of the land mines. |
The Badija Islands camp has been held each summer since 1993 in Croatia. The camp lasts two weeks and provides a safe haven for more than one hundred children who have known only fear for much of their lives. They come from Bosnia, Kosovo, and other parts of the Balkans to regain their childhood and to find a common ground by interacting with other children who they previously viewed as enemies.
These children, whose lives have been ravaged by war, came together from orphanages, refugee camps, and war-torn homes to spend two weeks just being kids at a camp sponsored by Global Children's Organization (GCO).
"To see how resilient these kids are and to see how quickly they could trust us and feel safe was amazing," says Lori Holm, coordinator of the Safe Kids Coalition at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, who volunteered at the camp in July.
Ms. Holm and Michelle Minyard, trauma intervention specialist for trauma services, spent two weeks as counselors at the camp, thanks to the sponsorship of the LLUCH Foundation and its director, Reiner Roeske.
Days at camp were geared to building relationships and giving the children happy memories. Nearly every experience was new--regular meals, building a sense of community through songs and games, and especially swimming in the Adriatic Sea twice a day. Camp staff also encouraged the children to write in journals each day.
One of the volunteers' initial challenges was peacefully mixing children of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
For the first several days of camp, the children called each other terrible names and made racial remarks, Ms. Minyard recalls. But within a few days they became friends and the name-calling stopped.