Each camp will last one week, Monday through Friday, and will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Each experience will be attended by a group of about 15 people, as homogeneous in age as possible, so that the activities of each camp will best suit their needs. In this way, it will be possible to offer a time of recreation and human growth to all the Ukrainian minors taken in by the city's Salesian work, who are in effect a little more than 40, and who have gone to swell the group of young people followed by the Salesians in České Budějovice, previously composed mainly of children from Roma families.
In České Budějovice, Ukrainian children were divided into two groups, according to age. They were offered, already for months now, preschool "classes" for the younger ones and informal classes for the older ones. Hobbies, clubs, and recreational programs have also always been available to them, while a Czech language course has been arranged for the children's mothers, aimed at ensuring their greater independence and possibilities for job placement in the Country.
"What everyone appreciates most is the sense of freedom, the feeling of being respected and welcomed, of being loved and cared for. They are happy to meet someone here who speaks Ukrainian and Russian," testifies a Salesian from the community. "Ukrainian refugees want to talk about the war, they are looking for people who will listen to their experiences and understand them. They want to remember and talk about their home, their family."
In České Budějovice there are people from Bucha and Mariupol, two cities that were the scene of terrible clashes and massacres. Some vividly recall constantly searching for shelters and fleeing from them as they were considered at risk. Some told of the time when one of the shelters was hit and 30 people died at once. Despite everything, sharing memories - even happy ones from before the war - helps them reduce stress, relax and be more normal.
For these people, the scariest thing, in a way, is the silence, the fact that they no longer hear the air raid sirens. They were so used to hearing them sounding several times a day that they become anxious and nervous about not hearing them because of the ingrained fear of terrible expectations. It takes weeks to get used to the silence.
Among the refugees, most want to return home: to reunite families with fathers and husbands who remained in Ukraine, to live at home again, to be with people they have known since childhood.
Many left convinced that they would only be gone for a few weeks and did not even worry much about taking many things with them. "We'll be back soon. We only took the bare minimum," they say today.
But the certainty of returning is no longer a given for many others: "Now we’re wondering… The children already speak Czech quite well. We’re learning it, too. Most of the children go to school. They’re making new friends, we have already booked places for next school year, we are getting health care..."
Again, they wonder, "Back home everything is being destroyed. Everything will have to be rebuilt. Who will help us do that? We are receiving weapons now, but will they also help us rebuild an entire country? Once the war is over, who will remember us or think about our needs?"
