ACN-supported summer camps help over 30,000 young people

Camps take place in 11 different countries, with a particular focus on regions marked by war, displacement, and instability.

After some 15 years of instability, civil war, and episodic persecution, Syria is a place where a “normal life” is no longer possible for many children. And that’s why summer camp can be a game-changer.

Claude Semaan, coordinator of Faith and Light in Syria, an international movement fostering spiritual growth among people with disabilities, explains that for many kids, camps are an important oasis of tranquility.

“It is the kind of life that we are no longer able to live in our homes,” she told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). “We are losing what a normal life should be, but at the camp, we are able to live it with complete freedom, with joy, and even through our pain, which we share together.”

Camp, she said, “gives us tremendous energy for the year ahead. It is a space of hope, a space of real life.”

Around the world, especially in places deeply affected by war, displacement, and instability, ACN supports local Church’s organization of summer camps for youth. This year, the pontifical foundation is supporting 407 such camps, through 46 projects in 11 countries, reaching 33,631 children and young people.

Syria, Lebanon, and Ukraine alone account for more than 85% of all participants in summer camps supported by ACN.

Many of the camps are specifically aimed at children with disabilities and refugees.

They are much more than recreational activities: they offer protection, pastoral care, healing, and hope for children and young people who have grown up in contexts of conflict, poverty, or exile.

ACN’s support is not merely limited to camps. Other pastoral activities with children in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Togo, and Venezuela have benefited a further 5,230 participants across nine initiatives, meaning that overall, ACN’s support has reached 38,861 children and young people through 416 camps and pastoral activities worldwide.

Fr. Fadi Azar, a priest in Syria, where 17,855 youngsters participate in 230 camps, said that ACN’s support of enables children to take part in “gatherings of prayer, meditation, and joy.”

“They are able to eat well and travel to the mountain location where we hold our camp,” Fr. Azar said. “The families look forward to this; they look forward to it every year with great joy.”

– Maria Lozano and Filipe d’Avillez