Dear YMCA Friends,

Welcome to Camp HarmonY 4.0 !

Camp HarmonY is organised by YMCA Romania in partnership with YMCA Ukraine and YMCA Moldova and is co-funded by YMCA Europe as a “YMCA Camp Europe Initiative”  (for international participants – Ukraine and Moldova)  and other donors. This year’s camp benefits  from the great support and participation of Ms Peggy Aylmer- Senior Program Director – Day Camps and Retreats at Camp Copneconic, Michigan, USA.

Since this is an international camp bringing 3 countries together we decided in 2022 to brand this camp as “HarmonY”. We chose this name because it’s an important word for us and symbolises peacefulness and agreement with each other. “Har” in Greek and in Romanian means – God given gift.

The moment we will all meet for the camp is approaching and we would like to share some general information. YMCA Romania develops programs in terms of standards, regarding planification, implementation and evaluation of summer camps, following best practices used on global levels (specifically YMCA USA Camps – part of American Camp Associations Standards), the YMCA having over 125 years of experience in creating and structuring camp programs for children and teens

The camp will take place between the 17th of August 2025  (arrival day – afternoon) and the 22nd of August 2025 (departure day) in Glod village, Maramures county, Romania.

We plan to have:

  • YMCA Ukraine – 15 persons, out of which at least 12 young people with age between 12-17 (including internally displaced people affected by war); the other maximum 3 will be leaders;
  • YMCA Moldova –out of which at least 5 young people with age between 12-17 ; the other maximum 2 will be leaders
  • YMCA Romania – 30 persons, out of which 24 young people ages between 14-17 (Ukrainian refugees, Romanian young people); the other maximum 6 will be leaders.

So, we want to have

  • Campers: 41 young people (ages 12-17)
  • Leaders: 11 persons (age 18+); at least 90% being young people with age between 20-35 years old.
  • Ukrainian campers: min 23 (12 from Ukraine, 11 Ukrainian refugees from Romania)
  • Ukrainian direct beneficiaries (campers, leaders, IDPs, refugees) –min 26

Age groups: 12-15; 16-17 – for campers

Agreed official language of the camp – English , with translation in Ukrainian and Romanian (if needed).

YMCA “Vision 2030”

Our shared vision is to build a just, sustainable and equitable world where every child, youth, adult, senior can thrive – body, mind and spirit.

Thus, through the camp program we aim to:

  • Provide safe spaces for mind, body and spirit by creating programs that harmoniously support the development of youth and communities in terms of their physical, spiritual and mental health
  • Support the empowerment of young people in terms of interaction with the environment by integrating components of climate education
  • Empower young people to become peacemakers by educating them in the spirit of promoting and supporting diversity, equity, inclusion, human dignity.

From planning, signed partnership, preparation, implementation , evaluation and reporting we will be guided by the RAFT ethical framework – suggests that implicit ethical messages affect 4 dimensions of human relationship – respect (does the way we do our work, the way we interact with other people communicate respect?);accountability (do people see that we take responsibility for how we do our work and how we engage with other people? Do people see that we are accountable for what we do and the effects of our activities?); fairness (does the way we do our work and engage with people display fairness? ; transparency (does the way we do things and how we engage with other people send the message that we are willing to establish transparency?), as fundamental for our way to create, empower, enable our collective work and journey.

Standard daily program

8:00-9:00 – Breakfast, cleaning

9:10 -13:00 – Learning Camp Activities ( with breaks)

13:00-15:00 – Lunch and Siesta

15:00-19:00 – Interactive Fun Camp Games ( with breaks)

19:00-20:00 – Dinner & Lowering the Flag

20:00- 21:30 – Camp Evening program

21:30-22:00 – Tap Talks & Bedtime – Lights out

Logistics information:

 The Camp is at Pensiunea În Poiana https://www.turistinfo.ro/glod/cazare-glod/pensiunea_in_poiana-c64068.html#pic, the sleeping arrangements being 4 persons in the same room, same gender, same group age, same country (if possible). The beds are matrimonial ones, and the rooms are arranged in a way that every 2 people-bed set up have privacy – in the same room but separate square and in the middle there is one bathroom.

  • 3 meals per day
  • Travelling is covered by the participants or partner organisation (Co-funding) , as follows:
  • for YMCA Moldova – travelling by car from Chisinau to Pensiunea In  Poiana and back – co- funding
  • for YMCA Ukraine – The travelling inside Ukraine from the home cities of participants/leaders till Solotvino/Sighetu Marmatiei border – co-funding

Note*: From Solotvino/Sighet border  there will be transport provided by YMCA Romania by Minibuses on our expenses -co-funding

  • for YMCA Romania – travelling from home city to Camp location and back – co-funding (the campers are arranging their own transport till the accomodation)
  • Arrival at camp location : 17th august 2025 – 4 PM
  • Departure from camp location: 22nd august 2025 – 10/11 AM

For more details related with Camp HarmonY 4.0 –Infoletter HarmonY 4.0

Registration Form for campers: https://forms.gle/VMsPMdLksGiZYk6CA

Registration Form for Leaders: https://forms.gle/jJXdxXMZDghCrmEG8

Please register all the details in the Camp registration form for yourself and your group till 1st of August 2025.

Looking forward to meeting you all in Romania on 17th of August 2025!

With love, peace and cooperation,

 YMCA Romania Team