On August 5, 2015, the “Sources of Tolerance - Ukraine -2015” ended its session in the Boyany village of the Chernivtsi oblast’ of Ukraine. The camp opened on July 8. This year it had two sessions that were divided by age group: for children 8-12 years of age and for teenagers 13-17.

The participants of the camp hail from Ukraine’s many etnic communities. including the Bulgarian, Armenian, Greek, Jewish, Crimean Tatar, Lithuanian, Polish, German, Romani, Russian and Tatar minority communities, as well as from the titular Ukrainian nation. The camp’s unique teaching method allows the participants to submerge themselves into a new ethnic culture each day. The aim of the “Roots of Tolerance” project is to foster inter-ethnic and interfaith tolerance, to counteract xenophobia, to form an active civil position among members of national communities, and to disseminate information about the national and religious diversity of Ukraine and other countries. The camp’s counsellors are enthusiasts, volunteers, and experts who represent Ukraine’s ethnic communities and have undertaken special training in seminars and programs created by the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine (CNCU) and the TolerSpace educational center.

This year the camp also hosted children from internally displaced families, which originally come from the Ukrainian anti-terrorist operation zone and from occupied Ukrainian regions.

The “Sources of Tolerance” project is organize by the TolerSpace educational center, which is based in Kyiv. This year the Ukrainian summer camp was supported by the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine (CNCU) and the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC), the Association of Jewish Communities and Organizations (VAAD Ukraine), the International Renaissance Foundation, OOO Infopulse-Ukraine, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine, the Embassy of Germany in Ukraine, the Ksena Charity Foundation, the Chernivtsi Museum of History and Culture, EAJC Vice President Mark Shabad, and the parents’ contributions.