It has become a good tradition to organize children’s camp in the Jewish Community Center during spring vacation. It is always interesting in the camp - lot’s of singing, dancing, drawing, going to the cinema, roller skating, visiting the zoo, etc. But this time the camp activities were different from before.

The Pesach is coming. Every year we tell our children about the history of this holiday and traditions related to it. This year, we wanted to do it in a new way, make it fun and play. We decided not to tell our children the camp’s topic but reminded them every day about the events that had happened to Jews on their way to freedom.

Miracles started to happen: sometimes water for tea all of a sudden became red like blood, or sometimes a huge number of frogs and locust (frankly speaking, drawn on paper) filled the community center. One day, it started hailing from the ceiling. And during the last day, darkness fell all over the center. It was so dark that children could not find each other. Nothing was working, neither lamps, nor computers and outside of the window it was also completely dark… What to do? The children figured out quickly - they started running around the community center marking doorposts with red paint (we had pasted the doorposts with paper before). And darkness subsided!!!

Our Hesed colleagues helped us a great deal assisting us in fulfilling this eight-days way to freedom. Every day children learned about the work of different departments in the community center. They asked questions and received clues helping them guess the camp’s topic.

Children listened with great interest to Anna Sailyants talks on Four Questions for the Seder and How to Help Mother to Prepare Seder.

Now Almaty community can say with confidence that our children are ready for Pesach. Their grandmothers and grandfathers won’t be ashamed for them.

And also, we would like to thank the parents’ committee, who provided the usual help and support.

Inessa Chugaynova