Time flies. Just recently our kids were screaming out "Hurrah! Vacation!". They were putting text books aside and spending all their time in the yard with friends playing football, roller skating, going to the forest, fishing, and some of them went to travel far away.

The beginning of summer, June 1, is a remarkable day. It is a Children’s Day and it seems that all city dwellers become children on this day. There are free tours, rides in amusement park, competitions of drawings on asphalt, many tasty drinks and ice cream…

Hesed organized a summer camp with three times a day meals for 22 children. The Children Initiative Program took the lead in organizing the camp. Happy childhood does not just happen. Children have a happy childhood when they have adults caring for them. Volunteers - grandmothers and mothers - were helping Hesed to make the camp interesting. They organized excursions, hiking trips, visits to swimming pool, competitions, and Torah classes.

Young children express their vision of the world in drawings. Even the shyest child can express himself in drawing. Children draw the bright yellow sun, red cats, purple and green-blue aliens and missiles. Their mother is often orange colored. Why so? Because the main language of painting is color. Children feel that all warm loved things are of red, yellow, and orange colors, while all unknown things are blue, i.e. mysterious and cold.

Older children were getting ready for the Jewish Festival "Freilehe Kinder" that was held in Karaganda. They had long rehearsals, were making costumes, and were very excited about performing on stage. The Festival made them realize that nothing is given for granted.

There was another important event that Jewish Community actively participated in. This was the birthday of our capital. It coincided with an OSCE conference held in Astana. There were many guests from all over the world and they were present at all events. The most spectacular event was held in the Central Park with all ethnical cultural centers taking part in it. Each Center was given a yurt to be decorated in accordance with its ethnical traditions and customs. In our yurt we made an exhibition of Jewish literature, menorah, decorations, paintings and handicrafts made by children. Our young hostess Polina Golovina dressed in Jewish costume was meeting guests and telling them about our ethnical attributes and customs.

At the end of the summer those children who had gone abroad with their parents, grandfathers and grandmothers, returned home. They had lots of impressions. Ilyas and David Levins visited the ancient land of Israel. We would like to note that grandfather Gennadiy Vladimirovich had prepared his grandson so that the trip was not just an entertainment adventure. The boy had to learn about Israel from books and Internet. He had to improve his English. Finally he came to Jerusalem - the Wailing Wall, Temple mounting, the seas and many other sites.

On the last Sunday, August 29, the kids came to Hesed. They were happy to see each other. They were all together here - first graders and those who are leaving school this year. We sang songs, told jokes, had competitions and funny quizzes. Then we had a tasty cake and candies. All children got presents from Hesed - school supplies. This was a memorable summer for our children; they will share impressions with their friends and write about it in their compositions.

This was our summer, full of important events. We wish our kids to have a good new academic year, get new knowledge and dreams!

Lyudmila Tsymbalyuk