Holidays of deafblind people are moving across Europe!
Wanted! Holiday Hosts for Summer 2008 and following in Europe!
Since 1997, European deafblind people have had an opportunity to spend holidays together attending international camps. The holiday camps programme is aimed to offer social, cultural, creative, sporting, and other recreational activities. There are social games, dancing, excursions, and visits of monuments, museums, and interesting or beautiful places. The deafblind participants from various countries and their interpreters have time for informal chatting, friendly discussions, informal gatherings, and the chance to share personal life experiences. It is really exciting to discover and get acquainted with people and to get new knowledge and skills in communication. The other activities are fun and challenging too! For instance high action opportunities such as judo, water skiing, riding on motorcycles and diving have been combined with mind enriching events such as visits to ancient churches, a Picaso exhibit, and the high-tech Lernout & Hauspie Centre on speech and audio-visual technology. Swimming, hiking and sculpture making are examples of moderate activities that have also been offered.
The fact that the deafblind people share and enjoy all the camp events together helps them to improve their mood and morale while learning new things that make life exciting.
It would be excellent if other national organisations of deafblind people would be willing to organise holidays in the future. The holiday could reflect what is interesting about the host country - and of course, the main task and goal, to help the deafblind individuals.
To make organising the stays easier, an informal 'ad hoc' co-ordinating unit was formed. The present coordinators are Peter Vanhoutte and I, Jan Jakes, both of us deafblind people, and we are happy to coordinate the holiday calendar and offer advice.
Proposals, offers, questions, comments, and correspondence can be addressed to:
Jan Jakes
VIA Deafblind Association
K Vodojemu 29, 150 00 Praha 5, Czech Republic
E-mail: jajakes@volny.cz
And
Peter Vanhoutte
E-mail: peter.vanhoutte@versateladsl.be
Thank you!
(2007-03-13)