Let's go together on holidays

Friendship times between each gathering are often difficult to organise. A camp allows us to really live with each other, we have the time to discover more about each other, to get to know each other better, and to love each other more. Persons with intellectual disabilities are happy at a camp because they can find their place there, they feel acknowledged, listened to, loved. Often, people who come from institutions behave differently during a community gathering than in their daily lives, this is even more noticeable during the course of a holiday camp.

Parents come to a camp in order to find some rest, to take a step back from their every day worries. They are happy to see their child acknowledged and loved. They rekindle a certain amount of joy through singing, playing games but also they find peace in the times of prayer. They also have their gifts to share: drawing, painting, making things. For some, the camp is the only holiday they will have.

Friends also bring in their precious gifts: creativity in the activities, listing both to the intellectually disabled people and their parents, their joy in life, fantasy. They lead people with intellectual disabilities to go beyond their usual boundaries and to come out of themselves.

For the chaplain, the camp is also a moment of relaxation: he can laugh, play, sing ... He does still keep his role as an evangelist, pastor and father for each person with all which that entails : listening, forgiveness, prayer, Eucharist. His presence is indispensable, just as it is also the case during the preparation of the prayer, so that it is in harmony with the chosen theme of the camp.

A Faith and Light holiday camp is not a school outing or “Butlins” type experience, neither is it a retreat. It is a time for friendship and sharing. A very precious time where we discover the unique value of each person and above all where we learn to discover God within that person.

Testimony