Active holidays with the support of Benefit Systems / Multisport and their clients
Our children and young people’s favourite thing is summer camp – at the seaside, in the mountains or wherever! Sometimes this experience is the first one for some of the children and the emotions are indescribable – for them and for us. Another time it’s a never-ending question that’s been asked since Christmas about when we leave for the seaside. And our social therapists never get tired of reassuring, telling and answering how soon that will be. And so it is until August!
This year we decided to try something different as an experience and organised a summer camp with water sports training. After a short search for active holiday options, a few phone calls to friends and acquaintances who are water sports enthusiasts, we chose summer camp “Frog“. This is a real and exciting experience in the Eastern Rhodopes on the “Studen Kladenets” dam, organized for us by Travko BG.
Within 5 days, 10 children and youngsters from one of our family centres, aged 10 to 17, learned to kayak, paddle board and windsurf. With the help of experienced instructors, the children learned about the specifics of operating each of these watercraft, water safety rules, swam freely and had a lot of fun.
For Nadeto, Sashko and Itso it was the first camp in their lives. Stefcho, the eldest of the participants, was afraid of sleeping in a tent, the dam and the kayak, but he tried everything. And when he couldn’t overcome his fears, the walks on the nearby eco-trails came to the rescue. As an active athlete, Drago made the most of the lessons and had the most fun of all.
However, nothing managed to embarrass and surprise the oldest participant in the camp – our long-time social therapist Stoyanka, or just “Grandma” as all the kids call her. She stayed to sleep with the youngsters in a tent, accompanied Stefcho on the steep trails around the camp and even went kayaking.
Some of the most exciting experiences during the camp were also the nocturnal sounds of the animals in the nearby forest, making friends with other children who camped nearby, and seeing a herd of deer and elk roaming freely around the Studen Kladenets Dam. The most challenging part for everyone was sleeping in a tent, but it enriched them and created a whole new set of emotions.
This kayaking story was made possible thanks to Benefit Systems (MultiSport) and their clients. For a second year in a row, their Sneakers Day campaign raised funds by promoting sports and active lifestyle and donated a portion of the funds to summer camps for the children and youth in our family centers.
