22 Portuguese children and 17 children from Tamera registered for this years holiday camp. The camp had been announced for children between 5 and 13 years, aiming at Tameras children getting in contact with Portuguese children and vice versa. Already on the second day, new friendships had arisen. Together, they experienced an unforgettable week.
A good team accompanied the crowd of children through the week, and offered different workshops every day. The children thus made dream catchers and jewellery, trained archery, got to know medicinal plants, made acrobatics, danced, among many other things. Bathing in the lake was part in the same way that were excursions to the immediate neighbourhood. We kept bringing knowledge passed to us by the Indian tradition into our circle. And singing indigenous songs was also part of our days.
During these five days, the children lived and experienced community. Again and again it was touching to see older c06_hildren helping the smaller ones. Talking stick rounds helped create this community feeling, by offering everybody the chance of talking, expressing his wishes, and resolving conflicts. The evenings were marked by play and being together.
One highlight was a spontaneous acrobatic and dance performance of the kids for their parents, on the last day. The evaluation round with the kids showed us that one week is far too short. For most of the children, it could have gone on for another week easily. We will consider that for next year.
