Escape the daily grind - off to an adventure

Empowering children living in poverty through nature holidays

"Holidays at last!" exclaims 11-year-old Toni when she comes home from school. This year Toni is especially happy because she is going away for the first time - to a tipi village in the Eifel. "What an adventure!", Toni's mother also thinks. She is a single parent and cannot afford a holiday or outings with the children on her small income. Toni, the eldest, is very much affected by her family's poverty. She feels responsible. At school, she stands out as a very quiet pupil who rarely laughs. She no longer invites friends home to play and is ashamed of the sparsely furnished flat that she lives in. In the upcoming supervised holiday trip, children like Toni will experience a great holiday with their peers, gain self-confidence and enjoy taking time out from their everyday lives, which are burdened with worries. Toni will also come back stronger and will have a lot to talk about at school.

Background

Enough with the daily grind – have an adventure. For many adults, thier holidays are among the best and pleasurable childhood memories. Children who are living on the breadline with their families rarely have such childhood memories. But it is precisely for them that these experiences would be so important.
2.8 million children under the age of 18 live in poverty in Germany (Bertelsmann Foundation, 2020). This often means they have too small a flat, few opportunities to play, no quiet place to study and do homework. During the holidays, these children usually have very little new stimulation and experiences. This is often accompanied by feelings of powerlessness, negative self-image and experiences of exclusion. All this makes it difficult for them to overcome poverty for the rest of their lives.
This is where Fair.Stärken comes in: The holiday trips have a lasting effect on the children. They gain strength and self-confidence. They discover their strengths and broaden their perspectives. Archery, swimming in a stream, campfires, hikes, experience-based group games, cooking together and relaxing become lasting positive experiences and unforgettable memories. This gives them a chance to grow up healthy and happy. The good deed is part of the project “Starke Kinder Köln” (“Strong Children Cologne”), which accompanies disadvantaged children over a period of 2-3 years. The project offers social training, holiday trips and workshops for parents. The aim is to strengthen the children in their personal abilities and thus promote participation and equal opportunities.

The good deed

With your donation, we can offer children and young people an educationally supervised holiday trip in nature. Our tepee village is surrounded by meadows, forests and streams. With a group size of up to 12 children and young people and 3 trained educational staff, the programme includes games, fun and excitement. Here, they play experiential educational games in the forest, which strengthen the children's trust in other people, they organise excursions and go on night hikes. Many of the children see a real frog for the first time in their lives or make their first attempts at swimming in the nearby stream. The camp offers the children a sense of achievement that strengthens their self-confidence. In the group, the children realise: I am not alone and others feel the same as I do. They quickly recognise people they can trust, who support them and in whom they can confide their worries.