From August 5th to 15th, 2001 the IFWF carried out an education camp for women and children of different origins in the Netherlands. As the 83 participants of the camp were mainly Kurdish women and children, we tried to concentrate our program on their specific needs and requests.        

Apart from a program of cultural and sporting activities, such as choir, theatre workshops and self-defence training, daily seminars were given by different women professionals on different issues concerning the women’s lives. During the seminars the participants were able to gain new knowledge about their possibilities of social and political participation, women’s health care and psychology, pedagogy and children’s education. In the following discussions women tried to express the difficulties the face within the families and the societies by giving examples from their own lives as well as trying to find solutions by exchanging their experiences.

Sharing ideas and daily work together, the social relationships between the women as well as friendships between the children developed quickly. Pedagogic childcare, separate cultural activities and play facilities were provided for the children during the time of women’s education.        

Evaluating the course and the results of the camp Suna Ö.’s opinion represents those of many participants: “You all know who I am. I cannot read or write, because I was never able to go to school. I was used to speak only if the permission was given to me. I never dared to discuss about the world or to talk about what many women like myself lived through. It never came into my mind to speak out against a man. But through the seminars and through the deep discussions we led in these days I saw the power which is hidden in me and in all of us women. I hope a camp like this will be organized again.”

The sociologist Münevver K. stated: “During the camp all kinds of facilities for both women and children were available. Although the children were of different ages, they were from 6 month to eleven years old, they all had great fun and got on quite well with each other. Everybody listened to the consciousness raising and well prepared lessons carefully. It was really interesting and I was surprised, although many women were not able to take notes during the seminars, that nobody forgot anything we discussed in these days. The discussions carried on during the break times, the fields of interest got wider and broader. I saw that many women gained lost facial expressions again on their faces. The interest in each other and the rich program ensured that we all feel much more powerful.”

The education camp for women and children was one of the first practical steps in broader sense taken by the IFWF towards an encouragement and the education of women and children. The great interest and the amazing individual and collective development many women made within a small period of only 10 days as well as the request for continuing activities, demonstrate the importance of social engagement and education work for different groups of women. The realization of this project was made possible through the friendly financial support of SKaN Fonds (Hilversum/NL) and Haella Foundation (Den Haag/NL). At the same time many voluntary supporters and donators were involved. We want to thank all these institutions and persons for their engagement.

In the future we will concentrate on improving our dialogue with different women’s institutions and organisations much further in order to reach an even broader spectrum of women from different ethnic backgrounds living in Europe.

Back...