Summer camps, blogs, meetings... - for young coeliacs! (parte 2)

Continuação da carta enviada por Hanna Koponen, da CYE.

Berlin rally and much more
Imagine 50 young coeliacs from 10 different countries gathering together for a week to have fun, eat gluten-free, get to know each other, enjoy the summer together... It did come true again in summer 2009, as already during the previous 10 years: The CYE Summer Camp 2009 was held in Berlin, Germany. The German coeliac youth group had done a good job and the week was full of parties, sightseeing, activities like Berlin Rally around the city, High Ropes (climbing), barbecue and pizza parties, beach volley...

Check the CYE website www.cyeweb.eu for information about the CYE Summer Camp 2010 and pictures and stories from the previous camps. Search Facebook for CYE Summer Camp and you'll find the camp groups.

Spanish summer
The very first Spanish coeliac youth summer camp was organized in 2009. Rosa Moya González from Spanish coeliac youth organization FACE Joven introduces the basic ideia: "We were 30 people and spent one week in Alicante (my home city), it's at the coast so we could easily enjoy the sea...! We did some trips: we were to the island Tabarca, had a trip in a funny fast boat, went to a funfair "Terra Mitica". We were also invited to the city hall of Alicante to drink a typical "horchata" and to have lunch in Alicante's castle. It was really important for us because we wanted the city hall to know more about coeliacs, about FACE Joven, and about our association."

"It was not just hanging around, but we also had some discussions with a doctor about coeliac as a disease. Later we discussed also the role of young coeliac people in our association. On the fifth day of the camp we enjoyed the beach and the typical "moros y cristianos" party. On the last day we had a dinner in a gluten-free restaurante in Altea, in a beautiful village. We also went out at night. The location of our hostel was in front of the beach, so we enjoyed the beach at day and at night!"

What is the Coeliac Youth of Europe actually?
Coeliac Youth of Europe (CYE) is an umbrella cooperation forum for the national coeliac youth groups and organizations. CYE is an international forum for raising awareness, exchanging knowledge and working together for a better future for young coeliacs. CYE aims to improve life conditions for young people with coeliac disease. The activities are carried out through projects, one of them is Finding Missing Countries. It aims to find contacts in countries where no coeliac youth activities exist or the activities have just been started.

We, representatives of coeliac youth groups and organizations around Europe, get together once a year in CYE conference. It´s two-three days full of program; discussions, lectures, changing ideas and best practices, doing some sightseeing, enjoying delicious gluten-free food and having fun. This year the CYE conference will be held in Valencia, Spain, on 16th-19th of September.


"If I ever have children, I wish they'd have coeliac too."
Quite strongly said, isn't? Well, you don't have to agree, but I tell you about Bjorn, who actually said so. He's a 23 year old guy from Norway and has been activie in NCFU, the Norwegian Coeliac Youth Organization, already for 8 years. He's been presenting their organization in CYE conferences around Europe, organizing camps in Norway, he has met a huge amount of people and got great experiences, which he'd have never reached without having the coeliac condition. I underline condition, as he doesn't want coeliac to be called a disease. Coeliac can be a curse, but it might be also a blessing to bring a group of young people together and get them make friends!

So why not to join the coeliac youth group in your country? ;)

Estão abertas as inscrições para o CYE Summercamp 2010, em Budapeste. E atenção, a APC Jovem continua à procura de colaboradores para os diversos projectos que planeia desenvolver! Aceitas o desafio? :)

Na fotografia, o actual Youth Committee da CYE:
Hanna Koponen (FIN), Michaela Hann (ALE), Anita van Schieveen (HOL).