The month of June ended with a great camp for 10 children who use wheelchairs and their carers. Between June 24 and June 29, they participated in a training session for a healthy and active life as a wheelchair user, organized by Motivation Romania Foundation and ING Bank Romania in Văratec, Neamț County.

The 10 participants come from Cluj, Bihor, Dâmbovița, Neamț, Vaslui, Bacău, Suceava, Iași and Galați counties and their ages are between 6 and 14 years old. During the camp, they and their parents had the chance to find out how to lead an independent life in a wheelchair and how to prevent medical complications. In addition to this, they discussed with the Motivation team about the barriers they meet and how they could overcome them – if they are related to the environment, as well as it they are related to the attitudes of other people.

The camp did not lack fun, games and good mood. The children had the opportunity to go for trips in nature, to enjoy the landscapes and to visit interesting places, such as ”Ion Creangă” Memorial House in Humulești. When it rained, they painted even.. t-shirts and in the evening they tried wheelchair dancing, which is a good occasion to practice wheelchair handling techniques. The program also included adapted sports –  bocce and wheelchair basketball kept them focused.

Manu is the youngest one from the camp. She joined the group in a positioning system which looks much like a stroller. This could not be handled independently and her mother used to help her to move from one place to another and she offered her help in all the activities.
During the camp, following the advice of the Motivation team and being accompanied by other children who used wheelchairs independently, Manu and her mother decided that they should try a self-propelled wheelchair. As soon as she tried it, she was very happy with the change. She was really amazed and enjoyed every single thing while she realized she could do it on her own, without needing to ask somebody else for help. This can be seen in the picture where she dances with Alesia, one of her new friends from the camp, while being in the new wheelchair which she received as a donation. It is appropriate for her needs, so gives her mobility and freedom back.

Manu and Alesia, dancing together in their costumes in the carnival evening

Manu helping Andrei, our colleague, to fit one wheelchair to meet one of her colleagues’ needs

The multidisciplinary team from Motivation included physiotherapists, independent living trainers – who are wheelchair users themselves, social assistant, psychologist, wheelchair technicians.

The training session for health and active life in a wheelchair held at Văratec, between June 24th to June 29th was organized by Motivation Romania Foundation and ING Bank Romania within the project Mentoring, training, support and engagement to lead an independent life as a wheelchair user, within the program Adopt a project.