Impressions of the last International Conference "Children and Different Children - Education and Employment" in Lipica
Dear Mrs. Darja, I don’t have the words to praise the organization and execution of the conference. I received professional knowledge, examples of good practice, positive energy and warmth – from you, from some of the lecturers, and from the participants. Your workshop was extraordinary, professional, useful, full of love and warmth. When I was talking to my volunteering intern during the break, I told her “See, Anja, this is knowledge for life. And life happens in school, in the classroom. Mrs. Darja should be our living reminder and example.” I myself get very stressed about writing up all the documentation as I also organize the school diet and anything that’s not written down “doesn’t exist” for the inspector, which is why I wrote a living reminder. Anja agreed. We’re both very grateful to have had the opportunity to share knowledge, feelings and opinions with you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And thank you for “reminding” me through workshops and brochures that I’m a mother. A mother to two healthy sunshines who want to go to a family trip to Lipica and spend more time with us in this way (both me and my husband are away a lot). We’ll “study” the brochure of offers and arrange a date. Until then, I wish you healthy, sunny and successful days. AND THANK YOU FOR BEING. Lendita, April 14th 2014 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greetings, So we have one more motivation to keep walking our path. When I listened to you at the conference, my mind and heart went to all of my students who have problems (health issues, social issues, violence …). They have a difficult childhood. In my heart, these students have a special status. They can feel that. I’m also proud of the work done by our school kitchen, which works well despite bad amortization and enables our at-risk students to have free lunch for the entire school year. That way, their parents don’t have to bother with papers and subsidies. I spend a lot of time at my job and my students often come to me in the classroom. They shyly ask me if I have time. I always have time, because I know that they need me. And I listen to difficult stories and great distresses over and over again. I carry their pain with me and I keep asking myself if I’ve done everything that’s in my power. During your lectures and workshop, I thought of all those stories. I felt all the pain of my students, their parents. I ran through the education legislations in my mind, I heard the comments from my colleagues, that those kids aren’t fit for regular school, that it’s impossible to work with them … And when you demonstrated the TTouch method on me, I had the solution in my hand. On the way home I explained it to my intern Anja. “You know, Anja, we don’t need additional legislation and documentation about different children in school. We don’t need extra meeting of the teachers’ committee of a certain class … WE NEED DARJA, her touch and her vision and A HORSE as a therapist. And new? terminology is not what matters here. What matters is the desire to help someone. And if our sunshines who run away from school every day had the opportunity to run into Darja’s arms or gently cuddle up to a horse, they’d be saved.” Anja was wisely quiet. She didn’t understand my words and she was visibly surprised (like she was when I signed her up for the conference and told her that this is learning for life and not an exam).
But today, Anja told me over coffee that she is very grateful for the experience she gained, for the new knowledge and particularly for a new outlook on different children. Today she understood the hugs from those children from lower classes who meet me daily and crash into me, give me a kiss, shout “bye Lendita” and run on. Every day I look at them and don’t comment on the yelling and screaming of my colleagues: “This is teacher Lendita, she is the school diet organizer, you should call her Mrs. … where are your manners?” I was glad for everything that was said. The words were “proof” that we did one task well and that we’re going forward. I wish you well and best regards. Lendita P.S.: Now it’s your turn; for a touch, an embrace and a rest. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greetings, Thank you again for inviting us to the conference which was very interesting and useful for me, especially the story and workshop with horses (which I’d had no experience with before). I’m sure that I will contact you again about the programs for children. Best regards, Zdenka, April 15th 2014 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mrs. Darja, Still under the impression of the past refreshing weekend (it was really great), I turn to you with a request for the contact information of Mrs. Silva Bajda. We have a very concrete question for her that came to mind during her presentations. Thank you for your kindness and best regards, Mateja, April 25th 2014 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear organizers! Thank you for a wonderful and educational experience, I enjoyed every moment. We’ll see each other next year for sure. The Sožitje Kamnik society, April 23rd 2014 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Greetings! After talking to my friends, I’d love to have a seminar like that every month, there were so many things and it was so interesting. Marjeta, April 24th 2014 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Darja, I’m an intern and I participated in the conference. I’d like to compliment everything that happened. The stories really touched me; I appreciate my health even more now. And what’s most important, I’m grateful for all the students who are “healthy”, who can learn and go to school. And I’m grateful for all the experiences I had with those – different ones (special ones, as it was said multiple times). And that is a value we’re not aware of nowadays. So once again, many thanks. Best regards, Anja ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darja! Thank you for a great conference! I had some doubts about how it would go – with parents, professionals … Since Lipica is close to my heart, as I was there a lot years ago when I still had small children (now they’re both taller than me) and we had fun watching the horses and nature, I signed up thinking that if it wasn’t going to be interesting, I could just use the time to go for walks. But it was so great that there was no time for walking around! I think I gained a lot in those three days. I always had an “everything for the kids” mindset and unloaded that on the parents without considering that they also have their own needs and need to have some free time … At the conference I also asked myself how much time I spend alone with myself … And I know I wasn’t the only one, because there are others out there who work while they’re sick since everything would collapse if they weren’t at work? I think I’d need quite a few more lectures like that, telling us about free time and how important it is! I gained a lot, filled myself with energy, enjoyed my time with horses and I hope I’ll get to do it again soon. Have a great time until then and take some free time for yourself as well! Suzana, April 25th 2014 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greetings, Mrs. Darja! Thank you very much for the materials and pictures you sent. I’d also like to thank you for a weekend well-spent :-) There are many things that I experienced in Lipica that still excite me and bring light and hope into my work with children at the same time. Thank you! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for things to continue … I’m sending you the address for confirmation. I hope that we meet again soon! Best regards, Tina, April 25th 2014
