OUR STORY

The idea of the camp is based on the research conducted in 2016 by Borcsa Lőrincz

for her MA thesis in Nyárádszentimre. Interviews with villagers revealed that those considered real problems

by locals are mainly related to subsistence hardship and community disintegration.

Borcsa was inspired by the results of the research and her own childhood summer vacations in Szentimre

to work with her friends to address the local problems through the one field they knew best: children.

We started organising our first summer camp in 2019 with great enthusiasm. Most of us already knew each other

- we were cousins, friends, colleagues - but we could only hope we'd work together so well. It is safe to say that even the first camp would have been a mission impossible if Noémi Losonci, a kindergarten teacher born and raised in Szentimre, had not joined us at the beginning. In addition to her pedagogical expertise, Noémi's knowledge of the village, the children and the local conditions is invaluable to the camp work.

The 1st Szentimre Summer Camp, a magical experience for children and volunteers alike, was followed by the first winter camp in February 2020, and then by the second and third summer camps in 2021 and 2022.

In April 2023, for the first time, during our planning weekend in Budapest, team members from Szentimre

-- Noémi and three young people who have grown from camping children to volunteers --

were physically present during the preparations.

This was also the first camp in which we welcomed non-Hungarian speaking -- Spanish -- volunteers.

In 2024, not only the 5th Szentimre Summer Camp was implemented in Nyárádszentimre,

but also the first workshop for teenagers -- those already "too old" for the kids' camp -- was organized

under the title Humans of Bekecs. Participants acquired intervieweeing, photographing, and creative writing skills

before producing photographic and textual material on inhabitants of the village.

For community development, we organized board game sessions and an excursion.

Preparations for the 6th Szentimre Summer Camp of 2025 are already underway at full blast.