"Little seedlings for new inner perspectives"

Question: Can you describe the therapeutic concept of the institutions in the Peter Maffay Foundation on Mallorca?
» It is important to distinguish between two main groups who come to C'an Llompart: the first one consists of socially disadvantaged children and young people, for whom the important aspects are adventure, meeting new people and learning about cultural differences. The special feature of the Peter Maffay Foundation is that it is directed especially at children and adolescents from the fringes of society, who are normally excluded from everything relating to the opening of borders in Europe and all the exciting experiences this opens up. In the second group, we have children and young people, together with their relatives, who have suffered some traumatic event such as illness or the loss of a parent, maybe through an accident. The therapeutic concept is different for the two groups. While in the first group novel experiences such as a foreign language and culture, other customs, the Mediterranean climate, the sea or the vegetation are in the foreground, in the second group we plan to provide therapeutic activities for the children and their families with the primary aim of relieving their suffering, and then with the aim of stimulating them to work out strategies which will help them to cope better with their daily lives.

Question: Can we expect that a temporary change of scene will have a positive effect on the children's development?
» For the first group, as in the case of children in ordinary families, it is obvious that travelling abroad will help them to develop their social skills and increase their self-esteem simply through having had the opportunity of experiencing and successfully coping with all kinds of new situations and challenges. The holidays will broaden their limited horizon and show them that there is more to life than what they have seen of it up to now. They will be able to develop new visons and new hopes. In the second group the effects will not necessarily be very different. It is in the nature of these processes that many small steps have to be taken before the way out of a difficult situation becomes clear. Here it is important to remember that the holidays in Mallorca are not intended to take place during the acute phase. In this first phase, stabilization in familar surroundings is necessary. The holidays are intended for the phase following stabilization. Here, we have observed that new developments and stimulation are often more easily accepted in a completely new environment that is free of negative connotations. In their normal surroundings people are frequently caught up in an internal system. Everything brings back memories of the painful experience.
I am sure that the holidays we offer in the children's home at C`an Llompart can contribute to planting little seedlings for new inner perspectives. The way consists of many small steps and each person must determine his own speed. Something that should not be underestimated is that the invitation to come to Mallorca is in itself a message to them that they "may" start to enjoy the positive sides of life again.

Question: Which groups of children will be invited or can anyone apply?
» In the first two years we ought to limit ourselves to these two groups, in order to gain experience. In the long term there will certainly be other groups as well. Basically anyone can apply. Enquiries should be addressed to the Peter Maffay Foundation or to the Tabaluga Children's Foundation. We will then sort the applications into groups. In my experience it is important that the groups should be fairly homogeneous, by which I mean that the children in them should have similar problems. For example, it would not be a good idea to put a family with a history of violence together with a family whose child has leukaemia. For this reason it is important to take great care in selecting the groups. In view of the high number of expected enquiries, it makes sense to seek the help of professional cooperation partners, as indeed we have already done, so that they can advise us during the preselection process and also help in organizing and implementing the holidays.