Report on WAIT Czech trip

by Stephanie Coombs and Marian Reynolds

 

Sunday, 29^th July

The WAIT members arrived at Lancaster Gate for a short orientation and to sort out luggage (one case per two people). They had a chance to meet Juliette Martin, the French WAIT member, who had arrived from America. Everyone was appointed roles whilst in the Czech Republic. Uncles Robin Shaw and Wolfram Wiedicke drove us (except four boys who took the train) to Luton Airport. The four boys nearly missed checking in, as they arrived quite late!! The team arrived in Prague late in the evening – being met at the airport by Aunty Marcela, Jakub and two others. We were driven an hour and half to the camp where we’d be staying for ten days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, 30^th July

We were woken up by singing Czechs!! That was followed by morning inspiration and introduction by Jana, Aunty Marcela’s daughter. We had our first try of Czech bread at breakfast! Later, Uncle Marshall and Juliette introduced WAIT. We then did our first full performance. Training then followed: the boys did break dance; the girls taught the Respect song/dance. There were difficulties because of the language barrier, but nonetheless, lots of effort was being put in, and progress was made. After lunch, there was more training, training and training – the Czechs being really determined… In the evening Aunty Marcela gave us a Free Teens Part I presentation. Because of the translation, the lecture took longer than normal. It was a tiring first day – everyone was ready for bedtime!

 

Tuesday, 31^st July

Again, we were woken up by Czech singing, and had morning inspiration led by Jana. After breakfast, there was continuous training – a little difficult because of the language barrier! The free-time enabled us to bond with the Czechs by playing volleyball! Stephanie and Juliette went to speak to local people at the camp. After dinner, we held our first public performance at the camp in Zbraslavice – to an aerobics team! The audience was really good; they even invited us to their competition. Later, we received the Free Teens Part II presentation from Aunty Marcela. Then, it was bedtime…

 

 

 

Wednesday, 1^st August

Juliette gave the morning inspiration today. After breakfast, it was “Challenge Day!” – a day of physical and mental exercises for both the UK and Czech teams. The first exercise was to lower a tent-pole from hip level to the ground with both index fingers touching it at all times. It was frustrating! We learnt that we must listen to each other; and have less talk and more action. Then, we had to walk blind-folded through a forest. The leader had to take care of the team! After lunch, it was the high wire time… It was both scary, and enjoyable. He had to conquer our fears and work like a team! We noted Erena’s enthusiasm, whilst Stephanie did a lot of the filming… Following dinner, we had a surprise event: we performed to a group of classic dancers. They enjoyed our performance. Later, they joined us in watching a video; “What dreams may come” in Czech… Our boys preferred to play football outside. The classic dancers showed us some dancing that evening!

 

 

   

 

Thursday, 2^nd August

We did morning exercises, followed by an inspiration by Sun-mi from Poland. That morning, Erena fainted (no more exercises!!). We trained until lunch-time, and then rushed to take the train to Vlastejovice, to perform to sixty youth at the camp there. We exchanged dance moves. Sean taught break dance; they taught us hip-hop – we made good relationships!! On return to our camp, we had a presentation on Wisdom in Love Part I by Aunty Marcela. It was interesting, even if quite late. Everyone was ready to sleep afterwards.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, 3^rd August

Intensive training this morning! The Czech boys wanted to do better in break dance while the

Czech girls wanted to know the Rose dance. We then made our way to Horka Camp to meet some 35 youth, including orphans. After our performance, Sean and a young man exchanged moves. Later, we watched an aerobic girls show. At the camp fire, we were joined by the aerobic girls for nice sharing, singing and eating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Saturday, 4^th August

Some training took place during the morning; then we headed for Zruc by train. This town has a famous castle, and today we were going to witness an annual festival which included traditional costumes and confectionery. On this day, the two Polish girls, Sun-mi and Ayana were both sick. Anyway, we performed twice at the castle grounds to a number of people. We met the youth from the first camp we went to and got to know a number of other people such as the mayor’s school friend and his wife. Interestingly, the niece of this man and her friend joined WAIT the next day! They stayed with us until the end.

 

Sunday, 5^th August

Today was similar to last Thursday in that we trained in the morning and then took train to Vlastejovice camp. This time we were meant to meet up with ninety youth who were dancers. Because they had a strict schedule, we only stayed just over an hour, doing a full performance. We got back to our camp early and had some free time. There was more training as well! After dinner, we heard one last presentation from Aunty Marcela on Wisdom in Love Part II. Then it was time to sleep!

 

Monday, 6^th August

After a little training today, we took the train to a place called Kolin, where we were to perform at the Town Square. It turned out to be a really hot day. We did a full performance. Even the mat we performed on and drinking water were heated!! Luckily, Aunty Marcela treated us to ice cream. Both the performers and the weather cooled down afterwards… We did a second performance. The attendance in Kolin was disappointing, but we still gave our best! Afterwards, the whole group walked to the Aquacentrum (the water park) for a well-deserved time of fun and relaxation.

 

 

  

Tuesday, 7^th August

Today we were joined by Eva, a young lady who had worked with Aunty Marcela to prepare for this WAIT trip, but fell ill, and was hospitalised until now. For her sake, Uncle Marshall led us in reviewing what we did and learned until now. We also held our last morning of training and had two performances at the camp today. After lunch we performed to a large taekwondo group, then held a meeting to discuss plans for the future, and after dinner, met a smaller badminton group, who also joined us later at the camp fire. It was really nice singing songs together till late at night!!

 

Wednesday, 8^th August

Sadly, our last day in the Czech Republic – but what a crazy day…

After breakfast, we were allowed some time to pack our suitcases and tidy up our rooms. Then, we took the train to Prague. As we arrived at the Old Town Square, the stage was being put together. We were treated to a pizza lunch, had a little free-time, and then started our first full performance. Following a short ice cream break, we commenced our second performance. It was really hot and everyone was tired. The performance was good as a lot of people stopped to watch and some talked to us. Then, Jirka (George as we called him) took us on a sight-seeing tour as we had a little time on our hands before going to the airport. However, we found we had to rush to the airport (taking a train and bus) as time passed so quickly. As it happens the flight to London was three hours late, so we could breathe, but it also meant that we would get home really late!! The WAIT UK members arrived at their homes between 2 and 3.30 am the next day. We are very grateful to Uncles David Coombs and Robin Shaw for sacrificing their time and sleep to help us in our hour of need!

Special thanks to everyone who helped to make this trip a success, especially Aunty Marcela and her Czech team. WAIT UK has promised to continue to support the Czech WAIT team as best we can in the future.