The annual Johanniter/ St John Summer Camp in Estonia aims to offer a joyful time to people with disabilities away from their everyday routine. It is also a valuable experience of social commitment for the volunteers. The diverse activities, the overall Johanniter/ St John spirit and the enthusiasm of volunteers from Estonia, England, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Canada contribute to the enduring success of the camp.
In the last week of July, 25 helpers from 6 countries came together about 20 km south of Reval/Tallinn with 25 Estonian guests for an and enjoyable week.
This year’s main responsibility for the summer camp in Estonia lay with the Poznan-West Prussian commandery (Posen-Westpreußische Genossenschafft) and in the person of Friedrich Kippenberg. He was supported by Ingebrit Vahe from Estonia who has joined camp management, as well as Floris van de Poll (Netherlands), Alexander Karlman (Finland) and Julia Zeidler (Canada).
Organiser Friedrich Kippenberg from reports about the week in Estonia:
Thanks to Canadian St John member Robert Zeidler and the support of the Canadian St John Board, represented by Hermann Miehe, we were able to welcome two Canadian helpers at the summer camp this year. On the on the other hand, we unfortunately had to do without the volunteer from Northern Ireland because he had broken both arms in an accident.
We were also unable to welcome any Swedish helpers to the camp and we are currently looking for a Swedish representative in the management for the coming camp.
The summer camp was once again held on the grounds of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, consisting of sleeping cabins, a main building with a dining hall, as well as the surrounding meadows, streams, volleyball and football pitches. Like all the helpers, the guests were also very glad to be at the summer camp in the best weather and many happy faces characterised the week.
In addition to the traditional excursions to the zoo, horse riding lessons and an adventure park the group wore the new beautiful red Johanniter shirts for a day in Tallinn’s Old Town. The guests had horse-riding lessons in which they took part very independently and helpers were offered a something new on the programme.
The day in Tallinn began with a visit to the Energy Experience World and continued with creative marzipan frosting and a guided tour of the St. Mary’s Cathedral, the official residence of the Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, Urmas Viilma. The tour was led by the rector, Arho Tuhkru, whom we would like to thank once again.
Another new addition to the camp’s schedule was the visit by the local fire brigade from Saku, and the visit by the police to the summer camp, who gave a vivid presentation and brought a dog to familiarise the guests with security risks and protective measures.
With the football fever of the European Championship, the camp also held a football match which the winning team made out of Estonian, Finnish, Dutch and German players.
In addition to other activities such as table tennis, cloth bag painting, handicrafts and a party on the last evening with face painting, the participants met for meals, prayers and devotions. Each day ended with the canon ‘Laudate Omnes Gentes’, after which the guests went to bed and later all the helpers met around the campfire to talk about the day’s experiences. The group quickly grew together and everyone realised the mission of this wonderful summer camp: To give our Estonian guests the best week of the year, which was impressively achieved with a great deal of commitment, creativity and many new faces among the helpers.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the foundation in Estonia and the commandery, which once again generously contributed to the travel costs of the German volunteers. I would also like to thank Herbert von Bose for his support in finding helpers from France, Canada and Malteser International.
I would also like to thank the German helpers.
After a follow-up meeting of some of the summer camp helpers at Brandt’s and Kippenberg’s and a visit to the Munich Oktoberfest, we are looking forward to the coming year with great anticipation. The summer camp of 2025 will be led by Sweden.
