Friday, February 24, 2012

Better late than never...Christmas and more

I've been meaning to get to this post!

In November 2011 I began volunteering at the Lighthouse special education school (see www.lighthousese.nl) and I'm currently assisting with development of their library.

The Lighthouse is the only school in The Hague area that serves international students with special needs using a special program conducted in English. Many students have autism (and autism related disorders) - a condition about which the AWC of The Hague began raising awareness in the Netherlands during the last year.

If you recall, the AWC held our first "Hearts and Minds - Lighting the Way for Autism" gala in May 2011 and we raised 50,000 Euros - 25,000 of which was donated to the Lighthouse (and the remainder to Stichting Papageno, an organization that helps those with autism through music - see www.stichtingpapageno.nl).

In February I attended a lovely appreciation tea that was hosted by the Lighthouse staff for the AWC. With the money raised, the school has been able to purchase much-needed computers, curriculum, assessments, and play equipment. I look forward to this year's second annual Hearts and Minds gala and hope that we are able to make another generous donation to the school.

Christmas 2011
We travelled to the UK in December, stopping to visit close friends in Wycombe on the way, and then spent Christmas in Kidwelly, Wales with the in-laws and we also celebrated Lucy's birthday (Lucy is our 2nd cousin once removed on Alex's mum's side of the family) at a lovely birthday dinner in Swansea.




New Year's Eve 2011-2012

I celebrated New Year's in The Hague with friends, but poor Alex was home suffering from a nasty cold. As always, I enjoyed the insanity in the streets with fireworks in every direction - a bit of chaos for a couple of hours - loud, smoky and just too much fun!

Enjoy!