Who we are

We are Susan van der Wielen and Vilzeth Vásquez Bazán.We have two little sons: Emiel and Yannick. Yannick is born in july 2007 and has Down Syndrome.

We were already involved with the special education school in Celendín before we knew we would have a son with Down Syndrome. We send them volunteers and tried to help them selling their products. After Yannick was born we realized that there's hardly any information or help and that handicapped children in a lot of cases live in sad circumstances. Parents often feel ashamed and hide their child. One of the most important mistakes is that people think that handicapped children aren't able to learn anything.

Because of Yannick we had to find good and up-to-date information to help him devellop himself the best he can. Soon came the idea to share our knowledge with other parents. And if we could form a group it would be easier to invite experts to come to Celendín and maybe even specialized teachers.

So we decided to make it an official project. The parents and their children that are in the group now, like to share their experiences and hopefully we can also get the most ashamed ones to come and join us. When people loose their shame, they can be an example for others and little by little their children can participate more and more in daily life and the society.

At this moment we are registering our project in the official way in Holland.

Design, fotos, tekst© Susan van der Wielen