Under the name Buddies – MID, Humanitas Zeeland is organising a special project. MID stands for Mild Intellectual Disability and the project involves Humanitas’ project group pairing volunteers with people with mild intellectual disability to become buddies. Once contact is established, the buddies spend time together every two weeks. What they do they decide for themselves, but in establishing contact, the aim is to find buddies with shared interests.
Buddies undertake all kinds of activities together, according to their interests. Walking, cycling, running, having a drink at a café, visiting a museum, going to the cinema… It can be anything as long as they both enjoy it.
Rob de Vos, coordinator of the project, explains:
“’Matching’ volunteers to participants is quite difficult. Not all volunteers have a good idea beforehand what it entails to become a buddy of someone with a disability. During the introduction, however, you soon enough find out whether there is a click between the buddies. If there is, you don’t have to contribute much yourself and you can make further arrangements with the personal supervisor.
We currently have about 70 link-ups. Hence an average of 140 excursions each month that the buddies arrange themselves. A feature of our project is that we also organise events ourselves. Twice a year we organise a gathering for volunteers AND participants: the BBQ and the Christmas lunch. Then almost all ‘Buddies’ meet each other.
Last year there was also a bowling afternoon. We were able to organise this thanks to a donation from a deceased volunteer.
The BBQ in June is largely organised by the Maatjes activity team themselves. With appropriate music provided by a volunteer from the VHB activity in Zeeland, a polonaise was run through the athletics clubhouse at the end of this event. When you then see the joy with which the buddies experience this, you know why this activity matters.”
The Hurgronje Family Fund made a financial contribution to this project in 2023.
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