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Newsletter July 2014 |
"Au fil de l’air et des Dunes" ("Throughout air and dunes") A Joëlette at the legendary Marathon of the Sands! (Edition 2013) |
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Photo credit : Jérôme CAZADE |
Jérôme Cazade’s testimony about this wonderful adventure... 238km (148 miles) / 6 days of race... 58 hours 36 minutes and 20seconds… 5°C at night / 54°C the day / 18% of hydrometry… Astrid, Marie and Gaëtan are three young people at the center of challenge and exemplarity…. Memories for life... The French-Swiss association Sportera Handi'Cap and the airline company Transavia France - Air France's subsidary dealing with leisure – have gathered their strength to share an exceptional human adventure during the 2013 Marathon of the Sands around the Joëlette – called "the cheeky one" by the team and the youths… The team Transavia Sportera Handi’Cap and its Joëlette – which quickly became the idol of the thousand participants acclaiming it every morning when the bivouac left for the starting line of the daily stage – have left their mark on this edition which took place right in the middle of the Moroccan desert and its amazing landscapes but also its damned sand dunes… In fact, a Joëlette in the extremely fine sand of the dunes and the mountains doesn't always move very easily! A new participation is already planned for the Marathon of the Sands' 30th edition from the 3rd until the 13th of April 2015 with 3 children / youths, two of them coming from Quebec and one from Morocco. This new entry is planned with the collaboration of a new land of adventure... Quebecer this time. LeCoeur&LesJambes (Heart and legs) is an association recently constituted by a group of people passionated by running and sharing. Its objective is to organize, promote and develop physical and sports activities linked to competition or leisure for people presenting a permanent or punctual motor, visual, hearing or mental disability (disease). The association opens its membership to any one –adults and children – willing to live this ambition of sharing.
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The film of their adventure available on YOU TUBE: "Au fil de l’air et des Dunes", produced by Baptiste MERLIN.
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THE JOËLETTE EUROPEAN MEETING IN BOLZANO (ITALY)
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The testimony of Leonardo Paleari, organizer of the event The Joëlette was at the center of two events during the Festival del Camminare di Bolzano ("hiking festival" in English) which took place from the 23rd to the 25th of May. This Italian town extends to the plains - where the rivers Adige and Isarco join up together– and is surrounded by mountains that give a typically alpine vocation. The local administration – which already had a Joëlette during the last festival – wanted this time to gather the groups that use it in order to promote an exchange on their experiences with a public demonstration of the possibilities offered by this device A meeting took place on the 23rd of May with the groups who took part in the event: most of them were hiking associations, plus two public organizations, all coming from eight different regions of Italy. A common goal immediately emerged: the necessity and the will to share natural environments – unattainable with other means of transport – with disabled friends. They talked about how to form and organize volunteers who pilot the Joëlette, how to choose and indicate more appropriate trails and how to raise awareness among other groups of hikers so that they can use the Joëlette. Leonardo Paleari comments: "The ideas regarding the different uses of the Joëlette were interesting: from the visit of archeological sites to short travels of elderly partially disabled people, in the inaccessible zones of the country, including the precious help given by the Joëlette to natural organizations regarding environmental education". The next day, Saturday, a happy parade of ten Joëlettes climbed up the bends of the Guncina promenade, whose first part is a true museum of Mediterranean arborescent species illustrated by Ulrike Buratti, director of Bolzano's local gardens. The Joëlette quickly crossed the entire trail, going through a huge waterfall to quickly go back to the fields of Talvera's torrent. The town councilor of social policies took part in the excursion which allowed setting up a network between the Italian groups using the Joëlette. The participants said goodbye to each other with the objective of being even more numerous probably during the "Torino Capitale Europea dello Sport" (Turin European capital of sport) in 2015. Thank you to all the participants and to Leonardo Paleari, president of the association Il Cammino Possibile and coordinator of the event.
Video of the event https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAd-gDNexI4
Press review in Italian: "Joëlette: l'esperienza del Festival del Camminare di Bolzano" "Con la Joelette del CAI Torino al Festival del Camminare di Bolzano" "Smysly : l’importante non è la meta, ma il cammino" "Terni, l'associazione "Zavka" al raduno di Joelette: una montagna senza barriere"
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The Joëlette passengers' testimonies during the "European meetings"
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Pierangelo's testimony (translated from Italian) "My link with the Joëlette appeared for professional reasons and because of my relationship with some volunteers from the association Stefano Zavka. All of this began thanks to a project that the association Stefano Zevka started a few years ago in collaboration with the association Vita Indipendente ONLUS (which I belong to) and the Center for Autonomy Umbro (www.cpaonline.it). The project is called "Mountain for all" and tends to identify equipment and accessible paths adapted to disabled people. The first equipment that the project was able to buy was precisely the Joëlette, with which the association Stefano Zevka allows disabled people to live an experience in the mountain for three years now. The first time, I took part into this out of curiosity and to go through an "experiment": to manage to reach the top of an exceptionally high summit of the "Umbrian Apennines". I went to Bolzano once again out of curiosity and to use this equipment in a different place than Umbro. The experience was a real party gathering a lot of people and a lot of experiences: each participant (disabled or volunteer) could talk about the different modalities of use of this equipment and about the different answers given to the disabled people who want to follow a mountain path that is not accessible with another means of transport. On the website of the Center for Autonomy Umbro hereinafter, you will find my story about the experience in Bolzano: http://www.cpaonline.it/web/news/scheda.php?n_id=1156" |
Angela's testimony (translated from Italian) "Until now I have lived several experiences with the Joëlette and they have always been wonderful! They have allowed me to appreciate the taste and the smell of the mountain and the wood again; but above all they have given me a chance to meet a lot of wonderful people. Knowing I can rediscover all of this by walking on my own and by using the Joëlette and its team makes me feel full of joy. The experience in Bolzano has really been great and did not make me feel disabled… On the contrary I felt rather able thanks to the Joëlette. I hope we will manage to raise awareness among more and more people and make them understand that the path is always possible and that they must never give up.”
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Henry's testimony: (translated from French) "I went hiking a lot in France and abroad thanks to the Joëlette. I feel a lot of joy and I get my health back. My feelings regarding this day in Italy with the Joëlette: it was great, full of discoveries but maybe not enough high in the mountains! I loved these conversations with the Italians, I met a lot of nice people and a friendship even emerged. It is also a means of expression, evasion and love that all the family of the association "Handiap evasion" gives us. I also took part in the film "les Calanques de Cassis" – Envoyé spécial ("the rocky inlets of Cassis") and in "Monte Velino con la Joëlette" ("the ascent of the Monte Velino"). I loved it. Make the Joëlette known everywhere all over the world; it has become essential to our lives. Thank you again for everything." |
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The 2014 Joëlette World Championship |
There is no need to introduce the Joëlette World Championship which is part of the famous Joëlette races to date. Each year, there are even more teams, smiles, pleasures to see each other again, and of course supporters throughout the race. The World champions are the members of the Joëlette team ACEF from the Rives de Paris who travelled 11 kilometers in 43 minutes. The Joëlette World Championships are taking on a real international dimension! Among the 63 teams present, three of them came from Belgium, Spain and Mexico. We suggest that you discover them better throughout the portrait we have done. Come and join this adventure as a team; the 9th edition will take place Saturday 16th May 2015 in Fouras.
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The Spanish team Borja Gonzalez's testimony (translated from Spanish) "The Joëlette World Championship is a torrent of solidarity, a river of joy and a sea of good intentions; a festival of colors where everyone belongs and brings something – whether it is a smile or a part of shadow after "trotting about" under a blazing sun. Meeting and living with 65 different people – each of them with a different story but all with the same goal – has no price… Because handicap is an ocean so huge, I thank life for letting me dive into it and make the most of it in this world. Now we will have to take in what we have experienced – it is not insignificant – and we will share it with our loved ones." Asociación APAT LORCA Proyecto un reto compartido – "Siete islas, un sueño"
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The Mexican team Julien Belliot' testimony (translated from French) The "Night Riders of Mexico" is a family of great sportsmen! Julien and his Mexican wife Isela, who used to be a professional triathlete, live in Mexico and are keen on the Iron Man distance. His father Yvon - member of the Rotary Club in Marennes Oléron and soon president of the club - his two brothers Thibault and Charles - who love travelling - and their cousin Lucas - who is suffering of autism with an absence of language - have been taking part in the World Championship of Joëlette since 2010. "The trips, the associative life and sport make us all forget the obstacles that exist between people and especially facing handicap. Regarding sport, it is a difficult trial. It is not the same effort when you run with your arms loosen than when you run with your arms open to hold the Joëlette. But the participants' and the public's happiness makes this race become a beautiful event. It enables us showing our disabled partner that everything is possible." The "Night Riders Mexico" – which arrived in 12th position at the World Championship – hopes they will soon organize a Joëlette race in Mexico! Photo credit : Synapse 17
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The Eurockéennes "Festival for all" with Eurocks Solidaires! |
As the meeting point of the summer period, the Eurockéennes in Belfort gather each year more than 100 000 spectators. The association Territoire de Musiques ("territory of music"), which organizes the Eurokéennes festival, has innovated and created the "Eurocks Solidaires" ("Eurocks United"), which points out the topic of accessibility in festivals for people with disability. Entire reception arrangements have been made for disabled people and are still being improved: adapted reception and signage on the site, platforms and audition induction loops on each stage, accompanying for disabled people and access to internet. We believe that more than 600 people have used these services since 2012. But their united approach goes further by setting up a "container for accessibility" that will be available for free to other festivals which have not enough resources to buy this kind of specialized equipment. To date, several festivals and events are already interested: the Belfort international festival of university music, the Gardens of Michel, the Paille festival… The container will hold the equipment to facilitate the circulation and some Joëlette to make uneven grounds accessible. The necessary funds have been collected thanks to the "Crowdfunding", the financial support of the foundation EDF but also thanks to their partners who have passed on the information (MDPH 90, AAAL, CCAH and the APF). For more information on the next edition : Video "Eurocks Solidaires! Culture For All"
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EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS Thank you to all those who came to discover or rediscover our equipment during the following events: - Autonomic in Paris from the 11st to the 13th June 2014 – The reference of the operators of handicap, old age and home support - Exposanita in Bologna from the 21st to the 24th May 2014 - International Healthcare exhibition - La Skarrozzata on the 24th May - a walk in the city of Bologna to understand handicap better |
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Next events: - REHACARE in Düsseldorf (Germany) from the 24th to the 27th September 2014 (n°D07 - Hall 05) The most important trade fair worldwide for rehabilitation, prevention, inclusion and care - Tournatur in Düsseldorf (Germany) from the 5th to the 7th September 2014 (n°G19 - Hall 01) A trade fair for the development of hiking and trekking activities
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The Joëlette is now on Twitter! Follow us to share your impressions, photos and videos with the #Joëlette! |
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SUMMER CLOSED PERIOD Our company will be closed for summer holidays from the 4th of August until the 22nd of August included. No shipments will be made during this period. Please take it into account for possible demands for your summer activities. Enjoy your holidays!
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Consult our previous newsletters here! And our press review Scoop It!
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