Mencap Omagh - El Camino Trek
Mencap Omagh Support Workers is raising money for Mencap
Story
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On 28th September 2017 our team of six Support Workers from MENCAP Omagh will set off to walk over 100km of the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. Gary Watson, Ryan Thornton, Annette McCollum, Cathy McElmurray, Doreen Alexander and Kate Kirk will take on what has been described as 'the walk of a lifetime'.
For some twelve hundred years the stunning Cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain has served as the focal point for an untold multitude of intrepid, foot-weary souls brave enough to tackle the gruelling 800 kilometre-long pilgrimage known as El Camino de Santiago de Compostela (Way of St James). Each year, some quarter of a million pilgrims from the four corners of the globe disembark from various starting points along ‘The Way’ all with one, common goal in mind: the final resting place of, and spectacular 13th century Cathedral dedicated to, Christ’s Apostle, St James the Great. An increasing number of charities and voluntary-sector organisations have also identified the Camino as an excellent means of raising the profile off and much needed funds for a host of deserving causes. Indeed, it’s with the latter goal very much in mind that six of us Support Workers with Mencap NI’s Supported Living Scheme here in Omagh have decided to throw caution (and possibly common sense) to the wind by undertaking the Camino in September of this year. Like many initiatives that quickly assume a life of their own, the ‘decision’ to use a week’s annual leave trudging the highways and byways of Northern Spain arose in fairly innocuous circumstances. During a well-deserved morning coffee break, a colleague raised the question of as to whether any of us had seen any good movies lately. ‘Well’, I replied, ‘it’s not new exactly but I watched a fantastic DVD that a friend has been raving about for ages’. The movie in question was ‘The Way’, an emotive, thought-provoking tale of four unlikely pilgrims journeying together on their way towards Santiago. Having one minute gone from never having heard of the El Camino, within a fortnight, six of us had our flights booked!
As fantastic an experience as the Camino promises to be, however, our week in Spain is no junket. Our aim is to raise as much money as we possibly can for Mencap NI, the region’s leading charity dedicated to helping improve the lives of people with a learning disability. Here at Mencap, we look towards a future where each of the 33,000 people in Northern Ireland living with a learning disability is valued equally, listened to and included. Everything we do is about helping make that future a present reality. Whether it be one-to-one help or 24-hour round-the-clock support, Mencap NI strives to help thousands of people with learning disabilities live their lives the way they choose; providing a platform for young and old alike to speak out about the things that are important to them and a means through which to challenge assumptions and change attitudes towards learning
disability. Every penny we raise in walking the Camino to Santiago de Compostela will go towards helping the lives of people with a learning disability and their families, so let’s do it, ‘Let’s do it for Mencap’.
On 28th September 2017 our team of six Support Workers from MENCAP Omagh will set off to walk over 100km of the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. Gary Watson, Ryan Thornton, Annette McCollum, Cathy McElmurray, Doreen Alexander and Kate Kirk will take on what has been described as 'the walk of a lifetime'.
For some twelve hundred years the stunning Cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain has served as the focal point for an untold multitude of intrepid, foot-weary souls brave enough to tackle the gruelling 800 kilometre-long pilgrimage known as El Camino de Santiago de Compostela (Way of St James). Each year, some quarter of a million pilgrims from the four corners of the globe disembark from various starting points along ‘The Way’ all with one, common goal in mind: the final resting place of, and spectacular 13th century Cathedral dedicated to, Christ’s Apostle, St James the Great. An increasing number of charities and voluntary-sector organisations have also identified the Camino as an excellent means of raising the profile off and much needed funds for a host of deserving causes. Indeed, it’s with the latter goal very much in mind that six of us Support Workers with Mencap NI’s Supported Living Scheme here in Omagh have decided to throw caution (and possibly common sense) to the wind by undertaking the Camino in September of this year. Like many initiatives that quickly assume a life of their own, the ‘decision’ to use a week’s annual leave trudging the highways and byways of Northern Spain arose in fairly innocuous circumstances. During a well-deserved morning coffee break, a colleague raised the question of as to whether any of us had seen any good movies lately. ‘Well’, I replied, ‘it’s not new exactly but I watched a fantastic DVD that a friend has been raving about for ages’. The movie in question was ‘The Way’, an emotive, thought-provoking tale of four unlikely pilgrims journeying together on their way towards Santiago. Having one minute gone from never having heard of the El Camino, within a fortnight, six of us had our flights booked!
As fantastic an experience as the Camino promises to be, however, our week in Spain is no junket. Our aim is to raise as much money as we possibly can for Mencap NI, the region’s leading charity dedicated to helping improve the lives of people with a learning disability. Here at Mencap, we look towards a future where each of the 33,000 people in Northern Ireland living with a learning disability is valued equally, listened to and included. Everything we do is about helping make that future a present reality. Whether it be one-to-one help or 24-hour round-the-clock support, Mencap NI strives to help thousands of people with learning disabilities live their lives the way they choose; providing a platform for young and old alike to speak out about the things that are important to them and a means through which to challenge assumptions and change attitudes towards learning
disability. Every penny we raise in walking the Camino to Santiago de Compostela will go towards helping the lives of people with a learning disability and their families, so let’s do it, ‘Let’s do it for Mencap’.