Monika Weis of the Saarland Charitable Organization states the following in regard to the continuing support of dolphin therapies, especially as they relate to Curacao.
Before I explain the reasons for this decision I want to make it clear that, basically, I am not opposed to dolphin therapies since I’ve been able to convince myself of the successes of such therapies. The children are, indeed, making significant and visible progress.
The half-paralyzed girl from Neustadt was able to swim with dolphins. The therapy shows its first successes.
Careful, this is crawling! Dolphin lady Daisy is tenderly tickling Marie’s feet. The half-paralyzed girl was able to work with specially trained animals in water in Turkey. They might see each other again next year.
The wet snout is tickling Marie’s feet. The six-year old girl is especially ticklish there. No respect is being paid to that. Marie is supposed to simply laugh.
Dolphin Therapy helped Serge: he smiles, concentrates better and is more alert of his environment.
Haltern: I am awaited. The thirteen year old Serge is excited, beaming at me through his thick spectacles. His mother, Dodo Akpaqnonite, wants to explain who the guest is, but Serge remembers my first visit, he knows why I have come, and he laughs into the camera.
”Serge is looser, more relaxed. He could open his hands and hold the dolphin’s fin. And he smiled a lot”. Dodo Akpaqnonite, Serge’s mother.
The severely disabled boy, who once could not move his arms, sat waiting. ”Hi, how are you?” I could even shake his hand. He grinned at me, which meant ”Everything’s OK”. I met Serge and his mother a year ago. She was tired, but she would not be beaten. Serge could neither concentrate nor coordinate his cramped hands. Even though he was strapped into a wheel chair he was always moving. His head shook with every change in mood. Had his wheel chair not been fully padded he would have been covered in bruises. His mother was constantly removing spittle from his chin. Now she needs to remind him to wipe himself, and usually he can. He can even open his hands.
Ten months ago during my visit he was sitting apathetically in his wheel chair. Now, he wants to ‘join in’ the conversation, laughing, humming, hand movements, rolling his eyes or blinking, he follows our conversation.
The mother related that she arrived back from Turkey on Tuesday. He had been in Antalya for Dolphin Therapy, visiting ‘Flip’, ‘Frosia’ and ‘Jonas’, with his mother Dodo for two weeks. Their stay in Antalya, said the mother, was very good. Read the rest of this entry »
Victoria (8) from Saxony thanks all ‘Neue Welt’ donators– The Dolphins have worked a Miracle
Manuela Lenuweit from Priestewitz in Saxony says dolphins are the angels of the seas. And she is still astounded by the immense progress her seriously ill daughter Victoria has made thanks to the gentle animals.
Victoria carefully strokes the dolphin helped by therapist Barbara and trainee Lisa
The eight year old girl cannot eat or drink on her own and sits in a wheel chair. Doctors have been unable to diagnose her malady. Read the rest of this entry »
The seriously disabled Janik Schröder from Bad Ditzenbach in Germany took part in Dolphin Therapy in Turkey for 2 weeks. This was made possible through donations – also from GZ readers.
“Schblasch”, answered Janik Schröder beaming at the question to what “his” dolphin was called. This “Splash” had decisively contributed to the fact that Janik can now live with more self-confidence. The eleven year old boy from Bad Ditzenbach was with his Grandparents for two weeks in Antalya, Turkey, for Dolphin Therapy.
Experiences of the Herrmann´s about Dolphin Therapy Antalya (Turkey)
Thanks to your help we were able to undertake dolphin therapy in Antalya for our son Nico this year. Your dolphinarium has been open since May and that is a good reason to inform you of our positive reactions.
After 3 hours flight we arrived in Dalaman, Turkey, on the 11.06.07. A transfer bus awaited us at the Airport that took us to the Antalya Resort Dolphin park through beautiful countryside, hills covered with stone pines. Antalya lies in a secluded bay in the middle of this wonderful landscape. The Antalya dolphin park is only a half hour from the town of Antalya. The Antalya dolphin park, a large Hotel complex, is set apart from tourism in the Nature Park of the Hisarönü Gulf.
Here we were welcomed by Axel and Elena Linke, who were to be our contacts during our stay. Read the rest of this entry »
Calmly Torsten Panhorst starts his Laptop, clicks through the programmes and begins to watch the film of his son Jan-Richard playing with the dolphins. When Jan hears the typical call of the big mammal he stops playing in the living room and races around the large dining table to see »his« Frosia on the screen. Jan, remarks Mama Petra astounded yet again, has never done that before. He has become a lot more alert through the dolphin therapy.T he fourteen days in Antalya, Turkey, were a great success for the Panhorst family.
We didn’t mention the changes we noticed at first.reported Petra Panhorst. But it became evident even at school that something had changed”, said the 41 year old mum. Jan shows now, for example, that he is hungry. He fetches his bib on his own, remarked Papa Torsten Panhorst. If it isn’t in its usual place he even goes and takes it out of the cupboard.For instance when he fancies a piece of sponge cake, that he likes to eat. Read the rest of this entry »
Experience Report of the dolphin therapy of Jessica Sophie Stock from 13. to 27. October 2007
Dear “Dolphin-Team“,
I am now sitting here and trying to find the right words to describe our experiences and impressions from October,but it is not that easy. Where do I start? Best to start with our daughter: Jessica Sophie was born July 2004 and was born two months early. Her health conditions were first attributed to her premature birth.
However, after a while we could not believe this anymore. A long period of physicals and hospital stays began. Then, beginning of 2007, the diagnosis: Coach-Syndrome. What is this?
It is a very rare metabolism disease, worldwide only 20 cases are known. Thus, there is not much experience with this disease, but the University of Washington in Seattle is currently researching it. So now we had a name for the condition of our daughter, but this did not really help us much. It was recommended that we do physiotherapy and early intervention with her. Read the rest of this entry »
Empiric report of the Waidler Family
about the Dolphin therapy 29.09.‐13.10.2007 in Antalya
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have been back home from Turkey for 2 weeks now and it is time for us, also in the name of our 3 foster children, to thank you for the amazingly generous donation for the dolphin therapy. Read the rest of this entry »
We had a lot of fuss at the beginning of our journey. Shortly before we left for Kas, Turkey, we had to buy a child’s seat. A seat that the Airline Condor required to certify. The suggested model “Romer King Quickfix” is no longer available according to the supplier. Apparently it was last manufactured two years ago. So we opted for the next model in line, namely the “Romer King TS Plus”. After a lot of backwards and forwards, Condor finally found it acceptable.
So we started our journey on 12.09.05 at 16.00 hrs at Stuttgart airport. At the airport we were handled very well and were accompanied to the aircraft. The flight to Dalaman airport took 2.5 hours and we were pampered by the crew all the way. Read the rest of this entry »