ANNOUNCING PLANS FOR A COMBINED HERITAGE TOUR & ADOPTEE FAMILY DAY CAMP IN CHINA IN 2012!
Holt was the first agency to pioneer the concept of heritage tours for international adoptees in the 1970s. With adult adoptees in leadership positions and on our staff and board, and with years of experience working with children in orphanages all over China, Holt is uniquely qualified to offer a profound homeland experience for adoptees and their families.
On Holt’s upcoming 2012 Family Tours, in addition to two weeks of sightseeing and educational activities around China, for two and a half days all families will also be given an opportunity to participate in a day-camp in China. These camps will be facilitated by young adult international adoptees professionally trained as camp counselors, and cultural activities will be offered by local Chinese volunteers. Adoptees and their family members will experience self-discovery and fun within a community of other adoptees at the Beijing campground, while also exploring issues of adoption, race, and identity development and the significance of the heritage tour experience. Local Chinese children will join the adoptees for some camp activities, and neighboring Beijing families will invite adoptees to their homes for lunch.
Two Family Tours are being planned for next summer with dates of June 17 to July 2 and June 25 to July 9. The first tour will be designed especially with teenage adoptees in mind. Each tour will include tourist trips to sites of beauty and interest around China, an invitation to the office of the CCCWA, and visits to adoptees’ orphanages and foster families (where applicable and possible). Both of these tour groups will converge in Beijing for the day camp. All children should be at least nine years old. Participating adoptive families do not need to have adopted through Holt, and visits to orphanages in all provinces can be arranged.
For more information, please visit: http://www.holtinternational.org/tours/ or contact Lisle Veach at: LISLEV@holtinternational.org.