by Charlotte Postma, Netherlands
From August 16 to August 21, the annual CYE camp was held. This year, Coeliactive, the youth association of the Dutch Celiac Association (NCV), had the honor of organizing it. This was extra special for us because the NCV is also celebrating its 50th anniversary!
In April 2023, the Coeliactive board voted ‘yes’ for the CYE summer camp, after which the idea was pitched to the CYE group. I believe it was in September 2023 that the board started the preparations. In January, the perfect location for the camp was found: Rotterdam, and a hostel that even had a very sweet cat roaming around. Once the location was secured, efforts could be focused on food sponsorship and activities.
Especially in April and May, it was very busy arranging sponsorship for the food. Gluten-free food in the Netherlands is quite expensive (especially if you don’t want to eat potatoes every day).
After all this organizing, Dana, Elise, Marissa, Ilse, and I were very happy that the day had finally arrived on Friday, August 16. When they entered the hostel around 10 a.m., the first delegates were already present. After a busy day of organizing and some sore feet, the camp kicked off at 6 p.m.
A well-stocked buffet with various cold and hot options was ready, and the evening began with a pub quiz, featuring questions about celiac disease, the Netherlands, and even some questions about the delegates themselves. When asked who the oldest person at the camp was, the most common answer was Gert. Unfortunately, we didn’t see Gert until the end of the camp because we made him up (the right answer was Charlotte!), although there was a confession in the gossip box, created by one of the delegates, stating that someone had a crush on him!
From day one, the delegates had to deal with something the board calls “Dutch time,” which refers to the punctuality of the Dutch. “Time is time and deal is deal” is a common saying in the Netherlands. This wasn’t always well-received by the delegates, but the activities made up for it!
We went cycling to Kinderdijk to see the windmills, had a guided tour of Rotterdam, spent a day in a forest where you could climb and do stand-up paddleboarding, and of course, a day in Amsterdam was a must on the itinerary. The participants also had a great time in the karaoke bar. The outfits during the ’90s & ’00s themed silent disco were the best we’ve seen in years!
There was more than enough food: we had a traditional Dutch stamppot buffet, a barbecue in the park with a real barbecue bike (can it get any more Dutch?), and after our day in Amsterdam, a food truck came by to bake pizzas for everyone! And very important: there were stroopwafels for everyone as well.
It is safe to say that the CYE summer camp 2024 was a great success. Even the press came by! For the Dutch readers: on August 20, our camp was featured in the Nederlands Dagblad, and soon there will be an article in the NCV’s Glutenvrij Magazine.
If you want to visit the Netherlands again, don’t be afraid to send us a message, we would love to show you some more of our beautiful country!
Thank you to our Sponsors for the 2024 CYE Summer Camp in Rotterdam:
Bakker Leo
Schnitzer
Made Good
Rocky Rice
Little Helpers
Lemar BV
Schulp
VA Foods
Daura
Smaakspecialist
Jumbo
Peaks
Grand Italia
Levo
Remia
Crocky
Gefro
MeerGlutenvrij
Bites we love
Napoleon
Hoogvliet
Dirk vd Broek