Colm's Big Apple dream comes true
But he has long had a dream. Of going to New York. And the local community has rallied around to help make this dream come true. The week before last, Colm flew to the Big Apple, and he will live in the Triform Camphill Community in upstate New York for six weeks.
In addition, he has been invited to stay for five days in Manhattan, where he will see all the sights of the Big Apple, including the Statue of Liberty.
"The famous words of Martin Luther King, 'I have a dream', have inspired many," says Mischa Fekete of Bridge Camphill. "When an opportunity arises to follow a dream, one will work hard, and be persistent."
Colm, despite his difficulties in communication, worked hard to tell those living around him what his dream was. He constantly made indications about airplanes -- he had been in one before. He also regularly reacted to pictures of New York in magazines and newspapers.
"Then one day in Eason’s in Newbridge, he went straight to the travel section and browsed travel books for New York," Mischa says. "And there was this poster he acquired one Saturday afternoon in HMV. It was a treasured buy, that when eventually revealed on the wall of his bedroom showed the Statue Of Liberty, the obvious symbol for the often dreamed of 'New World' in all her glory."
Magazines, books, posters and cards relating to the Big Apple kept appearing. Yet such a trip seemed out of reach as Colm’s and his family’s financial resources are limited.
The support he needed would mean at least two people travelling. It was when suddenly a request for an exchange with another person from a Camphill Community in upstate New York arrived in the inbox of the Bridge Community, and when a recent volunteer co-worker in The Bridge Community was about to return to her home in New York City, that this trip to the 'Land of Opportunities' came into reach.
At the recent Kilcullen River Festival, the Bridge Community sold waffles to raise funds to make this special young man’s dream come true and contribute towards sending him to New York. There was a good response, and with the funds raised and other support from a number of individuals who came forward, Colm's dream has turned into reality.
Colm is pictured above with with Mischa Fekete of the Bridge Camphill Community, fundraising at the recent Kilcullen River Festival to help make Colm's dream of visiting New York come true.
Brian Byrne.
(This article was originally published in the Kildare Nationalist.)
