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Call for Delegates for International Youth Group

To:

  • All members of Retina International

    From:

  • Christina Fasser, President
  • Dave Waldron, Management Committee
  • Markus Georg, Chairperson Retina Europe Youth

    Dear Friends,

    The life of any young person is filled with the challenges of education, career, relationships and other issues, which create a certain amount of stress. Add to this the diagnosis of a progressive visual impairment, and the situation becomes even more difficult. Young visually impaired people can become overtaxed with uncertain expectations for the future, and they find that their choice of careers and ability to participate in social and sporting events changes dramatically, often leading to diminished self-confidence.

    Retina Europe Youth was initiated in Berlin, 1999, to provide the opportunity for visually impaired young people to meet others in a similar situation and to share their experiences, develop friendships and visit other countries.

    The Retina Europe Youth group meets annually in a chosen member country and communicates regularly between meetings via e-mail, website, printed youth magazine and camps/holidays. It is hoped that it will expand into a Retinal International Youth group in preparation for the 2004 Retinal International Congress in the Netherlands.

    At a recent meeting between members of the youth group and Christina Fasser (President) in Chiba, Japan (host of the 14th World Congress, 2002), it was agreed to better represent the interests of our younger members in the activities of Retina International. In order to do this, it is important for each member country to put forward a delegate to act on behalf of young members in their organisation.

    The main roles of the delegate will be to:

  • Act as a contact person between this youth group and their own young members
  • Keep their young members informed of the activities of the youth group and how they can get involved

    Each delegate needs to be committed to this role and must have the full backing and support of their own organisation. This may involve some financial support to fund attendance at meetings in other countries, however to date this funding has been sought from EU sources where possible.

    We are asking your organisation to please put forward a named delegate as soon as possible. It is hoped that a full list will be completed before the end of this year to allow delegates to interact before the next Retina Europe Youth meeting, which will take place in Paris, April/May 2003.

    Yours faithfully,

    Dave Waldron

    Management Committee, Retina International.

    d.waldron@ucc.ie

    Youth Delegate Contact Information

    Name of Organisation:

    Surname:

    First Name:

    Address:

    Town:

    Zip Code:

    Country:

    Phone Number:

    E-mail Address:

    Please e-mail to Dave Waldron: d.waldron@ucc.ie

    Or post to:

    Dave Waldron

    Fighting Blindness Ireland

    1, Birchgrove,

    Monahan Road,

    Ballintemple,

    Cork,

    Ireland.

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