Camino Walking Blind

A group of visually impaired walkers, accompanied by their personal buddies, arrived at Praza Obradoiro in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. After 14 days of walking together, everyone realized that life would be different for ever. The group completed a pilgrimage of 200km. The limitations on their sight meant they had to let go of the idea of having control over their life during the expedition. Getting through the journey meant trusting a buddy to walk with and accepting help to find their way around.

Foundation Anders Bekeken was founded in August 2015 by Annemieke Oost and Gert-Jan de Hoon. They met during a workshop 'Be the director of your life!' of Voyage Beyond in Winterberg 2014. Gert-Jan spoke about the Camino and how he had walked as a pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela. Being visually impaired, Annemieke asked if she could walk the Camino. With this question Camino Walking Blind was born. Annemieke has been visually impaired since 2007 because of a progressive eye disease. Her dream of walking the Camino only got stronger.

The Foundation organizes and supports activities and projects for people with disabilities, to increase self-knowledge, self-confidence and self-acceptance as to get more direction over their own life.

THE CHALLENGE

A group of people with a visual handicap, paired with personal buddies, is taking the challenge: a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Without being able to see (well), but with blind faith, walking a distance of 225 kilometers from Ponferrada to Santiago de Compostela.

THE OBJECTIVE

We are challenging those with visual handicaps to step out of their comfort zones. To learn to become more confident and less dependent. To learn flexibility, to conquer fear, to think positively, and to dare become part of a team. Active participants are on their way to new possibilities. Radical change requires risking or daring to take chances on being more than you can be.

Read more about experiences of participants of Camino Walking Blind.