During the past five years Red Cross in Vest Agder district has offered weekly vacations to the children whose families cannot provide them with that possibility.

Even though it’s autumn now when we are visiting Haraldvigen, It’s sunny and warm outside. The sky and the sea surrounding the house are perfectly blue. Fifty children from 8 to 12 who are spending their autumn school holidays here, are out and together with the young volunteers are practicing their fishing and sailing skills.

About 7-8 small boats are on the sea and the children inside give joyful cries: I am astonished how brave they are, I wouldn’t dare! -The clue here is to be able ‘to catch the wind’. That is what we teach the children. Once you can do it, it’s not a problem to sail a boat like this, explains Øystein Hærås, the leader of Haraldvigen.

We are walking around the area. Everything here seems to be made for children: a classroom with aquarium with the fish caught nearby, fishing equipment and a big list of the most frequently caught fish, the bedrooms, the dining hall, full of light ad flowers and the small café with dancing hall and tables which are game-boards.

To complete the picture here we are meeting the smiling teachers and people of the kitchen team. -Everything you see is for all the children: children with special needs, children coming from socially insecure families. It’s the idea behind this place to make holidays for all, Øystein goes on not without pride.

All the children have rest here and lots of fun, also some responsibilities of course: we are shown the duty list with the people who are to clean the bedrooms, help in the kitchen, and … to prepare weather forecast!

Back at the shore we can feel the wave of excitement of the happy youngsters emptying their fishing nets into the buckets of sea water, boasting to the volunteers on the rich catch they had: shrimps, star fish.
-Look, what I have got! It is eating fish! 8 year old Christopher beaming of excitement points to the crab which is holding firmly its ‘dinner’ - a small fish.
-You can swim now if you want, one of the volunteers announces as approaching to the group of the amazed children watching the crab finishing its ‘dinner’. I am turning to her to ask some questions but she is already hurrying to her motor boat to go after one of the children who seems ‘not to have caught the wind properly’…

Even though it’s quite cold, some of the children, obviously the boldest ones, ran towards the rooms to get changed into bathing suits: it’s holidays, isn’t it?