- With the closure of schools and the confinement at home, many sons and daughters of Castilian and Spanish families have been reduced to the possibility of speaking in Basque and have created a powerful network of conversation in Greater Bilbao: They have reached over 450 homes, but the initiative is having great success and the demand is on the rise; they need volunteers who work in Euskera by telephone with children a couple of days a week.
Volunteers who speak with elementary and high school students from seventeen neighborhoods of Bilbao and surrounding villages. In the case of some children and young people, the school was the breathing centre for listening and speaking in Euskera, and the crisis of the pandemic has affected the loss of the Basque language in many homes and the detachment from language. “In some cases, the project has become an opportunity – Koldo López, of mintzapraktika, tells us – because before the pandemic there were students with difficulties to follow the Basque classes (because they had just reached Euskal Herria, because they have other needs…) and this project is a reinforcement for them, when they return to school in September.”
“My calls are the only relationship with the Basque Country”
López explained that both families and volunteers are thrilled, and that although the intention is to call two or three times a week for 15 minutes, when it comes to a relationship, the calls are extended. “I speak to a 6-year-old girl and we are always very comfortable. When I'm going to finish the call, I blackmail emotionally and usually get an extra five to ten minutes. It has parents from Valladolid and Galicia and the only relationship that the girl has with the Basque Country are my calls”.
Appeal to volunteers from all over the Basque Country
Despite the fact that they have reached over 450 families, ten children per child engaged in oral practice are left out of the net because they need more volunteers. Therefore, the call has been extended to the whole of Euskal Herria: from here, those who are willing to make two or three calls from 15 minutes a week until the end of the course, can be appointed in the following link.
Koldo López has stressed that they are willing to help and present the experience of Gran Bilbao to all those who want to organize a network of this kind of conversation in other towns and neighborhoods.
In Donostia-San Sebastián, a support network for school works in Euskera
In Donostia-San Sebastian, a network of volunteers has also been set up to help elementary school children in their school work in Basque or to conduct conversation classes in Basque. Several phones have been provided and information can be requested from: 680 671 818