They emerged in a similar way to the ikastolas. Many children who worked in Basque during the course did not have much chance of speaking in Basque in summer. In order to fill this gap, they met for the first time in the monastery of Barria to make a three-week stay. The colonies, like the ikastolas, counted in their beginnings with the help of people who worked in religion. After several successful summers, in the course of 1967-1968 they moved to Saturraran and Deba, and then the Basque Colonies formally emerged.

At present, after the closure of the house of Urdirotz, there are three buildings within the Euskal Udalekuak: Bernedal, Abaigar and Goñi. Although each household has its own character and its own organizational system, the initial objectives are maintained. The three houses are surrounded by the rich nature of the Basque Country, designed to have fun with the Basque country as a base.

“Counting those of all the colonies, children between the ages of 6 and 17 come together in these summer houses,” explains Oier Peñagarikano, an educator in Goñi. In the same shift, an attempt is made to avoid the presence of children of the same age in the three houses, so that a child of a given age may choose more than one date. On the other hand, children and young people between the ages of 2 and 3 come together in each round. The colonies, depending on age, last between 9 and 15 days.

Voluntary

Without educators, the Basque Colonies would be nothing. “We like to use the word educator instead of monitors, so let’s put all the monitors, cooks and millions – responsible for housekeeping – inside the house,” explains Txomin Azpiroz, Bernedo’s educator. Each household has a total of 120 educators who are divided into four turns in summer, all of them in exchange for money.

“If we did an organizational scheme, at the top would be the office and the coordination table,” says Peñagarikano. In the office there is one worker, the only liberated from Euskal Udalekuak, who is in charge of the registrations, the web or the formalities. The coordination table deals with internal communication, collaboration and propaganda of the three houses”.

Every house has its own organization. “For example, in the Assembly we gather all the educators throughout the year to discuss the situation of the house and each shift,” explains Laida Bengoa, the educator of the house. In Goñi and Bernedo there is usually a motor group, with responsibilities such as the annual maintenance of the house, the propaganda proper of the house or the transmission of the values of the colonies.“If in each of the summer shifts there are about 30 educators, two of them are coordinators who are responsible for the formation of the working groups, the coordination of the educators and the good day to day. These are the ones that make up the house’s motor team,” said Bengoa. “The coordinators of each shift have only one annual commitment, they can change each year if they want,” added Peñagarikano.

Annual planning

It is not thought that the work of the Basque Colonies is limited to 9-15 days shifts. Multiple meetings are held throughout the course, to close the previous summer and prepare well the next one. “At the end of the summer, the coordinators of each house meet to make an assessment of the year that has ended – says Azpiroz. Once this is done, the course is finished and we start preparing the next one. Between October and December we hardly held meetings. By the end of January, however, the lists of educators from each of the following summer shifts should be closed.”

How to prepare next summer? The coordination table of the three houses, as well as the propaganda group, meets several times. And so do the educators of each shift. “Taking into account the general objectives of the Basque Colonies, in each turn we try to achieve concrete objectives,” said Peñagarikano. One day they organize Euskera Day, doing activities like Korrika or playing Euskalki games. Another day, Nature Day, to convey the surveillance of the environment or to explain the functioning of the Zero Zabor initiative and the damage of the big infrastructures. “On the other hand, each day we organize tertulias with the kids to ask them what is going, to give them the floor, we also to learn from them. In short, we want to maintain a horizontal relationship with children, both in words and in activities,” added Azpiroz.

Auzolan

In the Basque Colonies there is no fixed number of educators to be in each shift. This means that, if there is more responsibility than the ones needed in a given shift, they use it to improve some activity or add something else. Likewise, according to Bengoa, “participation in this project is a totally voluntary activity and the people who believe in it are really offered to be an educator. And if you need more people, you gently choose those new friends, you do not choose the most useless person of your people to work for free in the summer colonies.”

This is one of the main reasons why this nearly 50 year project has lasted to this day: the passion and motivation of those who organize it. Euskera, love of nature or respect for gender parity are essential to be part of the Basque Udalekus.

On 10 March the deadline for enrolling in this year’s Basque Colonies will be opened and the request will be made via the internet: www.euskaludalekuak.org.