Visit to the social enterprise "Dabas zirgi"

First, we went to Ķekava municipality to visit the social enterprise – the “Dabas zirgi” centre for the well-being of horses. We were welcomed by the founder of this company, Līga, and her assistant, Dace, to tell us about the activities of this organization and to present its main occupants, horses.

This social enterprise promotes animal welfare because horses are not protected by national laws, they are classed as livestock. A lot of the horses that are staying here are with chronic illnesses and a lot of care is needed for them. To sustain its operations, “Dabas zirgi” offers a number of services:

Boarding services for horses – other people lend their horses to others.
Training for children – training children in how to look after a horse, maintain, saddle, and other skills.
Sells horse manure to farms.
Organise events, festivals and dancing evenings.
Parents also take their disabled children to work on horses. Unfortunately, the social enterprise is currently not eligible for social service status because it cannot ensure access to the environment for people with reduced mobility. Work is underway to get this status as soon as possible.

According to them, their big dream is to build a day centre for children to give them opportunities to be active and create different things in creative workshops. Land has now been purchased for this purpose and a project has been developed, but several more obstacles are ahead to realize this dream.

Also sharing our story of “Dvēseles veldzes dārzs” we received encouragement from Līga about opportunities to grow social entrepreneurship. We gained inspiration and helpful advice for setting up a social enterprise to carry out economic activities within it.

Visit to Ķemeri national Park

We went to Ķemeri national Park to get to know nature more closely, not just through vision, but through touch. We were welcomed by the park guides, who had prepared a special tour tailored to people with visual disabilities.

The origins of the Ķemeri national Park date back to 1836, when the site was a significant location for the resort. To get to know the park's different ecosystems, guides had prepared a variety of tangible ecosystem messengers, to allow blind people to get to know them.

In the ecosystems meadows we were able to smell bay leaves and balsamic charm, as well as feel and touch a bucks skull and a bird's nest. In the the swampy areas we were able to feel and touch moss, peat, medicinal mud, pine and smell the sulphur water. In the coast we fumbled through sand of Ķemeri beach, dolomite stones and amber. In the forest we saw and felt something unseen- tree leaves that were interesting to both fumble through and try to guess the type of leaves. We also touched various skulls of wild animals. It was the guide's detailed and rather interesting narrative that added to the feel of all these objects.

After examining the ecosystems, we went for a walk along the 500 m-long courtyard that led through the forest and gave us the opportunity to both view and touch nature, as well as listen to the guide's interesting narrative of the world of forest plants and animals. This kindness was also a good example of how simple solutions can facilitate access to the environment for people with reduced mobility. Traditionally, wooden graces have large spaces between boards, so people in wheelchairs can't move about them. In this case, the solution was to cover a metal sieve along the length of the trail, so that people in wheelchairs could also move about it.

As well as telling guides about the “Dvēseles veldzes dārzs” and the services it provides for people with disabilities during the tour, we invited guides to come and visit us and enjoy the countryside. The park visit offered many ideas to enrich the experience for visually disabled people at “Dvēseles veldzes dārzs”. For ourselves, we have taken ideas on how different objects and unique solutions can reflect Latvian nature, complementing it with a rich narrative.

Lessons learned from the experience exchange

In exchange of experience, we discovered how to promote the development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia, acquired ideas for the association's possibilities to start a social enterprise and perform economic activity. We also gained valuable ideas for introducing people with visual disabilities to Latvian nature, using different objects and providing factual stories. It could certainly be a good idea for developing services at the social rehabilitation and cognition centre “Dvēseles veldzes dārzs”. We also gained ideas for simple solutions for ensuring access to the environment for wheelchair occupants. We can clearly argue that the experience-sharing trip has been valuable and useful.

You can see how we did in the video below.
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The measure is supported financially by the Society Integration Foundation from the State budget resources of Latvia granted by the Ministry of Culture. The project “Darbosimies un pilnveidosimies kopā – “Dvēseles veldzes dārzā”” has been prepared with financial support from the Society Integration Foundation from the State budget resources of Latvia. The Liepāja society of the blind is responsible for the content of the project “Darbosimies un pilnveidosimies kopā – “Dvēseles veldzes dārzā””.
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