Friday morning, 8.30 am. In Bethel, seven children from the Mamre Patmos School set off through the village with their teachers. Off to the swimming pool! For many, this seems to be an everyday situation. Swimming? That's part of PE lessons. But for the girls and boys at this special school, it's not. They have severe mental and physical disabilities. They would hardly be able to visit public swimming pools. The small pool in Bethel, on the other hand, makes it easy for them to get used to the water and enjoy their time there.
Sandro is eleven years old. The cheerful boy sits in a wheelchair because he cannot walk or stand on his own. But he can look curiously. Perhaps a little sceptical too, as it is his first visit to the swimming pool. His wheelchair is not allowed right up to the edge of the pool. And so Sandro is pushed on a stretcher. Then his teacher Julia Wohlers gently carries him to the water. Sandro watches carefully: I wonder what's happening? "We're going swimming now," says Julia Wohlers and carefully slides into the almost 34-degree water. When Sandro gets wet, he hesitates for a moment, but then his smile spreads wider and wider until he is beaming all over his face. Pure happiness.