Swiss Review 2/2021

Swiss Review / April 2021 / No.2 25 Every year, the Foundation for Young Swiss Abroad (FYSA) offers over 300 young Swiss expatriates the chance to visit Switzerland in the summertime and make friends with children of the same age from around the world. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, we will continue to try our best to offer you a varied selection of holiday camps this year. We have had to downsize our range of camps a little, but we remain as motivated as ever to showcase Switzerland to as many Swiss expatriate children as possible. Organising the camps poses particular challenges to the FYSA this year, while parents are naturally also asking questions. For that reason we have produced a document called “Holiday Camp Covid Information 2021”, available on our website, which contains useful information that will help parents to plan ahead. We have already received many bookings for this year’s summer season. Late bookers who would like to know which camps still have free spots should visit our website: https://sjas.ch/en/. This year, the FYSA is again offering discounts on travel and/or camp costs to families who would otherwise find it hard to New offers 2021: online language courses Alongside other young Swiss Abroad, participants will have the chance to study one of the Swiss national languages from their own home, thereby maintaining a connection with their country of origin, even from the other side of the world. This new offer from SwissCommunity enables young people aged 15 to 25 to follow two weeks of intensive lessons in French or German. The online lessons will give participants the chance to learn or improve their linguistic knowledge along with other young Swiss people from around the world. While learning you will also have fun and share some unforgettable experiences. The language les- sons will be based around the central theme of “Switzerland” and will be delivered by qualified and enthusiastic teachers. For further information and the registration form, go to our website: www.SwissCommnunity.org > Youth offer s. Organisation of the Swiss Abroad OSA, SwissCommunity, Youth Service, Alpenstrasse 26, 3006 Berne, Switzerland, telephone +41 (0)31 356 61 24 , email: youth@swisscommunity.org www.SwissCommunity.org MARIE BLOCH, OSA YOUTH SERVICE afford sending their children to our camps. We urge such families to apply for these discounts when making bookings. Our donors will be pleased to know that the discounts they help fund have given children the gift of a carefree couple of weeks in Switzerland, even in difficult times. If you wish to make a donation yourself, visit https://sjas.ch/en/about-us/donations/. L OÏC ROTH A break in Switzerland for expatriate children What challenges does our democracy face? This year, the Annual Congress of the Swiss Abroad will focus on key questions for the future. It will be held in the Mediterranean atmosphere of the southern town of Lugano. Pandemics like the one that we have been experiencing for over a year – or immi- gration, data protection, digital challenges, and exercising our political rights: how is the Swiss democratic system meeting today’s challenges? Where does it need to change? How can we guarantee respect for the basic democratic rights in Switzerland, unique in the world, in a time of increasing autocracy? Should Swiss political rights be granted to second generation immigrants or to young people from the age of 16? These are just some of the questions that speakers at the 2021 Congress will be asked to answer or debate. If you are interested in these topical issues and keen to discover (or rediscover) the incredibly varied Ticino land- scapes and architectural heritage that is unique in Switzerland, reserve the weekend of 20–22 August 2021 and join us in Lugano, an Italian Swiss town with a Mediterranean atmosphere. (JF) educationsuisse Tel. +41 31 356 61 04 Fax +41 31 356 61 01 info@educationsuisse.ch www.educationsuisse.ch Organisation of the Swiss Abroad Alpenstrasse 26 CH-3006 Berne Tel. +41 31 356 61 00 Fax +41 31 356 61 01 info@swisscommunity.org www.revue.ch www.swisscommunity.org Foundation for Young Swiss Abroad Tel. +41 31 356 61 16 Fax +41 31 356 61 01 info@sjas www.sjas.ch