THE HAGUE--Queen Máxima of the Netherlands will pay an online visit to Expertise Center Education Care (EC2) in Saba on Thursday, January 13, the Dutch Government Information Service RVD announced on Wednesday.
EC2, an organisation that guides special care students on the island, was one of the three winners of the 2021 Orange Apples (“Appeltjes van Oranje”) awards of the Oranje Fund. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima are the patrons of the Oranje Fund.
EC2 won the award with its ‘Ways to Wellbeing’ initiative to help the special needs, vulnerable children cope with trauma after the big 2017 hurricanes, the current COVID-19 pandemic, and challenges with isolation, stress within their family, bullying, unaddressed learning issues and family displacement.
Ways of Wellbeing is a multi-faceted approach to nurture the mental wellness of vulnerable students facing challenges by developing four key dimensions of wellness: intellectual, emotional, social and physical.
During the online visit on January 13, Queen Máxima will talk with EC2 Director Henriette “Jet” van Heijnsbergen about creating the Ways to Wellbeing project and the collaboration with the different care partners and the governments.
Queen Máxima will also talk with several EC2 staff members and volunteers of Ways to Wellbeing about their daily work and the effects of the project. Ways to Wellbeing participants and their parents will share their experiences with the Queen.
Ways to Wellbeing of EC2 was one of the 12 initiatives selected as finalists for the 2021 Appeltjes van Oranje awards which had as theme, mental power. In April 2021, the board of the Oranjefonds selected three winners from the 12 finalists. Last June, during an online award ceremony due to the pandemic and in the presence of Queen Máxima, the winners received a small bronze sculpture, created by Princess Beatrix and an amount of 15,000 euro.
