La Chapelle d'Abondance, France

A Bahá'í Spring Camp was held from 27 April to 3 May 2014 for about 50 people in a large chalet in the Alpine ski resort of La Chapelle d'Abondance in the French Alps. The theme of the camp was "The role and challenges for women in society", with lectures and discussions, artistic activities on the theme, and opportunities to hike in the surrounding mountains and enjoy the spring.

Group photo at the Spring Camp

The room was full for the main sessions

Different families took turns preparing devotions, often with music; Camp organizer Guita Baghdadi-Hoogenstraaten told the story of Tahirih

Della Marcus of Romania told the story of Martha Root and Queen Marie of Romania; Monique Anbergen gave a detailed account of Lua Getsinger, spiritual mother of the Bahá'í community in the west; I described the life and service of Agnes Alexander, and vignettes of women active in ecology; Bachar Younes told about the wives of the Manifestations of God.

Della Marcus; Monique Anbergen; Arthur Dahl; Bachar Younes

Françoise LeGoff round table

On the last day, Françoise Le Goff led a round-table discussion to synthesize the theme for the week

Music workshop led by Fleur Missaghian
music group

Theatre workshop led by Adéle Girot-Daquin
Adèle Girot-Daquin, théatre

Artistic workshop on techniques of illumination led by Simone Sempéré
Simone Sempéré, atelier artistique

Simone Sempéré; the workshop participants

Simone demonstrated various techniques, and supplied many models

artistic workshop Arthur

It was not easy to decide what to do and what techniques to use

Illuminations from the artistic workshop

More illuminations, mine are in the centre, illuminating Agnes Alexander's signature, and the two bookmarks on the right

The pre-youth prepared a musical play on Martha Root
pre-youth play on Martha Root

There was time for relaxation, renewing old friendships and making new ones

, Fleur Missaghian

The food service team

There were four hikes when the weather permitted, starting with one along the river behind the chalet.
The second day many of us hiked up the side of the valley behind Chatel, above and behind a waterfall.
group on first hike

The group of hikers; the trail up was quite steep

first hike

Simon VanPamel of Belgium; the pre-youth on the trail

first hike

Crossing a stream; snow-covered mountains in the distance

first hike

The sharp-eyed youth spotted some chamois looking for new grass

We hiked up the side of the valley above a waterfall; a chamois (photo by Della Marcus)

The waterfall from down in the valley

A third hike took us up the valley behind the Lac des Plagnes, above Abondance. We could not go all the way because of the snow.
group on second hike