Valley of the Sun Centre
The Valley of the Sun, our therapy and rehabilitation centre for people with intellectual disability, was established and works thanks to people who donate 1% of their personal income tax to us, as well as thanks to sponsors and individual donors.
Anna Dymna registered the Against the Odds Foundation on 26 September 2003. She did it to save 26 adults with intellectual disability who used to live in a shelter run by the Brother Albert Foundation in Radwanowice near Kraków. As a result of an amendment to an act on the rehabilitation and employment of people with disabilities, they were at risk of social exclusion.
It was a tragedy recalls Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, President of the Brother Albert Foundation. For people with disabilities, therapy classes are the meaning of life. We protested against the amendment to the act, but it was in vain. Anna had worked with us for several years. I convinced her to start her own foundation. She did it. She saved the people in our care.
Against the Odds Artistic Therapy Workshop started operating in February 2004. The workshop occupied three rooms. Back then, nobody thought that in a few years a beautiful and modern therapy and rehabilitation centre for people with intellectual disability will be constructed in Radwanowice. The Valley of the Sun is one of two facilities that Anna Dymna’s Against the Odds Foundation built and runs thanks to taxpayers, donors and sponsors.
The Valley of the Sun is a modern facility constructed in the years 2008-2012.
Welcome to the Valley of the Sun
We run and maintain the Valley of the Sun by employing qualified staff. The people in our care are often orphans or half-orphans. Intellectual disability is usually accompanied by serious somatic diseases.
Everyone has their passions and everyone deserves happiness and respect, photo by Joanna Pieczara
Of course, I realise that if my foundation took care only of children, it could be easier for us to raise money says Anna Dymna. We are the most willing to help children because they move us the most with their helplessness and suffering. But the adult people with intellectual disability who are in my care carry the stigma of being different, they often don’t have families, they are helpless and vulnerable, they suffer from serious somatic diseases and they don’t even know how to ask for help. I’ve often heard: “Why are you spending social funds on these… morons?” I just don’t respond to such shocking questions. After all, John Paul II taught us: “Whoever you are, you are loved. Remember that every life, even if it is pointless in people’s eyes, has eternal and infinite value in the eyes of God.” These words have become my compass.’
Since the very beginning, the Valley of the Sun has been an open place that fosters social integration. It is full of life and happiness every single day. The people in our care can use an educational and computer studio, theatre studio, handicraft studio, everyday life studio, art studio, music studio and psychological studio, as well as a rehabilitation room. They can also experience the world. Moreover, they participate in classes outside our facility.
Thanks to the Ama Camen Foundation, the people in our care participate in dog-assisted therapy, photo: archives of the foundation
Two out of five pavilions in our centre were lent for gratuitous use to the Brother Albert Foundation. There is now a therapeutic care centre and a community centre for people with special needs.
Every single day we work to make sure that the sun never goes out in our valley, photo: archives of the foundation
For detailed information on our centre and the people in our care, contact Małgorzata Cebula, e-mail: malgorzatacebula@mimowszystko.org.