From 25th to 28th October, 2024 the In-Person Meet Up of Stamily members took place in Prague, Czech Republic. During the event the participants could discuss relevant topics to our community as well as enjoy each other's presence in a laid-back way. Onsite meetings are important because despite the significant advances of the technologies such as social media and video call tools, the dynamics of interacting face to face and the experience of physical contact are still unmatched. It was a great opportunity to see and hug old friends again but also get to know new members of the community. The central location of Prague in the heart of Europe favored the presence of members from all over the continent but also hosted members from beyond. The attendees consisted of participants from Italy, Turkey, Portugal, France, Greece, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Hungary, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Brazil and India.
During the first day, some members gathered in downtown Prague for lunch and then went together to the cottage in the outskirts of the city for the check-in. That Friday was marked by a cheerful feeling in seeing other members and for the upcoming weekend. Saturday morning, an Estonian and a Greek member shared some practices in meditation so that we could calm our minds before the brainstorming could start. We worked in separated teams in order to elaborate how we could help a specific project to develop further. Specifically, I worked in the Language Exchange Project, a new project whose goal is to profit from our linguistic diversity to promote language learning in the community. It’s an interesting idea to create a network of people inside the community to help each other in their language learning goals, especially when we consider that language and stuttering are in the same domain. Other projects discussed the creation of an application for Stamily members, social media activity, planning of the next in-person meeting and so on. Every group had a team leader and everyone was encouraged to participate actively. During Sunday we revisited our projects and presented our ideas and discussions to the broader group. We had breaks in which we could go to downtown Prague to enjoy a bit more of its tourist attractions and some members extended it further, staying later for its nightlife.
The evenings were marked by a casual tone, during which we could spend some leisure time together talking about diverse topics and getting to know each other better. During those moments, I felt I could connect to a deeper human dimension of our group, getting to know more about their personal trajectories, their aspirations and fears. We also played different games, some popular in certain parts of Europe such as ‘werewolf’ and some of them popular in the 90’s in Brazil, such as the ‘hu-ya’ game. For me, the lighthearted laughings and smiles of those evenings are a reminder of how we have to be committed to that pristine part of our voices. All in all, it was amazing for me to play those games in a welcoming atmosphere of people who stutter, in which our voices could hum and swirl freely. During the onsite meeting, we hear the individual manifestation of each voice, hear how each person stutters in a unique way. Moreover, it’s possible to hear its sound in a multitude of languages, reminding us how deeply human and transcultural is stuttering.
On Monday most participants had already left, but a few, including me, remained a few days longer in Prague to enjoy its beauty a bit more.
I went back home with the thought that there’s yet much more to be experienced and discovered!
RENATO GUEDES FILHO
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