Mission Tour to Europe — 2009

[ Mission completed ]

The Highländlers will be taking a team into Europe this summer, prompted by the increased pressures on European families who choose to educate their children at home.

It is a fundamental right and responsibility for parents to make educational decisions for their children, yet these basic human rights in education are being denied to families in Germany.

German parents are being imprisoned and heavily fined, children forcefully taken from their homes, and families are being compelled to seek political asylum in other countries (including the United States), to seek relief from this oppression. Even Americans working in Germany are under fire, and some are being forced to leave the country because of this issue.

We have been communicating with American legislators and attorneys (as well as German families and private schools) over the past year, exploring ways that we can help. An excellent plan has been formed to give them meaningful aid.

Resolutions and endorsements, from both our Georgia state government and the United States federal government, are being prepared to be hand-delivered to German state and federal officials under the direction of German nationals. We are very honored to have the personal attention and counsel of the leading attorneys who deal with these legal issues in Germany as we assist in coordinating and implementing this effort.

Our group will be meeting with hundreds of German students, and with the directors of private schools. We will be discussing practical ways to make it possible for families to educate their children according to their conscience, through umbrella schools and other alternatives. We will also be meeting with home educators in various settings, including speaking and performing at a home education conference in The Netherlands.

Our mission team is comprised of an experienced, award-winning, semi-professional group of folk dancers, keeping alive the history and culture of the Bavarian and Scottish traditions. Throughout history, public speaking and performance have proven to be powerful means of swaying public opinion. We are scheduled to perform at several unique and historic events. Of particular interest, is our invitation to perform in the medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Our group is the first outside group, in the 120-year history of their historic association, to be invited to participate in this very major event.

Our team of 7 people will be traveling for 5 weeks. Our estimated costs are $20,000. Will you add your financial support to foster the fundamental freedoms within these nations that are at risk of losing them?