Petr and Ivana could have gone to the seaside every year. Their incomes allowed it. Instead, for five years they have spent their holidays at home. The money they would have spent on flights and hotels goes to summer camps for gifted children from regions that lack expanded educational opportunities. Their pastime has become spotting talent and giving it space to grow. They say they enjoy it more than any all‑inclusive holiday.
The first camp: an idea at the dinner table
Five years ago Ivana and Petr were sitting at dinner, taking stock. “Where shall we go this year?” Petr asked. Ivana fell silent, then said: “What if we put that money somewhere it could really change a life?” Petr laughed at first, then grew serious. Their nephew was exceptionally gifted at math, but school wasn’t enough for him and his parents couldn’t afford special training. That was the first time they helped.
A year later they set up a small charitable fund. The goal: each summer to run a weeklong camp for about twenty children from areas without extracurricular activities. They don’t select by grades, but by interest and potential.
A camp that looks like a holiday but teaches more than school
The first camp was modest: a rented cottage, three instructors, a tailored programme. The children built Lego robots, wrote short stories, and solved logic puzzles. In the evenings they roasted sausages. Nothing revolutionary. But for some, it was the first time they met peers who think the same way. For many, it was the first time they heard that being smart isn’t strange.
“One girl wrote to us at the end: ‘Thank you for three days when I didn’t have to pretend I didn’t understand things.’ That broke our hearts in the best way,” Ivana recalls.
A holiday? This one feels much richer
Today the camp runs a full week and the capacity has grown to fifty children. The couple work on it themselves as organisers and cooks. Ivana teaches art, Petr runs programming workshops. Instead of a beach they have piles of paper and broken robots. Instead of the sea, there are laughing children.
“This year, instead of Greece, we bought new laptops. We don’t regret it. When you see a child’s eyes light up after they get an LED to glow or write their first poem — that’s a holiday you can’t buy,” Petr says.
People ask if we miss travelling. We don’t. We’ve been all over. But no hotel memory compares to a twelve‑year‑old writing to tell us that the camp helped him start believing in himself. That is our luxury.
Ivana and Petr, organisers of camps for gifted children
Inspiring others
Today the couple share their experience with others — advising on how to set up a similar fund, what to watch out for, and where to find talent. Their motto: “You don’t need millions. You need to cancel one holiday a year and the willingness to do something meaningful.”
Author: Sponza editorial team
Photographs: (illustrative – children at the camp and organisers)
