Dear brothers and sisters,
We are grateful for your patience and understanding in the challenging circumstances which are ongoing. Thankfully, we have good news – both the Senior HARP and ODP+ Workshops will take place in Seminarhaus Neumuehle in Bad Camberg.
Both workshops will take place with slightly modified dates. This is so that we can better manage both workshops in the circumstances, and we trust that it can work out well.
The German regulations for holding youth camps have been just updated on 21st July and it is expected that they will still apply for both workshops.
In this update we are providing the current information on travel to Germany from abroad and requirements related to COVID-19 which should make it possible for the majority of applicants to participate (we did a lot of reading of the regulations, so we hope our summary prepared for you is helpful 🙂 ). Unfortunately, it is not possible for all applicants to travel completely freely, and certain measures and obstacles are out of our control.
Confirmation of the European summer workshops
The Senior HARP workshop will take place between 11th – 18th August 2021 in Seminarhaus Neumuehle, Bad Camberg, Germany (the workshop is shortened by 1 day and the WS fee is lowered accordingly).
The ODP+ workshop will take place between 20th – 29th August 2021 in Seminarhaus Neumuehle, Bad Camberg, Germany (the workshop is shortened by 2 days and the WS fee is lowered accordingly).
1. Registered participants and travel arrangements
Participants who have already registered for each of the workshops before 1st July and confirmed they participation are accepted. Participants who have registered after 1st July and were placed on a waiting list are accepted, too. (all participants will be notified by email, too).
Please arrange your travel according to the WS dates:
Senior HARP WS: arrival on 11th August to and departure on 18th August from Bad Camberg
Detailed travel information is here at the bottom of the post
ODP+ WS: arrival on 20th August to and departure on 29th August from Bad Camberg
Detailed travel information is here at the bottom of the post
Please pay close attention to international travel restrictions (see next section). Fortunately, most of participants come from “no risk areas” and thus can enter Germany freely. However, everyone needs to monitor the situation for possible changes (read next section).
2. Travel restrictions related to COVID-19, coming to Germany (update as of 2 August)
Germany has classified countries (and regions within countries) into following categories based on COVID-19 risk:
A. No risk areas
People travelling from these countries entering Germany do not need to quarantine only if they have either
- Negative test result or
- Proof of vaccination or
- Proof of recovery
Register and submit negative test result or proof of vaccination or of recovery via portal at https://einreiseanmeldung.de before entering Germany.
The test result must pertain to a test taken no earlier than 48 hours (for antigen tests) or 72 hours (for PCR tests) beforehand.
Proof of vaccination: a full course of vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was completed, no less than 14 days may have elapsed since the last required vaccination.
Proof of recovery: based on proof of a previous infection with the SARS-CoV-2 no less than 28 days and no more than six months before entering Germany.
Otherwise people travelling from these countries entering Germany must quarantine for 10 days or they can end the quarantine if they get a negative test result.
Current ‘no risk areas’ are (examples related to WS participants): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, USA
B. High incidence areas (high risk)
People travelling from these countries entering Germany do not need to quarantine only if they have either
- Proof of vaccination or
- Proof of recovery
Register and submit proof of vaccination or of recovery via portal at https://einreiseanmeldung.de before entering Germany.
Proof of vaccination: a full course of vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was completed, no less than 14 days may have elapsed since the last required vaccination.
Proof of recovery: based on proof of a previous infection with the SARS-CoV-2 no less than 28 days and no more than six months before entering Germany.
Otherwise people travelling from these countries entering Germany must quarantine for 10 days or they can end the quarantine after 5 days if they get a negative test result (testing may be conducted 5 days after entry at the earliest).
Current ‘high incidence areas’ are (examples related to WS participants): United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Netherlands (effective from 27th July) , Spain (effective from 27th July)
C. Areas of variant of concern (the highest risk)
People who come from or spent any time during previous 10 days in an area of variants of concern (even people with proof of vaccination or of recovery), must quarantine for a period of 14 days after entering Germany. This quarantine cannot be ended prematurely.
Currently no participants and staff come from any of these areas.
All airline passengers must – whether or not they have spent time in a risk area – present a negative test result or proof of vaccination or recovery to their carrier prior to departure.
Proof of vaccination, proof of recovery, proof of testing for purposes mentioned in this section can be provided in German, English, French, Italian or Spanish in written or digital form.
Follow this link to find detailed information about requirements when entering Germany from abroad (an English option is available).
Here is the full list of risk areas (an English option is available).
Please note that this list is regularly updated every Friday (changes are effective from the following Sunday.)
Therefore, those travelling to the Senior HARP WS should check for the latest updates on 6th August.
Those travelling to the ODP+ WS should check for the latest updates on 13th August.
3. Capacity of the workshop center and registrations
Those who registered before 1st July, but did not confirm their participation yet and wish to attend, confirm as soon as possible. Please use this link to confirm. We will respond within 2 days.
We will still accept new registrations for the waiting list, even though the capacity is almost full. If you are interested in either of the workshops please register as soon as possible, and we will get back to you within 2 days if there is a space for you. To register for a workshop, please fill out online form either for Senior HARP WS or for ODP+ WS.
There are limits of participants for youth camps based on German regulations. However, the limits do not count individuals who had recovered from COVID-19 (at least 28 days and a maximum of 6 months before the workshop) or who had been fully vaccinated (date of the second vaccination minimum 15 days before the workshop) and who can present the proof. Therefore, you will be kindly asked to provide this information to help with our planning.
4. Requirements related to health and safety standards
- Each person (participant and staff) is required to present a negative test result when arriving at the workshop site. The test result must pertain to a test taken no earlier than 48 hours (for antigen tests) or 72 hours (for PCR tests) beforehand.
- Those who are fully vaccinated (date of the second vaccination minimum 15 days before the workshop) do not need to present the negative test results. However, they are required to present the proof of vaccination.
- Those who have recovered from COVID-19 (at least 28 days and a maximum of 6 months before the workshop) do not need to present the negative test results. However, they are required to present the proof of previous infection.
The basic COVID-19 requirement is for everyone to bring their own facemasks and hand-sanitizer. We will communicate further details directly with participants and staff, and trust that everyone involved will cooperate and prepare as well as possible.
We do appreciate everyone’s flexibility and understanding with the situation. We hope that all will have safe travels and that we will see many of you in Neumuehle. We do feel that everyone’s commitment to come despite the uncertainty can contribute to a good foundation for successful workshops. We want to experience something deep and transformative to bring us closer to God and each other – and to receiving some inspiration and direction for each of our lives.
Yours Sincerely,
The ESGD Team
Patrick, Yebuny, Julius and Martin
esgd 