For people with physical disabilities, and able bodied persons
The first Alarga weekend was held at Margate Queensland in August 1991 as an initiative of the Queensland Emmaus board who saw a need. Some of the Board and first Pilgrims in 1989 realised that the site at Neranwood would not be suitable for persons with a disability, or those who lacked the stamina to take the strain of the regular Emmaus Weekend.
We arranged for a young man with cerebral palsy, Grant Plowman, to attend a less strenuous site In NSW., and saw such a change in him that we concluded that there was a need to accommodate persons with disability, so that they too could experience this wonderful gift of God's grace called the Emmaus Walk, just as we able bodied persons were able to do.
After much prayer and with permission from the Upper Room Walk to Emmaus in Nashville, the Emmaus program was modified to suit a slower pace weekend.
It was felt that this weekend should be made available to able-bodied people so that the persons with a disability did not feel singled our for their disability. We also decided that if it was open to both men and women on the same weekend, it would give carers an opportunity to attend the weekend, free of their caring role, as this is taken by the team.
To accommodate this, and to still keep a semblance of separation, men and women are at different tables, meals and break time can be shared in common, table leaders are of the same gender as pilgrims on the table, usually 3 women's and 2 men's tables. The number of talks was reduced from 15 to 12 by combining some talks, and the talk time reduced from 20 to 15 minutes. All the Emmaus content has been retained. Talks are given by both men and women, able bodied and disabled. Men and women sleep in separate dormitories, and there is no accommodation for married couples. Alarga must not be offered as an alternative for couples who do not wish to attend an Emmaus Walk separately.
The program while being very similar to the Emmaus program was a separate program offered by Walk to Emmaus Australia. To date, Australia has been the only country using this program in Queensland and N.S.W., where altogether 10 weekends have been held.
While Alarga has always had the support of the Upper Room, early in 1998 dialogue began between the Upper Room and Ron and Marcia Single to extend this program Internationally and to offer it officially as a program of the Upper Room Walk to Emmaus International. In August 1998, Ron Colwell the International Director of the Upper Room Walk to Emmaus confirmed that: "Alarga is unified with Emmaus distinguished from it in name and format solely for the purpose of Ministry to people with special needs" and Ron and Marcia were appointed as International Co-Ordinators for the Alarga element of The Upper Room Walk to Emmaus International.
Alarga is a weekend which embraces people with and without physical disabilities and follows the Emmaus program closely. Alarga is not suitable for persons with an intellectual disability. Alarga, as with Emmaus, is for the renewal and development of Christian leaders. Many Alarga pilgrims find new ways of serving their church and community after the weekend.
Each Pilgrim before acceptance on an Alarga weekend is personally interviewed by a qualified person who is familiar with the weekend and persons with disabilities, to assess if the pilgrim can cope with the weekend. Alarga, though modified to give more time for rest and movement is still a challenging and tiring weekend.
An Alarga weekend is from Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon. All the special experiences of Emmaus are retained, Agape, Dying Moments, Candlelighting and Closing. Whatever you experienced on an Emmaus Walk is experienced on an Alarga Weekend, but at a slower pace.
A Lay Preacher and active church member who had an artificial leg was not fit enough for a regular Emmaus Walk. His wife had experienced Emmaus and heard about Alarga and wanted her husband to have, the same experience. He left the weekend a renewed man, his preaching became more powerful, and before he passed away 2 years later made a difference in his home church.
Two dying moment experiences:
A woman in a Wheel chair; who had not spoken for 2 years since her stroke, came to the cross and in a voice quite audible was able to name her dying moment. A man, also in a wheel chair, slipped out of his chair and crawled to the cross and there he too spoke his dying moment.
Lives are changed, not only the pilgrims but also those who witness the blessing that God can bring into these people's lives.
Over the last 12 months in talking to people from both Emmaus and Alarga it has surprised me to find that people do not realise that the Alarga Weekend is an Australian initiative. God used a lot of people in 1990 and 1991 and in the years since to make this program, available to people who may not otherwise have been able to cope with an Emmaus Walk. We should, as Australian and Queensland Communities, be grateful that we have been a part of this special experience.
Alarga has blessed Australia and it is now God's time to spread that blessing to the many thousands of persons in all Emmaus countries who would otherwise miss this wonderful out pouring of God's Grace.
