Initiative Helps Children With Autism Through Surfing · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Image on Flickr by user Manolo Guijarro (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Tabra is an association launched by Guillermo Ferrero and Andrea Mesones in Peru that aims to improve life quality for children with autism and Down syndrome through surfing and contact with nature, as stated on their Facebook page.
Guillermo is the father of a 13-year-old boy diagnosed with autism, and Andrea is a psychology student at a university in Lima.
Tabra nace del deseo de probar alternativas para lograr una mejora significativa en los niños con problemas del desarrollo cognitivo, dándoles oportunidades de expandir su mundo.
Tabra was born of the desire to try new alternatives to achieve a significant improvement in children with problems in their cognitive development, giving them opportunities to expand their world.
During every monthly two-hour session, “They try to have newcomers, so everybody can participate.” Due to their logistics, they can allow only ten to 12 children per session.
As Guillermo Ferrero says:
La felicidad que tienen cuando están en el mar es tan contagiosa que realmente tú terminas una sesión de Tabra con el corazón y el espíritu lleno de energía por todo lo que te transmiten estos niños durante el momento en el que están conectados con el mar.
The happiness they feel when they are in the sea is so contagious that you really end a session with Tabra with the heart and spirit full of energy for all that these children transmit during the time they are connected with the ocean.
About the name Tabra, the blog Seis de enero tells:
El nombre nació de una manera espontánea un día que estábamos conversando fuera del agua y el muchacho [el hijo de Guillermo] empezó a decir “quiero tabra”, pronunciando mal la palabra tabla.
The name came up spontaneously one day when we were just talking by the sea and the boy [Guillermo's son] started to say “I want tabra”, with a bad pronunciation of the word tabla (the Spanish word for surfboard).