In Kryoneri, our work mainly revolves around the FILOXENIA organisation. We support and accompany their youth exchanges, which mostly deal with political and social issues. The nice thing about working here is also our environment, because we interact with young and open-minded individuals. When there are no exchanges taking place, we either work in the once and create videos, edit websites, and translate small articles, or we help with the olive harvest and support the village community. Personally, I really enjoy the harvest! It's so interesting to be able to participate in something like this, especially if you come from a big city. You learn a lot about physical labour, which I'd had very little contact with before.
Our accommodation is not far from our workplace, which has some advantages, especially in winter when it's cold and you want to be outside as little as possible. Our house is very big, so it's easy to fit two people in there, or usually three, because other volunteers lived there for a longer period of time. Kryoneri itself is beautiful. With wide panoramic views and great hiking trails, it's a pleasant change from Berlin (were I am from). The village is quite small, but very cosy. It has a café, a mini-market, a pharmacy and three tavernas with delicious food.
In the last 5 months the small village was buzzing with new people from all over Europe again. Just as we did during late autumn, Renée and I started working with them. During different projects, we learned various new things, from how school systems work in Greece to what civil courage means. I enjoyed all the new experiences a lot, especially after the long and slow-paced winter. These programs gave me the opportunity to dive into topics that I would have otherwise never heard off and meet a lot of people that I am still in contact with to this day. Through collecting several vacation days, we also had a lot of free time that I used to go on trips with Renée and my family, savoring the good weather, Sea, and Food that Greece has to offer.
A highlight was a youth exchange that we accompanied was on the subject of film. The idea was for young people from the Bavarian young film scene and film-interested youth from Greece to come together, share their cultures and get to know each other while working together on a short film. It was so exciting accompanying the filming team, watching them and helping them in their work. We were able to be a part of all stages of the film and learn something from each category: music, acting, filming and editing. I was also able to learn something about working under extreme time pressure and remaining flexible, as well as how to communicate with people from different backgrounds.
Another youth exchange was about the so-called ‘memory trails’. These were historically linked to the rescue of a Jewish family who found refuge in Kryoneri during the Second World War. For a month, we worked our way up to the cave where this family was hiding with 10 other volunteers so that anyone interested could walk along this path. The project was also set up to bring people from different cultures together. We had two people each from Spain, Italy, Turkey, Austria and Finland, which meant that Renée and I came into contact with lots of different people. Halfway through the project, we had already done a lot of work. After we finished the path to the cave, another path was started to the old mill, which played an important role during the Second World War too, by feeding the people of the village when all other food sources were scarce. It was really nice seeing the progress we made every day and how the work became less tiring day by day. We (Renée and I) were also given the task of filming the process and making a short video at the end of the month. The recording and photographing was a lot of fun and gave me a better understanding of how to film and edit properly. It was something completely new for me, but I really enjoyed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQkbJWZo47A
One of the most significant experiences for me was the cultural week. Because of my participation in both the theatrical and dance groups of Kryoneri, I worked hard towards this week for several months, but in the end, it was worth it, because it couldn't have gone any better. The performances that we did all went amazing and I had a tremendous amount of fun on the stage. I felt connected not only to the Greek culture, but to this village specifically.I am really happy that I had the chance to meet and work with all these amazing people in Kryoneri.
This voluntary year opened my horizon a lot and made me grow into a person with a completely new set of aspirations and hopes for the future. I am truly grateful for everything that I learned through this experience.
Anais Sakka- Camelin