Article written by Francesca Pavan, Italy
My name is Francesca, I’m 18 years old and I’m from Italy! I took part from Wednesday 7th to Monday 26th of June in a volunteering project in Kryoneri, Greece. The wonderful nature we were surrounded by was the main part of the project. In fact, Act Green has the aim of taking care of the landscape that Kryoneri can offer, cleaning footpaths and gardening. Everyday we worked from 10 to 14 helping the village in maintaining the environment. There were sixteen of us and we had to work as a team to reach our daily target in working, involving everyone and not leaving anyone behind. I also had the opportunity to go to Korinth and paint the wall of a kindergarten, it has stimulated a lot my creativity.
But THE most significant aspect of the project keeps being the social one. Here I had the chance to meet and understand more about people I would never get in touch with. Living with them for twenty days challenged my empathy but improved my skills in understanding others. Luxembourg, Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Turkey and obviously Greece are the nations I now feel closer to thanks to this project and I hope I’ll have the possibility to visit one day.
Article written by Vojta Korbelik, Czech Republic
Kalimera! (hi) my name is Vojta and I became the only Czech volunteer in Greece in one small village of Kryoneri on the Peloponnesian peninsula between 7.6. and 26.6. In total, 16 of the 7 countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, Hungary and Turkey) participated. It was quite a large group, which was unusual, usually half the number participated, but fortunately this was not an obstacle. The name of our project was "Act green" and we focused on helping in the village and its surroundings. We had accommodation right in the village in a hostel that is designed for such projects.
The first days we played games to meet others and we also got basic information about the hostel, work program, security and other things. Every morning we started with breakfast at 9:00 and by 10:00 we were ready for work. As for the work itself, it was very diverse. At the beginning we adjusted the surroundings of our accommodation, i.e. cutting grass, cutting wood and removing weeds.
Between 14:00 and 15:00 we had lunch where we had a chance to taste typical Greek cuisine. We had to get used to the siesta, which lasted from lunch to 17:00, and during this time we had to avoid noise. In the afternoon, for example, we had Greek lessons to learn how to read the alphabet and basic phrases that we might need. We also had the opportunity to get involved in painting a wall in a kindergarten in a neighbouring town or to help a local artist in his studio. For the last week we all worked in the field cleaning the trails near the village.
Perhaps the greatest experience for us was hitchhiking to the town in our free time. Since there is no public transport from the village, hitchhiking was our only option and we hoped that there would always be someone willing. Sometimes it took only a few minutes, sometimes an hour, but we were always successful.
The whole three weeks were definitely an unforgettable experience that I will always remember with joy. I met many new friends and discovered wonderful places. I definitely recommend volunteering to everyone.
Article written by Elif Üstün, Turkey
Hi, I’m Elif. I had participated in a volunteering project “Act Green” that has broadened my horizon on nature which took part between 07.06.23-26.06.23. The 20 days I have spent with incredible volunteers from Italy, Hungary, Luxembourg, Austuria, Chekia and Slovakia has became a milestone for me.
As young adolescents who experience different cultures in the daily life and live in different countries, we have understood crystal clear that the differences are not hitches that create chaos. We have came to realise that they aliment a magnificent, breathtaking tree which each and every branch has been growing and flowerin in their own way. Under this huge tree we precisely call the humanity, we have stood side by side to be solution oriented and take action to understand nature’s wealth and to be grateful for that.
We have aimed to achieve developing flora& fauna panels in environmental footpath, reusing recycling material for wooden conatructions while we were gardening and supporting Hostel Elisson’s practical jobs. We have also cleaned environmental footpaths around Kryoneri. Though we all know it’s nearly impossible to complete everything in a week or a month; bringing something helpful to the table, doing our bests and realizing our roots getting stronger when we move ahead alltogether have given us unique points of view and the capacity to achieve more. I kindly thank Hostel Elisson for their part on this project that makes me sincerely recommend everyone to take part in a volunteering project
Sincerely,
Elif Üstün
Coordinated by FILOXENIA, Intercultural-Environmental Organisation
This project was supported by the European Solidarity Corps of the European Union through the Greek National Agency “INEDIVIM”
