Recently a SCI/VYRE peace messengers study-session took place in the European Youth Centre Strasbourg. Last week I attended the Study session “Peace in the Spotlight” that took place from 8th to 12th April organised by Service Civil International, Voices of Young Refugees in Europe and in cooperation with Youth Department of the Council of Europe….
Volunteer summer in the Mountains of the Balkans
If you are from the Balkans you would not be able to imagine the landscape and natural heritage of the region without coming to think of Velebit, Sharr, Pirin or Frushka gora mountains. All of them are special places which provide home for rare animal and plant species. Proclaimed as protected areas this summer they…
Wonderful days at farming workcamp in Malaysia
It was a great learning experience to attend Organic Farming and Meditation workcamp at Cameron Highlands (Malaysia) last December (11-21). We got to learn the ins and outs of organic farming from seeding, planting, compost making, to harvesting and packaging. Among all, weeding was a big part of our daily chores. Thanks to the sharing…
Experience in language teaching workcamp in Ho Chi Minh City
The language teaching workcamp (Nov 19 – Dec 2018) was held in Ho Chi Minh city (Vietnam), a vibrant and crowded city full of life and motorbikes. Our first two days were welcomed by Khai, the local representative from Volunteers for Peace Vietnam (VPV). In our group, we have Maya and Ben from Luxembourg, Olivia…
European Solidarity Design was a most wonderful experience!
Isanne ten Have from the Netherlands went for 6 months with EVS to Bucharest, Romania. My departure I left early in the morning to Schiphol. Here the nerves struck me and once I was on the plane this continued to persist. But then I thought of the reasons I had chosen for the project. I…
BioBlitz at Jenolan Caves
An IVP Weekend workcamp team recently pitched in to assist organisers of a citizen science event at a popular tourist destination and nature biodiversity hotspot, near Sydney. For this occasion we advertised for volunteers at the Asylum Seeker Centre in Sydney, and three people on temporary visas came along. The principal task was catering for…
“Human Rights from A to Z” training course in Bulgaria
My fellow participants love the human library, so do I. Yet, for me, it was not merely the event on 4/11 in Sofia, but the whole training itself. The organisers/trainers (CVS-Bulgaria, Nat, Kat and Shirin) and the other 31 participants from 12 countries are all storytellers who have inspired me with their experience, knowledge, expertise…
Participating in the Human Rights Training Course hosted by CVS Bulgaria
I recently participated in the Erasmus+ training course „Human Rights from A to Z“. Right from the beginning, when I first read about the call for participants, I immediately felt very enthusiastic and motivated to take part in this seminar. The reason for this is that I always felt that Human Rights are one of…
“Festa de la Sopa”, intercultural recipes against racism
SCI Catalunya organised the fifth edition of the event, in which neighbours and local groups got to know each other through cooking. The main objective in this edition was to break the racist stereotypes. Last Saturday, 10th of November, SCI Catalunya organised the fifth edition of “Festa de la Sopa” in the district of Raval in Barcelona. It was…
Workcamp experience in Killarney National Park
I volunteered as a project coordinator on one of four Killarney National Park Woodland Conservation Projects during the summer of 2018. Set amidst one of the most picturesque parts of Ireland, Killarney National Park is a nature lover’s paradise. However, the park is battling a serious problem for years. Rhododendron ponticum is a highly invasive…
A summer of workcamps in Kosovo
Imagine hiking up the mountains to a village whose houses spread all over the lush slopes of a peaceful valley, then going deep in the forest until you hear some bells ring, look up and notice the white tower of a monastery pointing at the clean sky above you and finally descending to a town…
One of the greatest privileges possible
A new surprise to me: We got used to living in this place very quickly, arriving as individuals of free choice. The walls that separate us from one of the most horrifying places ever present. Wherever our eyes glance houses of perpetrators and buildings were mass destruction was systematically planned in its smallest detail. Volunteering,…
