The « Maison des Bateleurs » is situated in the Haute-Saintonge, in the municipality of Montendre, a town with 3200 inhabitants. Montendre organises differents activities which imply the hosting of young Europeans for already 10 years. Montendre is strongly implicated in the work of the different associations located in the town and is interested in the international dynamics of the "Maison des Bateleurs".
In a rural environment, the most important branch of economic activity is the production of two traditional alcoholic drinks, "Pineau" and "Cognac". Furthermore, Eco Tourism developed recently, due to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean (70 km). Being relatively hilly, the scenery is enjoyable and wooded by stone pines. The inhabitants of the region are mostly farmers, but the development shows that many employees working in Bordeaux, the 6th largest city of France, are settled in this region.
To get to Montendre is quite easy, by car, bus or train. Bordeaux, Angoulême, and Saintes are at the same distance, about 60 km, whereas the sea port La Rochelle is at a distance of 140 km.
During 2009, the association decided to orientate its key activity towards environmental and ecological projects, in order to gain a reputation of a location of alternative and experimental living in terms of sustainability.
In fact the association supports a considerate style of living, in respect of Nature (consumption, water and energy saving, conscious food, waste separation, etc).
All year long Maison des Bateleurs hosts Long Term Volunteers (LTV), a minimum of four or five simultaneously, so as to assure the continuity of our activities and the cultural mixture of our group. The group consists of French, European and international volunteers from other continents.
Volunteers contribute to the collective life of the house (cooking, washing up, cleaning) but also work on practical activities to learn manual tasks such as masonry and, last but not the least, French language. They should be motivated to take responsibility in the functioning of Maison des Bateleurs, and to carry out creative and artistic activities.
Furthermore, volunteers have the possibility to develop a personal project. It is therefore important that they know, or learn, to evaluate and appreciate their interests, their goals, their limits and also the means to achieve their personal objectives in the end. This approach is linked with the philosophy of the association: by developing an active citizenship and a distinct sense of responsibility it aims at the concrete construction of Peace.
The activities organised with and by the volunteers are generally linked with manual work, arts (painting, theatre) and activities of local development in partnership with local associations and people of all ages.
The majority of the organised activities take place in Maison des Bateleurs, but some also take place in Montendre or neighbouring villages, or in other regional delegations of Solidarités Jeunesses.
Here is an example of a typical week at Maison des Bateleurs, from Monday to Friday:
07h30-08h00 - Breakfast
08h00-08h30 - Collective cleaning
08h30-10h30 - Work
10h30-10h45 - Break
10h45-13h00 - Work
13h00-14h00 - Lunch
14h30-17h30 - Leisure time or cultural activities
19h30-20h00 - Dinner
Saturdays and Sundays will be devoted to the discovery of the region and French culture.
In a general manner, working times are during the morning. They consist in the house's maintenance (carpentry, masonry, joinery) or environmental projects (medicinal and aromatic plants, vegetable gardening, etc). This year, volunteers will work on the construction of dry toilets, a greenhouse, a little wind wheel, and a filtration system which cleans water.
Furthermore, an international voluntary workcamp is organized with the objective of turning the scene of an ancient refugee camp in the town of Montendre into a convivial place with a monument, and of developing an exhibition on the history of the place. Another workcamp will work on the renovation of the walls of the Castle of Montendre.
The afternoon is devoted to artistic, musical, linguistic or social activities according to the proposals of the inhabitants of Maison des Bateleurs and of its partners and visitors.
Another branch of the association's work is the hosting of groups, for example, the European Week (a week of meetings between young Europeans, which deals with current topics), social worker trainings and groups of young people in difficulties which need special monitoring and support (social centres, reinforced educational centres, etc).
Moreover we are actively involved in the local development through activities in partnership with the associative network of Montendre. Each inhabitant is asked to work with other associations and local institutions. Maison des Bateleurs also participates regularly in artistic and cultural events like for example the city's Carnival.
During Spring and in the Summer, the association organizes about 15 voluntary workcamps with international volunteers all over the region. These workcamps take place in periods of 3 weeks and mostly in a rural environment. They range from renovation of local heritage (old wells, ancient bread ovens, ancient fortifications, etc ); the valorization of cultural heritage (events such as reports or exhibitions around historical and cultural themes), environmental projects (renovating the banks of a river or building a nature trail) or artistic cultural events (e.g. organisation of a festival).
One of the basic interests of the workcamps is to weave social links between the participating foreigners provided with completely different cultures and the people living in a rural context with few or no contact with the ‘outside' world. For the volunteers hosted by our association, it is also an opportunity to become project coordinators during one of these international summer workcamps.
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