There are different construction sites in the compound of Wukania. Volunteers are invited to help in different kind of renovation work. Every help is welcome, even without certain skills like plastering and painting. But skilled volunteers also can learn how to work with wood like a carpenter, to lay tiles or a wooden floor. As heating is run with wood, firewood can be prepared and stored. There are some more ideas and we will communicate them later.Important part of the work is to prepare food for the group of volunteers and to keep facilities clean. For sure there will be the possibility to find any work in accordance with abilities and interests of the volunteers.Study: Inhabitants of Wukania would like to show you their life style, and would like to discuss certain aspects of a life which is mostly self-determined, self-organized, and community based: Questions like: What s the motivation to join this community? Does it really work? Which problems arise? Study part will follow interests of the volunteers.
Accomodation & food:
Accommodation will be very basic. Volunteers are invited to sleep in empty rooms which are only equipped with mattresses or simple beds. It is also possible to bring your own tend. Facilities are nearly same like in a camping site: Food will be prepared in a big outdoor kitchen, showers are run with solar power, toilettes are composting toilets, a fire place and a baking oven made of loam can be used. In case of bad weather volunteers can use a saloon and seminar rooms for their stay. There is no heating in the rooms.
Location & leisure:
Volunteers can enjoy the green area and can go swimming in the lake every day. An excursion to Berlin can be arranged.
Requirements:
Please do not forget to bring with you: sleeping bag, swimming things, work clothes, raingear and sturdy shoes. Food will be mostly vegetarian.
With your help, a playground in Bielefeld should be cleaned and renovated, so that it s once again attractive and appealing for children in the local area. You ll be working on the old playground equipment, repairing the sand boxes and other broken parts, renewing the floor with the demanded playing surface, laying down paths and setting up new safety precautions to protect the children. Alongside this, we also ask for your creativity, as you ll be able to redesign the playground with your paintbrushes and imagination. At the end of the camp, you will organise an official opening of the new playground for the children and their parents in the local area.
Accomodation & food:
You ll be staying on an idyllic farmyard, in the hay barn. You ll cook your own meals together.
Location & leisure:
Bielefeld, a town with 300,000 inhabitants, lies on the edge of the Teutoburg forest. The town offers many free time and culture opportunities, for example music and theatre attractions, cinemas, pubs etc. The Teutoburg forest is a great place to go walking. It is also possible to take a day-trip to Hannover, Osnabruck or Munster.
Restoration of the roof construction and the roof of a historical annexe of the ManorOn the garden site of Gantikow Manor an annexe with a hexagonally shape, a kind of small pavilion, is situated, which is endangered because of luck of maintenance during the past decades. Although the current, highly damaged roofing is dating back only to the middle of the 20th century, the historical research of the building showed in the roof construction interesting remains of older structures. Under the professional guidance of a carpenter the participants will open the roofing, restore the roof construction and reroof the annexe. Because it will be sometimes not possible that the whole group will work on the roof at the same time the other volunteers will carry out in these times small renovation works at the house and on the ground. They will paint windows and doors, build new fences as well as carry out several fieldworks in the garden.
Accomodation & food:
shared rooms, warm shower and toilets
Location & leisure:
Gantikow Manor is situated 100 kilometres north of Berlin. The house is surrounded by a nice village with a medieval church and a lake. The manor is a picturing example of a former baroque building, changed in neo-baroque style in the late 19th century. Over centuries, the houses belonged to the Earls von Platen, which sold it in 1872 to a civil family which started soon, in 1877, with the modernisation of the house and kept it in their ownership till 1945. After World War II, the house was first used as a refugee shelter and after that the community used the house as a village centre, hosting the community office, the local store, the school, the kindergarten, the doctor's room, the kitchen of the agricultural cooperative and several apartments. With its many rooms the large building is perfect to be used as a Youth Accommodation House. The house is surrounded by a beautiful garden with old trees which reached originally up to the lake.
Requirements:
CV+photo and Motivation letter
Age:
18-99
Location:
Kyritz ot gantikow, 16866, am anger 1
Language(s):
English
Airport:
BER: Berlin - Metropolencode (Berlin, Germany)
Trainstation:
Kyritz train stationVegetarian food will be available
The accommodation of the Social Pedadogical Institute of the Felixsee community (around 15km away from Spremberg) are located in leafy surroundings directly on the natural Felixsee, with a viewing point. Here, groups of children and young people have ideal conditions, in order to stay active amongst nature during their free-time and holidays. The international workcamp taking place in 2016 will be the 15th of its kind here. Due to the current situation, the support of projects helping refugees in Spremberg is the core of this year s project. That refers to assisting with the social supervision in the emergency accommodation, for example organising day-to-day tasks, overcoming language barriers as well as integration activities, such as games or family afternoons, or international cooking events. You can produce everyday objects from soapstone and also help to make these objects more attractive.
Accomodation & food:
You ll be staying in wooden bungalows (with a barbecue area, table tennis and volleyball court nearby). Please bring a sleeping bag with you You ll cook your own meals together.
Location & leisure:
You can go swimming in the Felixsee lake and make use of the numerous sport and free-time activities in the leisure centre. Internet connection and bicycles are also available. In the town of Spremberg there is a water park, a cinema, a bowling alley, a disco and much more. A high rope course, a riding school and a boat rental are also very nearby.
Requirements:
Participants under 18 should bring written permission from their parents to go swimming (unsupervised in a natural lake).
International volunteers are invited to improve the grounds of the centre. Tasks are likely to include construction and renovation works. One of the most important works will be building a children's playground. The host will appreciate your ideas and suggestions to build it. Another task will be redesigning a room where domestic animals are shown in their natural surrounding. Everything is there, but your creative ideas are needed to make the exhibition vividly. Other environmental and construction works outside and inside are possible, please be open for any other work. Interest in craftsmanship and creativity are welcome!
Accomodation & food:
You will live in the guesthouse. Up to 5 volunteers will share a room, bed linen will be provided. The group will have its own common room.
Location & leisure:
If you are interested in history you will have the chance to learn a lot about the region and the fortress. You can travel to Weimar, which was the well known working place of Goethe and Schiller. Another nice city is Erfurt, the capital of the federal state Thuringia. You could go for a boat trip on the river Saale or just enjoy the natural environment while walking around the area.Please be aware that you will be in a very rural area from where it is quite difficult to get away (for shopping etc.). But there are very nice people in the village who are interested in meeting you.
« We did a lot of conservation work, building hiking paths, tidying up wooded areas, removing weeds, planting trees, etc. The work was extremely successful and I found it very rewarding. »