Frankenthal, located between the Pfaelzer Wald and the Rheinebene, is home to the Pfalzinstitut for people with hearing difficulties. Here your team will help create a schoolyard that is close to nature. First you must prepare the ground so you can plant flowers, trees, and bushes, and afterwards you will build an insect hotel. For the various garden tools your group will be building a tool shed and a cistern to save rainwater. As a creative project, your group will paint murals, so come with ideas and let your creative side shine.
Accomodation & food:
You will be staying in apartments on the school grounds. Meals will be prepared as a group.
Leisure:
Frankenthal has very good connections to nearby cities such as Heidelberg, Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Worms, Speyer, and Frankfurt. In Frankenthal you have a beach right nearby, a movie theater and a disco. The Pfaelzer Wald also offers hiking opportunities. There is a grill festival planned at the end of the camp.
Age:
16-26
Location:
Frankenthal, Rhineland-Palatinate, Heidelberg 40 km, Mannheim 15 km.
Rangsdorf, a city of about 11,000, lies 15 kilometers south of Berlin. Its highlights include its nature areas and Rangdorfer See. Since 2005, workers have been building a hiking path network in order to help others experience this beautiful landscape. Under expert leadership from the local landscape committee and in cooperation with the Berlin Brandenburg International Airport, your team will help further expand this network. The tasks will include caring for, repairing, and building pathways, clearing debris, building and installing benches, observation points, and maps, and caring for the nearby nature area. Most of the work will be manual labour, but the forester and others will help with the more difficult tasks. At the end of the camp, your team will present your work to the local public.
Accomodation & food:
You will stay in a small day care center. There is a grill pit and volleyball court in the yard. You will bike the 4 kilometers between your accommodation and work site. Meals will be prepared as a group.
Leisure:
At the edge of Rangsdorf you will find a typical Brandenburg landscape with fields, small bodies of water, and forests. Bikes will be provided and available during the whole camp, so you can use them to discover the local swimming hole (ca. 3 km away) or go to the train station (ca. 4km) without problems.
Landscaping in a great area and sightseeing in a big city-you can do both in the camp located at the southern end of Hamburg. You will be working in the Fischbeker Heide, a 770 hector nature area in the southwest side of Hamburg. In order to preserve the area, your team will be removing invasive plant species (mostly pines). This serves to preserve the diverse animal species present in the area, including the 200 endangered species of insects. You will also create signs to mark the hiking paths, as visitors in the wrong areas can make the area worse. A third task will be working on the Nessand Island, located in the Elbe and reachable by boat, where you will remove trash from the area. This is a great opportunity to experience the Elbe river from another side.
Accomodation & food:
Your team will be staying in a cozy, simply furnished seminar house on the grounds of the nature area in Fischbek. Meals will be prepared as a group.
Leisure:
Fischbek is an hour from the center of Hamburg with public transportation. During your free time, you can travel to Hamburg, the second largest city in Germany. There await countless free time activities, such as sightseeing, the harbor, shopping, going out, etc. On the weekends you can travel to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Location: Hamburg.
The Verden Youth Centre (www.jugendzentrum-verden.de) offers youth rooms to meet, to play, or to simply chill. There is a rehearsal room for bands, an internet cafe, group rooms and a large room for events. These rooms all desperately need a coat of paint. Together with local youth, your team will redo the walls of the centre. The work will involve painting as well as wallpaper work. You can feel free to let your creative side shine while painting If time remains, your team will build a small seating area on the outside grounds as well as plant hedges.
Accomodation & food:
You will be staying at another youth centre (www.tintenklecks-verden.de). Your accommodation has no showers, therefore you will receive cards to use the showers in a nearby swimming pool. Meals will be prepared as a group.
Leisure:
Verden has 27,000 residents and lies at the mouth of the Aller River. The over 1000 year old city is known as the equestrian capitol of the area. The city centre and its cathedral are worth a visit. In Verden and the area you can go canoeing, hike, and bike in the nearby parks. Nearby Bremen, Hanover, and Hamburg offer endless free time and cultural activities, sightseeing, and shopping. You can also visit the Bergen Belsen Memorial Site. For more information please seewww.verden.de, www.verwell.de, www.heide-park.de, www.serengeti-park.de, www.bremen.de, www.bergenbelsen, www.universum-bremen.de.
Age:
16-26
Location:
Verden, Lower Saxony; Bremen 40 km, Hanover 90 km, Hamburg 130 km
Your team will be working in Kraeuterdorf Stiefenhofen and in Oberreute. The activites are diverse, and include working in moors, mountains, and forests. Building in and around these areas is guaranteed to be fun as the workers in the area let you in on the secrets of the area. You will see how tree trunks are turned into valuable pieces of lumber for builders and carpenters. Even the brushwood is used to create energy. You will also be taken into the Alps and be shown how cheese is made out of milk In the fields you will rake hay while observing butterflies and other wildlife in the area.
Accomodation & food:
Your team will be sharing rooms at the Malteser Gaestehaus Kremlerbad - http://malteser-gaestehaus-kremlerbad.de Meals will be prepared as a group.
Leisure:
Oberreute and Stiefenhofen are only 10-15 kilometers from the alpine Nagelfluhkette nature park. Here, you can walk up mountains and slide right back down again on the slides. If the weather cooperates you can go to the pool or enjoy the Bodensee. On a rainy day you can visit the Aquaria in Oberstaufen. Since the public transport connections leave a bit to be desired, some organizational talent is needed to organize excursions. You will however have access to a vehicle.
Requirements:
The work may be physically challenging at times.
Age:
16-26
Location:
Oberreute/Stiefenhofen, Bavaria; Lindau am Bodensee 30 km, Ulm 115 km, Zurich 150 km, Munich 170 km.
What do you do when you can t go any further? Here you and your group will always find a way to get ahead Cross a river with your self-made cable bridge, climbing, canoeing, kayaking on the Baltic Sea, sleep in a nature camp-all this in one camp If you enjoy being active, are outdoorsy, and love adventure, you are in the right place. Together with a team from Grashalm e.v. you will work under the motto "Life is Adventure" and will experience two unforgettable weeks. The building and the grounds are a large adventure teaching area and there is always something to do.
Accomodation & food:
Your team will share rooms, but on a few nature adventures you will sleep in tents. Meals will be provided, but you will be expected to help cook.
Leisure:
Adventure education doesn t just start in the morning and end in the afternoon, each activity has an adventurous side to them. Through hikes, biking, and canoeing you will get to know the area, and you can also visit Wismar and Rostock when you aren t spending your evenings around the bonfire.
Your help is needed with various forest and nature protection projects: in the Rothaargebirge your team will first learn about the ecological relationships between forest, animals/plants, and climate protection. Afterwards, your hardworking hands are needed to build and repair fences and areas used for hunting. Your team will also maintain forest stands, cut plants free, and protect against damage caused by game animals. In this camp you will learn about the relationships and effects of storms and about working with wood.
Accomodation & food:
You will be staying in single and shared rooms in the conference house Oberlinspher Muehle (www.tagungsmuehle.de). Meals will be prepared as a group.
Leisure:
Your group will have countless travel opportunities to cities such as Marburg or Kassel, or to other local areas. The Edersee region offers various free time activities such as swimming, hiking, climbing, and archery. The Kellerwald National Park and its visitors center is also located nearby. Your accommodation is located a bit outside the beaten path, ideal for all nature lovers.
Age:
16-26
Location:
Frankenberg, Hesse; 40 km north of Marburg, 100 km west of Kassel.
Your help is needed in the following areas: Manual work inside of the building: the continuation of the interior construction, plastering, painting, lay out of the green area and playgrounds. The work is guided and accompanied by social workers and craftsmen. It is foreseen that you will work eight hours on four days of the week, including two hours break.
Accomodation & food:
The project will provide food and accommodation, your help will in kitchen and cleaning the dishes will be welcome. We sleep inside the house in beds ore mattresses. Each participant should bring a sleeping bag and a sheet. In exceptional cases, a sleeping bag can be provided.
Location & leisure:
Various leisure times are possible. It is organized and partially funded by the institution, which are partly as a variable offer for the group. - Hiking in the surrounding area, excoursions in Halle, the city of Handel and the salt boilers, including a visit to the salt museum, Handel House, Beatles Museum and a youth recreational facility, possibly Disco, to go swimming.
Requirements:
Important are sturdy shoes and outdoor clothing for hiking and a backpack. It can be cold and rainy in Germany, even in summer.
« I appreciate that constructive criticism may be more useful to you than praise but I honestly have no gripes that I could possibly mention. I can only thank you for the experience that I really enjoyed and will undoubtedly follow-up in the coming year. »
