You and your team will be staying on the premise of the monastery Heiligengrabe, which was founded in 1287 and remains the only fully preserved Zisterzienser monastery in Brandenburg. The former distillery, the former sheep stable, a settler home and a former administration building have been restored by ijgd volunteers, so it can be used as a seminar location. The project gives you the opportunity to experience the monastery as a spiritual place, a memorial and a cultural place. This year you and your team will be able to continue the work which was started in the last couple of years: painting the settler home, works on the brick wall and the outside area (building trails and paths), loam constructions etc. This camp is partly funded by the Deutsch-Französische Jugendwerk (Franco-German Youth Office).
Accomodation & food:
You will stay in the seminar building of Heiligengrabe. You will cook together.
Location & leisure:
Heiligengrabe is surrounded by nature and there are plenty of free time activities on the premise of the monastery and the area close by. You can also visit Nueruppin, Schwerin and the metropolis of Berlin (100km) on the weekends.
Requirements:
Participants from France, Italy and Germany will have to pay an additional fee of 150,- €.
You will help with the maintenance of the Vita Parcours fitness trail. Your task will mainly be to clear the trail of over-grown plants. Besides, you will set up gardening spaces in the "Naturlehrgarten", a park that includes several stations which explain environmental issues to the visitors. In this park you might plant herbs and trees as well as set up new paths. Last but not least, there will be plenty of cleaning work to do for you along the famous St. James' Way.
Accomodation & food:
You will be accommodated in the local youth club called "JUZ". The building includes a kitchen and all necessary facilities. Please bring a sleeping bag! The local youth who normally visit the club are looking forward to welcoming you and getting to know the international volunteers.
Location & leisure:
Heilsbronn with its 9300 inhabitants is located in the idyllic Bavarian region called „Franken" ("Franconia"). The town lies along the path known as "the Way to St. James" or "Camino de Santiago". For this reason, the town is frequently visited by tourists as well as pilgrims. Apart from the traditional, half-timbered houses the town offers a few unique sites, such as the Romanesque monastery and the local cathedral. A guided tour might be organised for you. Besides, the town arranges free entrance to the outdoor swimming pool for you. Nature-lovers can find several hiking trails in the beautiful surrounding landscape. The beautiful cities of Nuremberg, Bamberg and Rothenburg ob der Tauber are not too far away either and might be visited on weekends.
Main focus of the Workcamp is the renovating the inside and outside of the „playhouse". Especially the wood paneling on the outside needs to be refurbished: sanding off the wood and repainting with preservative. The doors need a new paint job as well. On the inside a lot of repainting work is waiting as well and you can get artistic and creative on some walls, ceilings and doors. Depending on the work progress you might also help with greening some parts of the playhouse to improve the indoor climate. Apart from the work on the playhouse, there are lots of smaller projects waiting in the outdoor area of the Aki that can be tackled by the volunteers according to the progress on the playhouse.
Accomodation & food:
The group will stay in the playhouse directly on the AKI area, where there is enough space for separate sleeping rooms. Kitchen, toilets and showers are provided. However sanitary facilities are quite basic.
Location & leisure:
The adventure playground is located on the edge of Raitelsberg, which was built in the 1920s as a working class quarter in the eastern part of Stuttgart. It is only a few minutes to walk to the next subway station, the "Schlosspark" the Stuttgart's biggest park area and a mineral spring spa. Stuttgart has about 600,000 inhabitants and is the state-capital of BW. From museums, to castles and parks, to an afternoon spent shopping, the city offers something for everyone. Just a short train ride away you can enjoy the variety of nature around Stuttgart. Take a visit to some of the other interesting towns in the area, like Tuebingen (approximately 1 hour away) and Ludwigsburg (approximately 30 minutes away).
Volunteers are invited to decorate our seminar house. You will work on the interior using artistic means (i.e. fabric painting, painting on wood, …). Volunteers are welcome to show their talents in designing and handcraft. Participants who prefer to do manual labour, are invited to do some garden work or help with renovating another room in the center.
Study:
We will learn some essentials of peace work and get basic non-violent conflict management training. In the second week we will visit the former concentration camp of Bergen Belsen, and have some lessons on European history in the first part of the 20th century. Volunteers will have the opportunity to spend an evening in a German family and reverse, the group will invite the people of the village and region to an "Evening of encounter" (Abend der Begegnung) in the rooms of the Peace Center.
Accomodation & food:
The accommodation of the participants is carried out in rooms with 4 beds each.There are bed sheets available. Food will be prepared together in the kitchen of the seminar house.
Location & leisure:
In the leisure time, the group can use facilities of the seminar house and make an excursion to Hannover or Braunschweig.The Peace Center is at the verge of a village with about 2500 inhabitants, near a historical location where in 1553 a battle took place. Sievershausen lies 30 kilometers east of the Lower Saxony provincial capital Hanover on the freeway to Berlin.
Age:
18-26
Location:
Sievershausen
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
HAJ: Hannover (Hannover, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
The former park surrounding the manor house had been unused and abandoned for decades. Year by year, Open Houses brings back to life another part of the huge garden area. Also this year the gardening and cleaning works at the historical park will be continued. The participants will mow the lawn, cut bushes and trees and reconstruct paths. In the back part of the park that is still an inaccessible wilderness they will sort out stones to use them later for walls or paths and level the ground. In addition they will replace the old, broken fence by a new one. Beside that the volunteers will carry out small handcraft works as repair a storage house for fire wood, paint fences and similar tasks.The participants should be aware of the fact that the works will take place outdoor, also in case of bad weather.
Accomodation & food:
common sleeping room with mattresses, warm shower and toilets, no washing machines available,The meals will be prepared together as they are part of the community life, what means that everybody will be responsible for the meal at least once during its stay. So it would be very nice if you could bring typical recipes from home in order to introduce each other to the preparation of food from all over the world.
Location & leisure:
Klein Dammerow Manor is located between Berlin and the Baltic Sea and surrounded by nature reserves with many fields, woods, ponds and rivers. The Manor is a very interesting brick building from 1892/93 with a beautiful interior. The walls are covered with clay and painted with lime casein paint. The historical wooden floor planks are revealed and renovated. Most of the rooms are equipped with historical furniture, what gives the house a magnificent attraction.The manor house is surrounded by a huge former park with old trees. A stone-oven invites to experience conventional bakery and the fireplace assures nice evenings in the nature. The sports area with a football-ground and volleyball-net is just beside. The participants can also enjoy their leisure time discovering the Mecklenburg Lake District. This place is ideal for having a great summer.Klein Dammerow is situated in a beautiful landscape. The huge garden on the backside of the Manor is ideal for playing ball games or just relaxing. You can use your free time for exploring the surroundings, going to one of the lakes nearby (around 8 – 10 km from Klein Dammerow Manor) or for small excursions after the work or on your free day.
Age:
18-30
Location:
Klein dammerow
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
BER: Berlin - Metropolencode (Berlin, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
You will help to transfer an abandoned garden to a mini-farm for children. You will clear the garden from overgrowing vegetation and prepare everything for the new purpose. In the future children of the kindergarten will be able to take care of the animals and to grow fruits and vegetables.
Accomodation & food:
Volunteers will be accommodated in a building of the "Alte Seegrasspinnerei". There will be two sleeping rooms and all necessary facilities. Please bring your own sleeping bag and mat!
Location & leisure:
Nürtingen is a beautiful old town with approx. 40,000 inhabitants. The town is located on the Neckar River and Stuttgart is only 19km away. Nürtingen is surrounded by beautiful nature and offers many cycling and hiking trails. From Nürtingen there are good train connections to visit places near-by. You can go to Stuttgart, the capital of Baden Württemberg, and Esslingen, a quaint medieval town with traditional German architecture.
International volunteers are invited to help and improve the grounds of the centre. Tasks are likely to include painting, gardening, general maintenance and cleaning. There may also be the opportunity of different creative tasks. Volunteers should be prepared to be flexible and take part in any environmental and renovation work that will support the KiEZ Frauensee. Please be aware that you will not work with children!
Accomodation & food:
Volunteers will sleep in dormitory accommodation in separate male/female rooms with bunk-beds. All that you will need is there: showers, bed linen, etc. A washing machine and internet access will be available only during the office hours of the reception.
Location & leisure:
You will have your meal in the centre. The catering is organised strictly, because there are different groups of children accommodated at the same time. Be aware that the food offered is designed with children in mind.
A variety of tasks awaits you! First, you will help out in the local museums (cleaning and restoration). Depending on the weather, you will also help to renovate hiking trails, possibly set up signs for a nature trail, clean out a stream, or do similar renovation and landscaping work to support the Municipal Maintenance Department.Also, since there are school holidays in August, there is an annual holiday program for kids, in which you might help out supervising.For sure, you will also help out with the annual fair that will be taking place at the weekend. You will work with locals to prepare the festival, provide a helping hand in the stalls during the fair, and assist in dismantling afterwards. This will give you the chance to get in touch with the people of the Schwanfeld community and learn more about local traditions!
Accomodation & food:
The group will live in the local gym hall next to the school where they will have access to toilets and showers. The nearby community centre will provide a kitchen for you to use.
Location & leisure:
Schwanfeld is situated in the north-western part of BA, in between the cities of Schweinfurt and Wuerzburg. Only about 2,000 people live in this small community. The very motivated and active major of the village is looking forward to accompanying the volunteers, showing them around and educating them about the historical and regional specialties of Schwanfeld. Aside from the village's own sights and events (museum, church, local annual fair which was the highlight of last year's workcamp) there is the ambient nature and nearby, larger cities like Wuerzburg to discover.
« I can say that the best things about the workcamp and this whole experience were the chance of making a real difference to the lives of very needy children. This is an extremely valuable project where volunteers can have a massive impact. Also the possibility of learning a huge amount about a country so different from our own. I learnt ten times as much by carrying out a workcamp than I would ever do backpacking. »
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