Arbeit
Come and volunteer in a summer village for children, youngsters and families!
Three to six weeks of different activities await you while you assist in a summer camp for kids, youth and families near Cologne! The project consists of two consecutive volunteering teams (ESC1 + ESC2). This will cover the whole duration of the holiday program as well as to support in the setting up and dismantling of the site. If you are very motivated, you are invited to participate in both volunteering teams.
The first group (ESC1) will help in the setting-up of the camping site for a few days and starting from the 4th of July, you will support the local team with the running of the camping village. This involves helping with different types of workshops, where the children can try out different types of sport, do arts and crafting or simply plays games. During your first two weeks, the participants will be children from 7-12 years. In the third week the participants will be teenagers from 12-15 years. The first project will end during this week and the second group of volunteers (ESC2) will arrive. The following week's program will have activities for adolescents aged 14+ and the last week is reserved for families with (small) children.
Aside from helping in the program, there are also going to be “backstage” tasks, such as going grocery shopping or cleaning. Another responsibility is the night duty: Since the participants are under age, someone always needs to stay awake. Don’t worry, you won’t need to stay up the whole night and you won’t need to do it alone. It can easily turn into a nice long campfire-evening with friends. It is very important to the local team that you feel and become part of one big group of teamers. On the 7th of August, all the camp village participants will leave and you and the local teamers will start taking everything down and store things away for the next year. That part of the work might be quite physical, but at the same time this week is supposed to give you and the local teamers time to spend together and eventually to say goodbye.
Unterkunft und Verpflegung
You will sleep in big group tents on the camp village site. Camping mats will be provided, but please bring your own sleeping bag! There are showers and sanitary facilities available, but the accommodation itself is quite basic. There will be no need for cooking since you will be eating together with the local team and the participants, so everything will be provided.
Lage und Freizeit
The camp village is situated on a meadow surrounded by trees a bit outside of the town of Bergheim. In Bergheim, you can find different shops and cafés, and Bergheim itself is only 20km away from Cologne. On your days off you can therefore visit Cologne, which is the fourth most populous city of Germany and famous for its cathedral and the Roman-Germanic museum. You can also go on trips to other nearby towns, for example to Bonn.
Wer organisiert das Projekt?
Woanders e.V. is a non-profit organization which wants to reach people of all ages, support cross-generational interaction and contact between people from different areas of life. Their work intends to reduce fear of contact and support tolerance and curiosity for other people, by strengthening the team-spirit “We”. Each summer for a full month, they organize a camping village full of activities for different age groups: They start with two weeks of kids-programs, followed by a week of camping for teenagers (12-15 years old), then followed by a week for adolescents (14+) and finally a week of family camp.
You can find the camp village schedule here: https://woanders.org/zeltstadt/#Projekte
Participants usually stay there for a full week, most of them will stay overnight in tents and have their meals there as well. It is a project aimed mostly towards children and teens with fewer opportunities but it is open to people from all backgrounds. Priority is given to participants from nearby communities. In 2020 for the first time a small group of international volunteers was involved in the project and we want to build on this successful cooperation. By volunteering in this project, you are contributing to a sustainable and inclusive community (UN SDG 11).
Weitere Infos
You have to be 18-30 years old to participate in this project.
If you are motivated, you are very welcome to join both IBG ESC 1&2 in order to stay for 6 weeks in the Camp Village in Bergeim!
Coronavirus / Covid-19: Info regarding workcamps in Germany:
Although it is still difficult to make definite plans for this year, we are optimistic that our workcamps in summer and autumn can take place as planned. Your safety and health, just as everybody else's, is our priority in any project. Be assured that we will take the neccessary health and sanitary precautions in all of our projects. Should there be any changes or cancellations to your workcamp, we will inform you immediately.
Please be aware that we can only really plan ahead a couple of weeks at the moment, so we ask you to wait to buy tickets for travelling to your workcamp until you receive a definite confirmation that your workcamp is going to take place; or to buy refundable tickets.
Anforderungen
* We ask for a motivation letter to be sent with the application!
* Since the project involves children, you need to provide a certificate of good conduct before the start of the project.
* Speaking or understanding German will be helpful, but is not required. The majority of the volunteers will consist of German locals!
* This project is supported by the program European Solidarity Corps for young people between 18 and 30 years. It is open to all volunteers that fit the ESC criteria. The participation to the ESC volunteering teams is subject to several principles and conditions, presented on the ESC webpage: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/mission_en
- Volunteers do not have to pay any fee (no sending, nor participation fee) to participate.
- Volunteers need to enroll in the PASS, the European Solidarity Corps Portal; IBG will organize their matching in the portal with the volunteering project.
- Volunteers will receive pocket money, calculated on basis of 5€/day, once they arrive on the project.
- Volunteers will receive a financial support for their travel, according to a maximum amount established in accordance with their travel distance and upon the presentation of original tickets.
- Volunteers will have to complete a participation report, submitted online through the portal.
Sustainable Development Goals