The workcamp will take place in the small Moravian village of Tvarozna Lhota, situated in the White Carpathian Mountains, near to the Slovak border. The region is famous for its folk traditions and its beautiful countryside. In the outskirts of the village, the local NGO “INEX-SDA Bile Karpaty” runs a small centre for rural development and sustainability called Cottage Travicna. The centre also hosts an outdoor museum with traditional cottages, some farm animals, a herb garden and traditional fruit trees, showing how rural life in the mountains used to look like there in the past. Every year several public events take place there.
Work:
The work will be manual. Firstly, volunteers will work in the outdoor museum, mainly repairing fences, making hay, cleaning, and weeding the herb garden. Secondly, volunteers will collect herbs from the surrounding meadows, which will then be used for the production of herbal teas. In the middle of the workcamp, a local event celebrating the opening of the new season in the Cottage Travicna will take place. Volunteers will help with the preparations of the event and will also participate in the program.
Study part:
Apart from the celebration mentioned above, there will be other folkloric events during the workcamp, such as erection of the maypole (central point of the village made of tall decorated wood). Volunteers are invited to assist. There will be many opportunities to learn about local products, local farming, the history, traditions and potential of the region.
Leisure time:
Trips to the countryside and to folklore events, visits to touristic sights in the surrounding towns and villages will take place.
Accommodation/Food:
In a building in the very centre of the village. Volunteers will need to bring their own sleeping bags and sleeping mats. Two small bathrooms are available. Please be prepared for basic living conditions as the house is very small. Volunteers will prepare their meals together – a small kitchen is available in the living area. Bring your favourite recipes.
Location:
Tvarozna Lhota, Southern Moravia (bus stop in the village, next train stop Straznice)
The organic farm of Camphill is very dependent on manual work and it would be impossible to maintain the agricultural project without the voluntary work. The volunteers will perform two different kinds of manual work. Firstly, they will be helping on the organic farm - planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, cleaning, storing. Secondly, some minor construction and renovation works will be done (e.g. building and demolishing of walls, cleaning bricks, reparations). Bring good working clothes and shoes.
Accomodation & food:
In a big hall on mattresses. Bring a sleeping bag One shower with hot water and a toilet will be available. There is also a kitchen i products for cooking will be provided by the local partner. Volunteers will prepare their breakfasts and dinners on their own, for the lunches they will assist the community cook with the preparation of the meal.
Location & leisure:
Location: Ceske Kopisty i a small village near the historical town of Litomerice.Study part: Lectures and discussions about the Camphill movement, anthroposophy and organic farming. It is possible to visit the nearby Terezin Memorial at the location of the former concentration camp for Jews i the Terezin Ghetto. Workshops on different handicraft techniques (making carpets, wooden jewellery or special natural soaps) can be organized for you.Leisure time: You can make trips to the surrounding towns (a historical town of Litomerice, Usti nad Labem with a brewery and a zoological garden and Zernoseky with a wine cellar) and visit some summer cultural events. Then you can go hiking in the nearby beautiful hills, swimming in the river just behind the centre, have boat trips, do some sports (football, volleyball, table tennis) and go on a cycling tour along the river...
Requirements:
As you will stay in a community for people with mental health issues, smoking and the consumption of alcohol and drugs are forbidden within the community area. Please respect night-time peace and the privacy of the clients accommodation.
First week of the workcamp will be focused on the cooperation with school children. Two meetings in local school will be organized where you will present your countries and cultures to the children during their classes of English or Geography. Bring something special from home which represents your region/country (food, games, music, pictures, etc.). In return, pupils will introduce the Czech Republic to you. There will be also some sports matches and some manual work organized together with the children. The second week you will do maintenance works the cellar of the house where the children and youth centre Pastelka is situated. This house will serve as your accommodation, too.
Accomodation & food:
In the house of the children and youth centre Pastelka. There will be beds but you need to bring your own sleeping bag. In the building there are showers, toilets and a kitchen. The meals will be prepared by the volunteers at the accommodation. In the house, smoking and drinking alcohol is forbidden.
Location & leisure:
Location: Uhersky Ostroh (a town with 4500 inhabitants) is situated at the river Morava in a beautiful area of Southern Moravia, known for its wine.Study part: Get to know the local folk traditions, have an excursion to a traditional wine cellar. Leisure time: There is much to see in the region: The open-air museum in Straznice, a place of Pilgrimage in Velehrad, castles, the Bata Canal, a big lake for swimming and other sites of interest. You can also go cycling and play games at the sports ground next to the school.
Requirements:
We are looking for outgoing and friendly volunteers with a particularly good attitude towards children.
The workcamp will be mainly focused on the contact with local community, especially children. During the first week, you will be presenting yourselves and your culture in two local elementary schools and in one high school. You will also prepare international evenings for local public in three close-by villages and a summer celebration for children. The second week, you will do some manual work in the forest for three days which will be physically demanding. The rest of the second week, you will be gathering historical photographs from local people to be presented at the end of the workcamp to the public. Meanwhile, you will have a chance to write a blog on the web page of the NGO Mezenak.
Accomodation & food:
The volunteers will be accommodated in a local football clubhouse. No beds and blankets can be provided, therefore the volunteers are asked to bring a sleeping bag. Mattresses will be provided. Please be prepared for basic living conditions. The volunteers will prepare their breakfast and dinner by themselves. Lunch will be provided in a local restaurant.
Location & leisure:
Location: As Mezno is a small village (about 360 people). There is a shop, a doctor, a post office and a restaurant. There are also some sports facilities. It lies about 20 km from the historical town of Tabor.Study part: You will have the chance to get to know a typical Bohemian village and learn a lot about local culture, history and lifestyle. There will be a possibility to visit local farmers and get a lecture of horse-riding. You can also take part in a pottery workshop.Leisure time: Possible free-time activities include a visit of the historical town of Tabor and other sights according to your own interest, trips in the surroundings on bikes provided by the local partner, swimming in natural quarry or a pond, etc. You can also play football or tennis in the village.
Requirements:
A motivation letter (A4) is required You should be ready and willing to spend a lot of time with local people from the village, mainly with kids and teenagers who do not speak perfect English. We are especially looking for out-going and communicative volunteers who are not afraid of speaking in public and who do not mind manual work, too.
The work will be varied and adjusted to the abilities and preferences of volunteers but also according to current needs of the partner organization, ranging from creative and artistic activities to manual work at the castle and in the garden. Creative part can include assisting with organization of events, making info panels, preparing materials and presentations and writing articles for the website. The manual part will be most of the time physically demanding and can include reconstruction and renovation works (with stones, bricks and other materials) and gardening works (cutting and collecting grass, arrangement of the ground, etc.).
Accomodation & food:
The accommodation will be very basic; please don t expect any comfort You will sleep in a cottage near the castle in two common rooms. Take a sleeping bag and a sleeping mat with you. The toilet and showers will be provided in a container. The participants will cook from common resources in a small kitchen. Bring your local recipes.
Location & leisure:
Location: The castle ruin is situated near the village Hrebeny in western Bohemia and other villages in the region.Study part: Discover the history and current intercultural atmosphere of the Harteberg castle. The castle is always full of people and there are many events (festivals, concerts, exhibitions, etc.) taking place there during the whole summer in which you are invited to participate.Leisure time: You can go hiking in the mountainous countryside, visit some of the famous spa-towns in the region, go canoeing, do some sport activities and play music. During the weekends there will be time to go on whole-day trips, too. Take some games, pictures, musical instruments, films and other items, which represent you and your cultures.
Requirements:
We are looking for flexible and sociable volunteers with an interest in cultural heritage and values. Please take good walking boots, warm cloths and raingear with you.
The volunteers will perform two different kinds of work: Firstly you will help with practical manual tasks indoors and outdoors: gardening, putting up tents and teepees, help in the kitchen, prepare the barn for the arrival of the clients (moving furniture, cleaning, decorating and preparing games and activities for the children and youth), who will arrive at the second week of the project. Secondly the group will work with children and youth with autism and other disabilities who spend their vacation at the village (general assistance, organization of activities for the clients, going with them on walks outside the centre etc.). During the children s camp, volunteers will work longer hours but it will be compensated for during the first part of the workcamp when you will have more free-time.
Accomodation & food:
Part of the time you will be accommodated in modern tents or in a barn in Jizbice (the village where the children and youth camp takes place). The rest of the time you will sleep in a house in Nymburk that serves as a centre for the organization. Please bring a sleeping bag and a headlamp. You will help with preparing the food, so bring some interesting recipes with you.
Location & leisure:
Location: Nymburk and the village of Jizbice (8 kilometres from the town Nymburk).Study part: In the first week you will get a lecture on autism and a workshop on methods how to work with children and youth affected by autism. The group will visit a school for children with handicaps and special needs. You will also learn about the famous Czech author Bohumil Hrabal, who was born in Nymburk.Leisure time: Tour around the spa town Pod283;brady, excursions to the castle of Lou269;e328;, to a local brewery and to the surrounding countryside are planned. We will also organize an intercultural day/evening in Nymburk.
Requirements:
Smoking is forbidden while working with the children. Bring working clothes with you that can get dirty You will need clothes for all kind of weather (raingear and waterproof working boots). A motivation letter sent with the application form is strictly required.
The project is organized by FUTURA, one of the leading Czech NGOs active in promoting contemporary arts and fostering a dialogue between artists and the general public. FUTURA runs following activities: a large centre for contemporary art in Prague where exhibitions are held; a Prague complex with 4 art galleries, 17 artists’ studios and an archive of Czech contemporary artists; a residency program for international artists in Prague and recently also in New York. Apart from that, FUTURA also operates in a Renaissance chateau Trebesice with beautiful, traditionally managed gardens which is being converted into a unique centre of contemporary art containing both indoor and outdoor artistic installations and which hosts many artists each year.
Work:
The workcamp will take place in the Chateau Trebesice and in the surrounding grounds. The work will be manual and will be focused on two main spheres of activities: gardening and heritage. The gardening part will include different tasks such as lawn cutting, care for trees, plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables, watering, etc. The heritage part will include the renovation of the Granary, an amazing 4-story building from XVIII century which will be converted into a gallery of contemporary art to host and display FUTURA´s growing collection. Volunteers will use some traditional techniques during the renovation works.
Study part:
Apart from gaining new gardening and renovation skills, volunteers will have the opportunity to discover Czech and international contemporary art both in the Trebesice Chateau and in FUTURA’s galleries and other art and cultural institutions in Prague and in Kutna Hora (a UNESCO site).
Leisure time:
There will be many possibilities of how to spend free time. Volunteers can take part in Italian cuisine lessons where locally grown products will be used, they can have a football match with a local team from the village of Třebešice where the chateau is situated, they can go swimming in Kutna Hora´s water reservoir or Kolin sand quarry. Also, they can practise jogging and biking.
Accommodation/Food:
Volunteers will live in a self-contained, simple apartment in the grounds of the chateau with a sleeping room (with bunk beds), a kitchen and a bathroom with basin, shower and toilet. Please take your own sleeping bag. Shopping and cooking will be a common activity, fruit and vegetables grown in the gardens will be available for volunteers. Once a week, one of FUTURA´s founders, who is also an amazing chef, will cook with the volunteers a special dinner or lunch, and will share with them his gastronomic secrets and recipes.
Location:
Chateau Trebesice in the small village of Trebesice, 80 km from Prague and 5 km from Kutna Hora. Today there are more than 80 artworks displayed inside and outside the Chateau and the other historical outbuildings and the complex is open to the public.
Note:
Previous experience with gardening and/or construction work is of course welcome but not strictly required. Good physical shape, a positive liking of manual work, an open and friendly attitude towards working and living in a collective, interest in the arts and knowledge of English language are required.
The organic farm of Camphill is very dependent on manual work and it would be impossible to maintain the agricultural project without the voluntary work. The volunteers will perform two different kinds of manual work. Firstly, they will be helping on the organic farm - planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, cleaning, storing. Secondly, some minor construction and renovation works will be done (e.g. building and demolishing of walls, cleaning bricks, reparations). Bring good working clothes and shoes.
Accomodation & food:
In a big hall on mattresses. Bring a sleeping bag One shower with hot water and a toilet will be available. There is also a kitchen i products for cooking will be provided by the local partner. Volunteers will prepare their breakfasts and dinners on their own, for the lunches they will assist the community cook with the preparation of the meal.
Location & leisure:
Location: Ceske Kopisty i a small village near the historical town of Litomerice.Study part: Lectures and discussions about the Camphill movement, anthroposophy and organic farming. It is possible to visit the nearby Terezin Memorial at the location of the former concentration camp for Jews i the Terezin Ghetto. Workshops on different handicraft techniques (making carpets, wooden jewellery or special natural soaps) can be organized for you.Leisure time: You can make trips to the surrounding towns (a historical town of Litomerice, Usti nad Labem with a brewery and a zoological garden and Zernoseky with a wine cellar) and visit some summer cultural events. Then you can go hiking in the nearby beautiful hills, swimming in the river just behind the centre, have boat trips, do some sports (football, volleyball, table tennis) and go on a cycling tour along the river...
Requirements:
As you will stay in a community for people with mental health issues, smoking and the consumption of alcohol and drugs are forbidden within the community area. Please respect night-time peace and the privacy of the clients accommodation.
« I would recommend participating in a workcamp, especially with VAP, who ensured that I found a project to suit me and provided essential training for me in preparation for my trip. Being part of a workcamp really is a life-changing experience, oh, and it looks great on your CV! »
