Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Fahren (near Zurow); 16km south-east of Wismar
Project and Work:
If you want to combine adventure and nature with gardening, manual work and culture, then this is exactly the workcamp for you. During a 3-days-excursion you can go sea-kayaking or cycling and even stay overnight at the beach, if the weather and temperature condition are fine. You can learn how to climb a high rope course and how to do well at archery. Before, during and after these activities you can also show off your creative and practical skills in self-organised workshops on themes such as language, theatre, art and creative design, music and singing. You will also visit an organic farm and work there for a day. In and around the property, as well as the associated garden and grounds, you will carry out various tasks and make minor repairs to vehicles and equipment. During all of these activities you will get to know each others languages, (eating) cultures as well as creative and practical skills supported by experienced group leaders.
The camp is teaming up with Gruener Grashalm - an organisation which primarily deals with teaching and coaching in the international exchange sector. Most of the organisations activities take place outside amongst nature and have a very adventurous framework. Almost 30 employees between the ages of 16 and 64 (two-thirds of these are under 30 years old) organise tours using boats, snowshoes, skis, bicycles, climbing ropes or flying machines. The camp will be led by three group leaders, who all have experience with international youth groups. For more information about Gruener Grashalm please visit http://gruenergrashalm.org/.
You can get great impressions of the camps through the videos of 2016 and 2014:
Learning by experience doesn’t start in the morning and end by midday. All activities on offer have a strong recreational nature. Through hikes and cycling tours, you will get to know the beautiful surroundings of the area and will be able to visit the Hanseian town of Wismar, travel to the Ostesee lake, go swimming and also sit around the camp fire in the evenings.
Age:
16-26 years
Food:
You’ll prepare and cook your own meals together in groups.
Accomodation:
You’ll be staying in rooms with multiple beds. During the excursion you may sleep in tents.
Train station:
Wismar
Airport:
Hamburg or Berlin
Participation fee:
395€ Extra-Fee (to pay in cash at the camp).
Requirements:
You should be able to swim and ride a bike, enjoy being on the water and be able to speak English.
If you want to combine adventure and nature with gardening, manual work and culture, then this is exactly the workcamp for you. During a 3-days-excursion you can go sea-kayaking or cycling and even stay overnight at the beach, if the weather and temperature condition are fine. You can learn how to climb a high rope course and how to do well at archery. Before, during and after these activities you can also show off your creative and practical skills in self-organised workshops on themes such as language, theatre, art and creative design, music and singing. You will also visit an organic farm and work there for a day. In and around the property, as well as the associated garden and grounds, you will carry out various tasks and make minor repairs to vehicles and equipment. During all of these activities you will get to know each others languages, (eating) cultures as well as creative and practical skills supported by experienced group leaders.
The camp is teaming up with Gruener Grashalm - an organisation which primarily deals with teaching and coaching in the international exchange sector. Most of the organisations activities take place outside amongst nature and have a very adventurous framework. Almost 30 employees between the ages of 16 and 64 (two-thirds of these are under 30 years old) organise tours using boats, snowshoes, skis, bicycles, climbing ropes or flying machines. The camp will be led by three group leaders, who all have experience with international youth groups. For more information about Gruener Grashalm please visit http://gruenergrashalm.org/.
You can get great impressions of the camps through the videos of 2016 and 2014:
Learning by experience doesn’t start in the morning and end by midday. All activities on offer have a strong recreational nature. Through hikes and cycling tours, you will get to know the beautiful surroundings of the area and will be able to visit the Hanseian town of Wismar, travel to the Ostesee lake, go swimming and also sit around the camp fire in the evenings.
Location:
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Fahren (near Zurow); 16km south-east of Wismar.
Age:
16 - 26 years
Food:
You’ll prepare and cook your own meals together in groups.
Accomodation:
You’ll be staying in rooms with multiple beds. During the excursion you may sleep in tents.
Train station:
Wismar
Airport:
Hamburg or Berlin
Participation fee:
395€ Extra-Fee (to pay in cash at the camp)
Requirements:
You should be able to swim and ride a bike, enjoy being on the water and be able to speak English.
Workcamp participants are invited to work in different fields: Manual, artistically, pedagogical. During the youth camps, you will have contact with kids from diverse background and join their activities as well. You are requested to be prepared as "ambassador" of the peoples living in your country. It would be helpful to be prepared to offer your own workshop artistically, musically or athletically at home and bring lots of ideas. In addition all volunteers will have the chance to introduce their country in an open evening. You should gather ideas at home and bring material for creating this evening. Further information will be provided after the placement in the workcamp. Beside the announced activities the volunteers will also need to take responsibility by leading groups of young campers in daily works like catering and cleaning.
Study part:
The study part of this workcamp will be dominated mostly by the question about life between past and future, tradition and modernity, small-town-life and global correlations. Working on the "Himmelsfels", always encourage encounters between people from different cultures and diverse background. Religion will be reflected by experience Himmelsfels as place of ecumenical Christian believes in diversity.
Accomodation & food:
There will be basic and simple accommodation. You will be sleeping in caravans. Please bring a sleeping bag. As some summer nights can get cold in Germany, please bring some warm clothes and raingear!
Location & leisure:
The small town Spangenberg is situated between hills in a green countryside in the middle of Germany. Leisure activities will be arranged according the needs of the group. There will be the possibility to visit Kassel, town of the world wide know art exhibition "Documenta".
Age:
18-26
Location:
Spangenberg
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
FRA: Frankfurt Main (Frankfurt, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
After the successful workcamps of the last year, volunteers will again help in renovating some facilities in the town and in the local zoo. Beside this volunteers help is needed in the renovation of the surrounding of the local youth center. You can select from various tasks waiting: to set up benches, to renew a volleyball field, to repair different enclosures, etc.
Study:
Volunteers will learn about different types of youth culture in Germany
Accomodation & food:
Volunteers will live in the local youth center called „House IV". The group can cook for itself in a modern kitchen.
Location & leisure:
The leisure time program will be organized together with the local Eilenburg youth groups and clubs. The focus lies here on the encounter and the exchange with local adolescents. Also there are sports activities such as soccer, volleyball, swimming and bowling. In addition there will be a cultural program. A trip to Leipzig and Dresden is scheduled. You can get to know the rich history of Eilenburg through guided tours in the museum and in the cellars, located in the hill in the center of the city.
Region:
Eilenburg is a small town with approx. 17 000 inhabitants, situated on the border of the „Dübener Heide" and approximately 25km from the exhibition city Leipzig. Its rich history of over thousand years, makes it easy to call it one of the cradles of Saxony. The continuous rule of the Wettins-Dynasty beginning with the Earl of Ilburg in the 11th century was carried on until 1918. Part of their territory is the state of Saxony today. In medieval times and during industrialization Eilenburg was a rich city. At the time of Martin Luther its main business was brewery and in the 19th century it was a national center of textile industries. But Eilenburg also was devastated several times in its history. In April 1945, Eilenburg was almost completely destroyed.As the only evidence of former rich times remained the „Sorbenturm" as a remaining part of the Ilburg. It was assumedly built in the 12th century at the highest part of the 220m x 150m plateau. A loop footpath outside the castle wall connects the „Sorbenturm" with the „Amtshaus"(deanery), the former county court. This path has been renewed with the help of the volunteers in the last workcamps.
Age:
18-26
Location:
Eilenburg
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
LEJ: Leipzig Halle (Leipzig, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
There are different projects where volunteers can help a lot. According to the skills of the volunteers and the interest of the group, your manual work can give valuable contribution. Work can be done like: to pave a new path through the wood to the hut, to build a new fence around the property or to construct an innovative toilette system.
Accomodation & food:
Volunters will be hosted in the Grammar school "Goetheschule" in the city of Goslar. You can use showers, a big kitchen and you will sleep in two classrooms, equipped with camp beds. Please bring sleeping bag and a pillow (if you need one).
Location & leisure:
The youth department will offer a range of activities as cultural programme: Volunteers can visit lots of the ancient places of interest in and around Goslar. It is also possible to hike through the picturesque nature of the "National Park Harz". There is also the option to organize an intercultural party together with other youth groups, which will be visit Goslar at the same time. It will depend to the interest of the group.
Age:
18-26
Location:
Goslar
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
HAJ: Hannover (Hannover, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
In the first day volunteers will get some orientation about the project, the youth club and the surroundings. Together with youngsters of Kelkheim, you will help to redesign and embellish the outdoor area. One of the main tasks will be to construct a shelter and some seating arrangements. So you will help to create a popular spot for the inhabitants of Ruppertshain !During the time of your stay, the group will take part in an annual city festival called "you and me day". This celebration is organized by various organisations of the local civil society and will bring together people with different cultural background. Volunteers of the workcamp are invited to give a contribution to this event as well.
Study part / Leisure time:
Volunters will learn about the concept of youth work in Kelkheim and the integration of inhabitants with various cultural and social background.
Accomodation & food:
Volunteers will prepare and eat their meals in the youth club Ruppertshain and stay overnight in rooms of the former sanatorium for consumptives, called "Zauberberg", in about 5 minutes walking distance. This building is about 130 years old and named like the sanatorium "Magic Mountain" in the famous novel by the German author Thomas Mann. Today for the inhabitants and visitors it offers space for a wide range of activities in the fields living, working, leisure and health. From the platform of the restaurant one can see big part of the Rhine-Main Region in a great panoramic view. Please bring sleeping bag and isolation sheet.
Location & leisure:
Volunteers will get free entrance in the local swimming pool and will visit the castle of Koenigstein nearby. There will be a guided tour through Kelkheim and some information about the development of the first democratic institutions in Germany. Heinrich von Gagern, most famous son of Kelkheim, was the first president of the very first German national parliament in 1848. Therefore you will also visit the historic parliament in Frankfurt itself, nowadays it is called Frankfurter Paulskirche.
Region:
Kelkheim is a small town consisting of some small villages situated around the city center. The municipal area stretches from the plain of the river Main up to the edge of the Taunus mountain range. The village Ruppertshain, venue of the camp, is situated in the higher parts and surrounded by woody hills. Kelkheim ist part of the Rhine-Main Region, there are major cities like Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Mainz nearby.
Requirements:
After registration, we require a self-declaration concerning the children and youth protection.
Age:
18-26
Location:
Kelkheim-ruppertshain
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
FRA: Frankfurt Main (Frankfurt, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
Volunteers are invited to help us renovate an old barn to make a step forward towards establishing a museum and archive there. The barn is quite old (built in 1892) and made in combination of bricks and rubble masonry. The fieldstone wall has to be repaired and it needs regrouting. There will also be some garden work and cooking for the group. Manual work may be physically demanding and includes standing on scaffolding.
Study-Part:
Ulrike Laubenthal, the first chairperson of the Peace Barn Association, is a trainer in nonviolent communication and nonviolent action. She will offer training for everybody who is interested. Additionally, she is very willing to present more detailed information about the history of the Bombodrom and the struggle against it. Depending on the wishes of the participants, Niels Detloff could offer a workshop in being critical with information offered by media.
Accomodation & food:
We will set up a yurt on our meadow with a thick layer of straw to sleep on. There is also a limited number of sleeping places available on mattresses in the attic of our house. We have 3 bathrooms and will set up additional outside toilets. Sleeping bags are necessary. WiFi is available in the house.Food here will be mostly organic, and vegetarian except for one barbecue at the ranch. We are happy to accommodate specific dietary needs; please let us know in advance if you have any allergies or such.
Location & leisure:
The venue itself is called Sichelschmiede. It is still kind of a farm, where inhabitants live together with 5 goats, 8 chickens and a cat. There is also a garden, where vegetables are grown for own use. Zempow is a very nice small village surrounded by forests. A beautiful lake is within reach. In the neighborhood one can find grazing land with horses and cattle … the region is quite beautiful ! We will spend an evening at the local organic cattle ranch and we will make a trip to the picturesque city of Rheinsberg with its castle. September 1st is Anti War Day / World Peace Day! We suggest to spend that day in Berlin together, which would give all those who want to an opportunity to participate in a peace demonstration.
Requirements:
Work may include standing on scaffolding. According to German safety regulations, it is obligatory to wear steel-toe-boots (S1 safety boots) during work in the barn. We will provide such boots for everybody, so please let us know your size (in cm!) with your application. Our preferred option would be that you contribute 10 € and then take the boots home with you in the end, but you are not obliged. If you already have such boots, please bring them and let us know in advance!We are part of the peace movement. We would appreciate if people joining the workcamp were interested in the peace movement, and we'd be keen to learn about activities of the peace movement in your countries.Most of the volunteers will sleep in a yurt. Sleeping bag is needed.
Age:
18-30
Location:
Zempow
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
THF: Tempelhof (Berlin, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
« 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! »
