ESC: Healthy Body Camp

Nocrich Scout Centre - H.C. Habermann is an educational youth center developed in 2010 as an initiative of the National Organisation of Romanian Scouts, in a village in Transylvania, Nocrich. Our mission is to contribute to the development of children and young people, using the scout method. The scout method has certain elements: nature, scout law and promise, personal progress, community involvement, mentoring & support, learning by doing, team system, symbolic framework. This way, youth are encouraged to be the main agents of their own development as confident, motivated, responsible, and open individuals. We develop weekly non-formal activities with the children and young people from the Nocrich village. Working and learning in this environment can be challenging: the children come from difficult, poor families, where parents often showcase verbal violence and not only, discriminatory behaviors, disrespectful attitudes towards nature. Some of these families are broken either because of divorce or because one of the parents goes to work abroad for more money. The main cause is a low level of education among the adults in the community which, being the main examples for children, often do not motivate them to go to school, learn and strive to make a different living. More than this, there are many punctual projects in the area which provide material support to these families in the form of clothes, shoes, school supplies, food, etc. This sort of periodic social aid caused the development of an attitude where they take this help for granted and even expect it. When we came with a different perspective, of helping them through educational activities, they didn't understand this as help as long as they were not given something material. All of these caused the children to have a very short attention span and unusually serious discipline problems. However, this way the volunteers have a greater impact on the community and also on their personal development, acquiring extensive experience and know-how on social inclusion, non-discrimination, community building, interculturality, environment protection, and equal chances. Apart from these activities, we are also planning events and summer camps for scouts and young people who come from all over the country and from abroad. Through these programs, they are connecting to peers from all around the world, developing their collaboration skills, overcoming their limits, and contributing to the community in a positive way. The youth center is based in the Nocrich village, in the Hartibaciu Valley, a historical and culturally diverse area, with strongly developed crafts. Thus, in 2014 we opened an educational Pottery Workshop. This type of activity proved to be especially well received in the community and within all the groups that come to visit us, since it is less abstract, more practical, and culminates with a physical result: a ceramic object that came to life through their own hands. It is an activity they understand, they see at least the obvious results from it and it engages their creativity and a bit the physical side which they don't use enough in school and in their free time, even though they feel that they need to. It is just one example of "learning by doing" that is happening within our organization. Since 2010 we have received guests and volunteers from all around the world. We earned a positive international reputation as a place worth going to and where people can actively get involved and learn from a multicultural community. The high season is usually during summertime when we welcome more than 500 guests in 2 months who camp on our premises and develop non-formal educational activities or take part in the camps we organize each year. The activities are organized and developed by the 3 employees of the Nocrich Scout Centre and the trained youth workers from the National Organisation of Romanian Scouts. In the process of planning, delivering, and disseminating activities we also involve volunteers who want to learn. Each year, around 70 volunteers come to Nocrich. For more than 7 years now, we have offered young people short or long-term volunteering programs, through EVS, ESC, and other programs. They receive responsibilities according to their preferences and interests, they are supported by a Volunteer Coordinator and receive mentoring. Our team of volunteers has the structure and the cohesion of a family and the projects developed transpose the same spirit of innovation and creativity as an approach in the activities of non-formal education. To recognize our impact on volunteering, in 2015, Nocrich Scout Centre was chosen “The Best Initiative to Encourage Volunteering” by the National Gala Of The Young Civil Society 2015, under the motto ‘Inspiring a new generation”. For the work done in the Nocrich community both on the educational and on the cultural areas since 2010, we received the prestigious Habermann Preis in 2019.