Tapola Camphill village community
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About the project
Tapola Camphill village community
📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Maailmanvaihto represents in Finland the ICYE (International Cultural Youth Excange) network.
The ICYE network offers international volunteering opportunities for young people. It operates altogether in over 40 countries in Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Oceania.
The mission is to provide challenging intercultural learning experiences for young people. The network aims at promoting their social and personal development through international volunteer programs as well as promoting intercultural understanding, equality of opportunity, tolerance and peace among people in the world.
💼 What the programme involves
Tapola Camphill village community is a vibrant living and working community for adults with special needs. We have 49 residents and all together the same number of coworkers, families and volunteers.
Project's activities:
Tapola has six buildings for living and one for daily activities. Tapola runs a farm and various workshops such as weavery, cheesery, garden and herbal workshops, food processing etc. In Tapola, we have a rich cultural life with different festivals and activities. Tapola’s aims and values are the well-being of all residents, developing a balanced community life, enabling for everyone an individual life and supporting self-determination – everyone is special and deserves acceptance, respect and love. We are also very aware of the surrounding environment and nature.
Volunteer's tasks:
The tasks Tapola offers are assisting in care work and guiding adults with special needs in their daily life in the houses, providing residential services such as meal preparation, cleaning and evening activities and also assisting and guiding the residents in the different workshops. Preparing for the festivals and other special occasions, running a Sunday cafeteria or arranging some freetime activities for the residents is also a part of the volunteer year. The volunteer’s role is to help, support and guide the residents and to be involved in the whole community in different ways. By living and working alongside with the residents the volunteer gets to experience how it is to share life with other people. To help to fit in the community Finnish lessons are provided regularly.
🏠 Accommodation on site
The volunteer lives together with other volunteers in one of Tapola’s seven houses. The basic necessities for living are provided. The houses are like small families, the meals are prepared and enjoyed together or cooking can be a task of a workshop. All the houses and workshops are within walking distance from each other. Ten kilometers away is also the Tapola lakeside cabin, which can be used together with the house community or if available also with friends and families.
📍 About the location
Tapola is situated in a countryside community in Niinikoski village, Southern Finland. We are 10 km away from the nearest town of Orimattila (around 16 000 inhabitants), 30 km from a bigger town of Lahti and 100 km from Helsinki. The public transportation from Tapola to Orimattila is limited, but from Orimattila the connections are good (bus, train). In addition, volunteers with driver’s license have an opportunity to use the volunteer car provided by Tapola.
⚠️ Requirements
The volunteer is expected to have an interest in community life and joining the common gatherings. A 1 year commitment is wished, since learning the language, getting familiar with the community life and Finnish culture may take some time. The motivation to live in a countryside community and meet everyone as an individual is important. Basic knowledge of housework such as cleaning and cooking and also taking care of other people are necessities. Tapola offers opportunities for the volunteers to be free to create something new and bring in their own skills and abilities into action in the form of e.g. music, sports, hobby groups and events. Unfortunately, the physical environment of the workplace is not suitable and the staff does not have the resources to support volunteers with physical or sensory disabilities.
ℹ️ Additional information
ICYE longterm
Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.
Sign in to apply📅 Available sessions
ICYE/TAPOLA
01/01/2023 at 00:00 → 31/12/2023 at 00:00
ℹ️ Key information
Age required
18–99 years old
Solidarity donation
0.00
French tax residents may be eligible for a tax reduction of up to 66% of their costs (membership, plane tickets, solidarity donation).
📍 Location
Finland
Finland
🌍 Location info
Local currency
Euro Member Countries (EUR / €)
Timezone
Eastern European Standard Time
Local time: 21:42 (12/11/2026)
🛡️ Before you leave
✅ Features
🏠 Accommodation
🗣️ Languages spoken