📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
The workcamp - This Summer Is Ours - is organized with the support of the company Hellenic Petroleum and of the Municipality of Kordelio-Evosmos in Thessaloniki since 2014. Children and kids with mental and physical disabilities, the target group of the project, look forward to meeting volunteers and to participate once again in the lovely activities that volunteers will prepare for them.
Last year, 23 children and young people with mental and physical disabilities benefitted from the workcamp. Thanks to the annual implementation of the project and its beneficial effect on children, -This summer is ours - became something for which families wait, because they see their children happy, hence every summer parents ask to enroll them. By word of mouth, the project is being known by more and more local families, extending its positive impact.
SDGs in action: by volunteering in this project, you are actively working for equal access to quality learning for persons with disabilities (UN SDG4 Quality Education) and you are supporting reduced inequalities through the promotion of social inclusion of all regardless of age, sex, disability or other (UN SDG10 Reduced inequalities).
💼 What the programme involves
- This Summer is Ours- has been created to provide disabled children and young people with an inclusive and playful setting where they have the opportunity to interact and make friends with volunteers from all over the world, while dedicating themselves to creative tasks that are usually not available for disabled kids and young people in summertime.
Volunteers hold a fun and diverse daily schedule for children, teenagers and young people with mental and physical disabilities, aged 10-29 years old, from Monday to Friday, from 8:00am to 2:00pm. Volunteers support the educational activities for children by helping the pedagogue to implement athletic activities, workshops, artistic events, theatrical plays, cross-cultural education and much more, having the opportunity to design and implement their own ideas with the support of the pedagogue. In order to prepare volunteers for the following weeks, an initial training is put in place during the first weekend of the workcamp. Here, the daily program of activities, developed beforehand by a pedagogue, is introduced to the group of volunteers. Some afternoons are used to prepare activities for the following days. Volunteers are invited to bring games, songs, ideas, and musical instruments!
🏠 Accommodation on site
Volunteers are accommodated at a vocational school, with basic but adequate conditions; they sleep on the floor in the school’s classrooms. Sleeping bags and carry mats are necessary. There are toilets, showers (without hot water) and cooking facilities at the school. There is no internet wi-fi. Air-condition is not available at the school, but there are fans. Everyday two different volunteers from the group, in shifts, are responsible for maintaining the group accommodation place clean, as well as for preparing all meals for the group of volunteers.
📍 About the location
Thessaloniki is the second largest town in Greece. Built close to the sea, it is a modern metropolis rich in history and marked by a Mediterranean but cosmopolitan character, which gives it a unique charm. There is a lot to do in this city, there is a lively nightlife with many bars and cafes, but also museums for those who enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere. Sites like the White Tower, the Archaeological Museum, the Atatürk House, the Olympic Museum, The Ancient Forum, the Museum of Cinematography in Thessaloniki, as well as many others, are all popular places to visit.
Volunteers will discuss their free time activities with their camp leaders; together they will organize excursions and visits. In their free time, participants will have the opportunity to get in touch with the Thessaloniki’s daily life.
