Dates: 3. 12. 2018 – 9. 7. 2019
Venue: Ormylia, Chalkidiki, Greece
Programme and action: Erasmus+, KA1, European Voluntary Service – long-term
Please read the EVS infopack.
Volunteer: Zuzana Čučková
Hosting organization: A hosting organisation is Hives Project.
EVS report:
After more than 7 months of volunteering in the Greece, it is time to make a recap of this experience out of the ordinary. These 7 months was certainly one of the bests of my life and will remain forever etched in my memory.
I took a part in the program of European Union, which is called European voluntary service as a volunteer of project with name The Hives Project which lasted from 3rd December 2018 till 9th of July 2019 and took place in beautiful countryside of Chalkidiki (Greece) close to Ormylia village which is around 90km away from Thessaloniki, the second biggest city of Greece. The main voluntary work within the project was about permaculture living and part of it was the hostel where they recognized that tourism leaves behind a huge carbon footprint and the goal is to reduce this footprint as much as possible. Through environmentally-friendly initiatives, sustainable practices, and community involvement. There we used to live all together in a family-size community where we shared the daily household activities and where people can experiment and learn together. I had my own cozy room under the rooftop and the common areas shared with others.
Most of my working time, I was involved in looking after the garden. It was a great opportunity to learn about organic gardening and permaculture. I could see one entire season of some plants from the beginning to the end and it woke up my passion for gardening. I also took a part in natural building projects which were organized by my host organization. When the weather wasn´t that nice to work on the garden we did some diy projects inside as natural cosmetic products, eco-friendly cleaning products, bread making workshop, macramé workshop etc. Also I had the chance to integrate in the local community at the information office, settled up by my host organization, in the nearby village and organized my own project of collecting garbage from the beach with the help of the locals and screening of Plastic Ocean movie.
I am super greatful for the possibility of experiencing all of this, I met so many great people and I will never forget them. I think I developed myself a lot during my time in Greece and I learned so much! I discovered that the best way of learning for me is learning by doing and this is going to help my future life a lot. It was a fantastic experience for me, so fantastic that I decided to pursue the international adventure after this EVS . Indeed, living in a new country, with its many cultural differences, is a real challenge in everyday life that makes the routine can´t settle! I can recommend European voluntary service to all!
Zuzana Čučková
