LINK#131 by NGO K.A.NE.

MEMORIES April 2

15th, 2019

Editors : Marie Damond Neda Mijovic

Designer : RĂŠbecca Bertoli

Content Contact About us Youth Center program

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THANKS FOR HONESTY My First Memory Ever 14 Things I Would Like to Forget 16 Memory I would Like to Create 18 MEMORIES Anna Klghatyan Niek Den Boer Catarina Silva Ivan Doer RĂŠbecca Bertoli Marie Damond Neda Mijovic Marie Kaker Julien Debusschere

22 Best-Seller Memory Of Your Life 23 Illusion 24 Memory and Forgetting 26 A Deeper Look Into Human Memory 27 "Memories, Memories, Say Me Who I Forget" 28 The Idea Of Memory In Art 30 Unforgettable Movies About Memory 32 Tips to boost your Memory 34 Memories

FIND OUT MORE Our Sending Organizations Interview with an Local Volunteer Past Event Interview with an EVS Volunteer

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K. a.ne. Our Volunteers: Agnes Durda Alexandra Crismaru Alexandra Morin Apolline Lepoutre Anna Khighatyan Catarina Silva Ivan Doer Julien Debusschere Marie Damond Marine Kafer Mihaela Paval Neda Mijovic Niek Den Boer RĂŠbecca Bertoli

Staff members of K.A.NE.: Filaretos Vourkos Jelena Scepanovic Nancy Kanellopoulou Nantiana Koutiva Antonia Vrioni Georgia Griva

@kane.kalamata

volunteers

maiwen

rebecca

catarina

niek

My name is Rébecca. I’m 28 years old. I come from France. I will stay in Kalamata for 10 months to work at the dog shelter. I like to discover new things, life is beautiful and quite short, I enjoy every moment. I have a bit of a crazy personality in a good way, you just have to get to know me. We can learn a lot from people around us, everyone has something to bring to earth and to others!

Olá! My name is Catarina and I'm from Porto, Portugal. My background is in International Relations, so being a volunteer for a NGO is a useful way of gaining experience and developing valuable skills! I left my 5 cats and dog in order to embrace this project for 11 months. In my project I’m assisting in the day care center for the kids with autism.

I am Niek, I'm 30 years old. From a small town in the Netherlands called Lunteren. I will be a volunteer for 12 months here, in Kalamata. In my freetime, I like to create, read good book or scientific article (psychology, philosophy, history etc), or watch good art-house movie. Sometimes I like to make photographs.

neda

julien

MARIE

Hi, I’m Neda and I come from Montenegro. Activism has been my passion since high school days so I’m thrilled because of the idea of working at the K.A.NE’s office and help to create more opportunities for young people. Some of my other passions are traveling, dancing and good music and I hope I’ll get the chance to nurture all of them in the following 9 months. Can’t wait to discover the Greek way of life and get to know the country!

My name is Julien, I am from France near to Lille. I am 24 years old. I love the nature and the permaculture that’s why i have a garden in my city in permaculture since 2 years already. I stay in Kalamata for 10 months and i’m working in the farm. It’s my second mission of volunteering after Armenia. I love meet a new peoples and learn a new languages. I hope after my mission i will speak greek well and I will have like a second family.

Hello! My name is Marie, I’m 23 years old and coming from France. After one year of study arts, I realized a civic service in Romania in a school with children and I traveled. I will now stay in Kalamata for 7 month, I working at the urban farm, I chose this project to discover the permaculture. During my free times I like to be outside walk discover places reading, sewing.

ivan

anna

marine

Who am I? A human being, or, an evolved animal? It's really hard to give an explanation by using only words. So, I'll prefer to let my actions speak louder than my words. But you know what? I'm Passionate about Life and Nature. I spend a lot of time studying human behavior, what is a sort of a hobby for me. My biggest motivation is to learn from life and make my eyes see wider. I decided to quit my full-time job, so I could catch the opportunity to experience something unique in Greece.

Barev! I am Anna from Armenia. Honestly, in 28 years of life, this is my first time abroad in Europe. I am going to stay 8 months here in Kalamata and it is a long time for me to discover everything in Greece: live, love, experience new emotions, meet new people, create new stories, explore new streets. This is a great way and opportunity to get to know me, myself, to discover something new in and outside. After this project, I am going to make a short movie or a video about my story, my EVS, my vision, dreams and goals. Bonjour! My name is Marine, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m 28 years old and coming from France. After studying Business Administration, working in Marketing and travelling the world, I will now stay in Kalamata for 10 months, working at the office of K.A.NE. I decided to volunteer here to get to know the functioning of an non-profit organisation and to set up my own European Projects! During my free time I like to play volleyball, go diving or read fiction books. This year, you also gonna find me at the German language workshop.

European Volunteers IN

With coordinators

K.A.NE.

FILARETOS

jelena

NANTIANA

Hello, I am Filaretos Vourkos. For the last 15 years I am working in the field of Non-formal education as a volunteer, youth worker and youth trainer. 10 years ago,I decided to create the Youth Centre of Kalamata, in order to initiate youth work in Kalamata and promote active citizenship as factor for change.

Hi, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Jelena Scepanovic,an EVS coordinator in K.A.NE. and a volunteer of the Youth center. I came from Montenegro in 2012 as an EVS volunteer. I really liked the idea of the youth center and the work that K.A.NE. does, so I decided to stay and be part of it.

My name is Nantiana Koutiva and I am working in KANE as project manager. I have studied greek philology and I am teacher of greek language as well. I love travelling and organizing festivals.

Nancy

antonia

georgia

Hello World! I’m Nancy and I’m working in K.A.NE since 2017 as a Project Manager and EVS/ESC coordinator. I’m passionate about meeting new people and exchange knowledge, experiences and ideas. I love the fact that many young people visit every year my hometown Kalamata and contribute to our society.

Hello! I’m Antonia and I’m 23 years old. I studied business administration in Athens and now I’ve been working in K.A.NE. as administrative officer. I’m really enthusiastic to be a part of this team and work together so that young people have more opportunities to meet different people and cultures, exchange ideas, travel the world and open their hearts to new adventures!

Hello, my name is Georgia Griva. For the past 5 years I am a youth worker and project manager. This journey in youth field started in 2014 with my first youth exchange and my EVS in Istanbul. I am proud to be member of K.A.NE. which represents my vision and my values as human and as active citizen.

MY FIRST MEMORY EVER ANNA You will not believe, but I will tell you. I was preparing for exams and one nice day I saw dream that I took ticket with number #19. So everyday of preparation my exams, I always repeat #19 and even I did not manage to learn the others. What’s happened ??? Exactly I took this ticket with this number ! It was scary and funny ! CATARINA Dancing and listening to Britney Spears’s cassette tape at my grandmother's house. I didn’t have a radio at that time so I always listened to music at her house. IVAN To be honest, I don’t remember. I’ve spent enough time in this world to get y first childhood memories get blurred. True fact, but with some years even clearest memory can get re-invented because of imagination. And what if we can add things that never happened ? I guess it will mean that can also creates memories. JULIEN I was 4 years old, I was with my cousin. We had made a cabin with sheets and duvets under the table. MARIE I think it's the sunflower fields of my village when I went with my mother to pick up my sister at the school bus. MARINE When I was three, three maybe four, she left us at that video. Be my rest, be my fantasy… No I’m joking. Who got the reference ? So in my real first memory, I was on the porch of the family house, going to the garden. It was sunny. Probably spring or summer. We were going on a trip, I don’t remember where. 14

NEDA One of my first walks in my garden. I remember it was sunny and I was surrounded by my family. NIEK I was 3 years old and was dreaming about the all gifts that I would get for my birthday. And when I woke up reality kicked in. Not so many presents as in my dream. Bommer!) RĂ&#x2030;BECCA I took a flower in my garden for my kindergarten teacher. I was already kind at the time ! 15

Things I would like t o forget ANNA Ha ha, I couldn’t forget about something, sometimes I am working on it. But if I will start to delete from my memory some useless stuff to release more space for nice and useful things, it would be bad situations, antisimpatico people, sad eyes of adults and children! CATARINA The stupid things I said or did, like, 5 years ago, that absolutely no one remembers except me. Basically I would like to forget overthinking. IVAN Everything what I’ve went through made me the person I am right now. I know I can be better, so I keep working on it. But I don’t define myself with past. Yes, things happened and nothing can be fixed… So I use those memories to keep mind what made me stronger ! JULIEN I found my father passed away. It was the 3th May 2017. MARIE The times when I got angry for nothing or had to say things I did not think. MARINE I would like to forget that time is passing so quickly. I would like to forget my birthdays, the fact that I’m now too old for certain things, like doing a “civic service” (up to 25) or a “V.I.E” to work abroad (up to 28)... 16

NEDA Sometimes I joke with my friends that I’m in an early stages of Alzheimer, because I can be pretty forgetful. So I forget both things I would and wouldn’t like to. NIEK There are always moments that I like to forget some memories. But I don’t put them so far away ! This way I keep them like a experience to learn from. RÉBECCA The car accident that I had a few days before leaving on an EVS mission: A dead barrier, a gas leak, all my city aware.

e t a e r c o t e k li ld u o w Memory I ANNA Trips, friends and family, this is the memory I would like to have always with me, next to me and around me, in the past, right now and in the future! CATARINA I stay in Greece the whole year. So the memory that I would like to create are all the moments I spend with amazing people and the places that I visited and that I will visit. IVAN This is a hard one. I can fake up some details of my past, but do I need to create a completely false one’s ? And even if I could, there is nothing what I’d like to consider as my memory what isn’t. JULIEN i would like to remember the victory of the French Football World Cup 3-0 against Italy MARIE I would like to travel to discover new places unknown to me, for example the dead sea. MARINE I would like to create new travelling memories ! To me, they are the best things to remember. And they always bring me a smile in winter, when I’m exhausted from work, when it’s cold and dark outside. NEDA A crazy trip to one of the Greek islands maybe. With my crazy friends. NIEK This is everything that is still to come ! The best is always waiting around the corner. I think this year there will be a lot of unexpected memories to remember! Just to have 18

good people around, that is the recipe for good memories. RĂ&#x2030;BECCA I would like to go around the world. It would be one of my best at the moment it is right in my imaginary world !

memories

ever

"Best-seller" memory of your life The bad and the good, the dangerous and the safety, the white and the black, the beauty and the ugly, motivation, emotions and feelings! Everything connected on the same page in the same line with this word. It seems like time that you can not catch, but it is there somewhere in the corner, hidden deep within you and does not reveal it was nice or ugly. It is just a thing that can give you more motivation to go forward or you can be stressed from it. The most powerful things that person can have and the more dangerous one the same time. It can change your day, your mood and your spirit. Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. (Teodor Seus Gissel) We are nothing without our memories, but with memories we can lose our future. We need to be more careful. As I am here in Greece, I have a lot of nice, beautiful, good, bad, mixed memories, but I will keep all this with me because I want to keep everything. I would like to create new ones and I will. But one of the best that I should not forget: it is rhythm of my memories. Just enjoy every moment in your life, enjoy everything and this will be your new "bestseller" memory of your life. They will come time by time to remind you about your personality, your life, your goals and your passion. I love life, people and my memories. With lots of memories from Kalamata : ANNA KHLGHAT YAN

“See, memory is an illusion – it’s all gone – so everything you know about, that makes an impression on you, is no longer there. That memory has got you hooked – it holds you to the past, and it holds you to death. But on the other hand, what is life, except there is a memory, except there is an echo. So, the course of time is really very much like the course of a ship in the ocean. It leaves behind it a wave, and that tells us where the ship has been, in just the same way as the past and our memory of the past tells us what we have done. Now the important thing to remember in this illustration is that the wave doesn’t drive the ship. So you see, if you insist on being determined by the past, that’s your game. But the fact of the matter is: it all starts right now.”

NIEK DEN BOER

Memory and forgetting What would life be like if we didn’t have memory ? Sometimes I catch myself wondering about that. But then I realise… Although I have memory, I keep forgetting stuff or to do something. Why? Basically it’s my daily life! From forgetting where I left my keys to forgetting to return a phone call, memory failures are an almost daily occurrence for me. After doing some research, I found out that (according to psychologists) simple information seems to be gone from your memory permanently, but it’s not. Forgetting typically involves a failure in memory retrieval. While the information is somewhere in your long-term memory, you are not able to actually retrieve and remember it. The four major reasons for forgetting are: Retrieval failure, Interference, Failure to store, Motivated forgetting. Yes, It’s true. We can forget things like unwanted memories, either consciously or unconsciously. For instance, a person might direct his/ her mind towards unrelated topics when something reminds them of unpleasant events. The problem comes up when our mind manipulates us into thinking negatively, that is when all the weird and negative memories take over our mind. Anger, irritation and frustration are mostly caused because we have been in a similar situation in the past and that ended up badly for us. This eventually leads us into getting paranoid and doing things which we are sure to regret at a later point. Or can lead to forgetting of a memory without having any intention to forget, making the action of forgetting motivated. And the way it feels a memory… Sometimes we wish we could forget. But hopes, expectations and fears are all built upon what we have experienced before. Memory creates our worldview in ways we don’t even realize. 24

Like the fish that doesn’t notice the water around it, our lives are immersed in these memories. My advice is: Don’t worry about forgetting. Just live in the present. Seize the day. Pay attention to what you remember, because it brings meaning to the moment. For example, if you’re enjoying time with a good friend, what makes this interaction, and this friend, special? Is it certain ways they make you feel? Do you find yourself relaxed, excited, appreciated ? Apply this to your activities, your profession, the next “first kiss” you have with someone new. Pay attention to what your body is communicating. The better you understand why you are who you are, the more empowered you’ll be to create yourself intentionally. And don’t let the negative experiences in your life overwrite all the good memories you have. Memory make us who we are. *Frame from the animated film “Next Gen”.

CATARINA SILVA

A Deeper Look Into Human Memory Anterograde amnesia is a kind of amnesia. Amnesia is a loss of the ability to create new memories after the event that caused amnesia. With Anterograde amnesia, the longer-term memories from the time before the event remain intact. The amnesia may be partial or complete. A person with anterograde amnesia might remember how to use the telephone but can't remember what they just ate for breakfast. This is because declarative and non-declarative memories are thought to be stored in different areas of the brain. What's more, these individuals will often have lost the episodic part of declarative memory but not the semantic part. Anterograde amnesia when memories are remember things that

differs from retrograde amnesia in the timing of lost. People who have retrograde amnesia cannot happened before the event that caused their amnesia.

On the other hand, people with anterograde amnesia can often remember everything up until that eventâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but can't retain memories of things happening after that date. It is also possible for a single person to have both of these types of amnesia: this is referred to as severe global amnesia. In essence, anterograde amnesia is thought to involve the failure to encode (or possibly retrieve) new memories. There are also different levels of severity of anterograde amnesia. Some people might forget a recent meal or a new phone number, while others might forget what they were doing 30 seconds ago. Task difficulty can also influence memory, with more complex tasks being more difficult to remember than simpler tasks that may require less brain power.

IVAN DOER

"Memories, Memories, say me who I forget..." In psychology, memory is the faculty of the mind to record, preserve, and recall past experiences. We are nothing without memory. Unfortunately, many people lose it and forget a lot of things. Some because of deseases like Alzheimer’s, others because they are overwhelmed by a lot of things to do, or because of drugs, lack of sleep, old age etc. Pop culture references this phenomena so lots of memory-themed movies came out. For example, 'The Bourne' Identity’ with Matt Damon where he is trying to remember his past, '50 first dates’ with Adam Sandler, trying to get Drew Barrymore to recover her memory. Also, 'Unknown' with Liam Neeson who is trying to find his memory too, Dori, the blue fish in the Movie ‘Finding Nemo’, that has a short term memory problem. There are so many movies like 'I promise you', 'Mr. Nobody' ,‘The Notebook', 'Limitless', 'The Butterfly Effect', 'A Long Sundance Sunday', 'Shutter Island', 'Inception', 'Kill Bill', 'Very Bad Trip' etc, all with memory theme, and all worth watching. Every day, we make our memory work. Images are transmitted to our brain, sometimes good, or the ones we would prefer to forget. We often dive into it, we start to think a lot about very clear or very vague memories because some things mark us more than others. “Nothing is more capable than memory of impregnating and nourishing the mind.” Quote from Plutarch

RÉBECCA BERTOLI 27

The idea of m emory in art MEMORY in contemporary art "Three thousand six hundred times an hour, the second one whispers: remember. This verse of Baudelaire could appear in epitaph as the anxiety of passing time is universal. Art in all its forms (cinema, photography, contemporary art) will no doubt end never to question him. Memory is a fundamental notion in the field of visual arts. She introduces questions about the time, the temporality and the organization of the visible throughout of the twentieth century. Trace of an event, sign staged by the artist or reconstitution of a memory, the work then becomes a new subject of investigation for the artist in his time. The man remembers. The artist represents her, revisits her on different media. Here are some examples of interpretation of the idea of memory in contemporary art. Photography : For Irina Werning, time is shown through the photography of characters taken from different ages with the same posture and the same clothes. (reconstitution / memory, representation / presentation, image / copy / staging). Land art : Ana Mendieta, artist torn out of her country Cuba, as a teenager, dialogue also with the landscape. Invaded by the feeling of being out of the bowels (of nature therefore), his photographic work reconnects the links that unite him to the universe, to the earth. She photograph the inscription of his body in the earth that keeps the imprint of his silhouette. 28

Collage and photomontage : With the New Realism of the 60s, founded by Pierre Restany, artists use the collage and assembly to tragically represent the products and objects of society, diverted for aesthetic purposes. Arman accumulates garbage in showcases to represent contemporary garbage cans, linked to the society of consumption. Raymond Hains uses fragments of slogans, torn posters and makes photographs through frames of glass resulting in a burst of the image. Jacques VillĂŠglĂŠ retrieves lacerated posters, found at random from his urban walks to compose new images. Finally, the poster artist Mimmo Rotella selects pieces of posters that give him fortuitous information and seemingly heterogeneous. This artist favors posters that convey a message cinematographic, often signed by the face of an actress and by the words. MARIE DAMOND

UnforgettablE movies about memory Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind At different times in Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman’s dizzy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Clementine (Kate Winslet) and Joel (Jim Carrey) have their memories erased to ease the heartbreak they both feel when their relationship ends. (Of course, that doesn’t stop them from being drawn back together again.) Much of the movie takes place within Joel’s mind-wipe, giving us a unique perspective on what drove the couple apart—but also what drew them together, as an unconscious Joel rebels against the procedure and tries to preserve the happy memories he cherishes from his time with Clementine while he’s re-living them. There’s also a concurrent plot about the bumbling technicians—including Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, and Elijah Wood—who work for Lacuna, the company that invented Eternal Sunshine’s memory-erasing machine; some of them have also subjected themselves to it but have, naturally, forgotten the entire experience. Though the movie is high-concept sci-fi at its most imaginative, the basic story is incredibly relatable. Anyone who’s been through a devastatingly painful breakup can relate to these characters. Vanilla Sky Cameron Crowe’s 2001 remake of Alejandro Aménabar’s Spanish-language brain teaser Open Your Eyes stars Tom Cruise as David Aames, a rich playboy whose face is horribly disfigured in a car accident caused by his obsessed ex (Cameron Diaz). Lucky for him, he’s able to have his perfect features restored and pick right back up with his new love, Sofia (Penélope Cruz)...but all is not what it seems, and David’s life careens from charmed to 30

nightmarish when he’s accused of murder. But that may not be what it seems, either. Vanilla Sky’s convoluted plot doesn’t completely come together at the end, but it’s at its most interesting when bits of David’s memory and subconscious play tricks not just on David, but on the audience, too—as when we realize he’s jumbled a tender moment with Sofia with a famous Bob Dylan album cover. Embers Director and co-writer Claire Carré’s quietly intelligent, gorgeously-shot debut feature is set in a postapocalyptic world where survivors must grapple not only with living in an abandoned wasteland—but also with the fact that almost everyone has some form of amnesia, part of the lingering effects of a devastating global epidemic. Unlike many other films on this list, Embers isn’t special effectsfocused; instead, it concentrates on its characters, tracing how each of them deals with the ongoing frustration of constant forgetfulness. The trailer focuses on a couple (played by Jason Ritter and Iva Gocheva) who suspect they should be together based on the fact that they have matching bracelets made of yarn...though they just can’t quite remember exactly what the other means to them. But Embers is more than just the story of fleeing romance; it’s an ensemble film that follows various stories, relationships, and existential struggles to find meaning in a world without any memories.

Kelvin (played in the different versions by Donatas Banionis and George Clooney), has troubling hallucinations that seem to be ripped directly from their memories. Troubling, because they feel so real, in a very tangible sense. The main story revolves around Kelvin reconnecting with a remarkably lifelike copy of his beloved, who died by suicide years before—a tragedy that he still believes is his fault. The Tarkovsky adaptation of Solaris is the only version that’s praised as a masterpiece (which it is), but the Soderbergh take is reasonably true to the story’s introspective, emotionally complex narrative. However, it is also the movie remembered for offering up a glimpse of Clooney’s bare posterior—a memory you may or may not want to have burnished into your own mind.

NEDA MIJOVIC

Tips to boost your memory Memory only wears out if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use it! It is therefore important to make it work and to know its enemies. The following tips can help you improve your ability to remember. Stimulate your memory by playing Play scrabble, belote, checkers, chess, bridge or any other logic or strategy game. If you can not find a partner, turn to magazines, and crosswords, just as effective. Learn useful things in everyday life To maintain your memory, it is certainly necessary to make it work, but it is useless to learn things that do not serve you anything. Better to try with events of everyday life. Memorize the phone numbers you use instead of consulting your notebook. Also try to memorize the shopping list before going to the supermarket for example. Sleep to store the memories of the day The brain takes advantage of the night to sort and classify the memories of the day. It is during the phases of paradoxical sleep that the neurons organize the information received during the day. If you miss one of these two or three nocturnal phases, the consolidation of your memories is very disturbed. Eat foods rich in omega 3 A healthy and balanced diet plays an important role in the functioning of our brain, especially certain nutrients. Thus, omega 3 contained in fish eggs and oily fish (salmon, mackerel, herring ...) are good for the memory. Discover the list of the richest omega 3 foods and the list of foods that boost the brain. Do not abuse alcohol High-dose alcohol can cause irreversible damage to neurons after a few years. In large alcoholics, long-

term memory impairments due to brain damage have been detected. Choose a job that keeps the memory alive If you have the time and the desire, you can try to become an ornithologist, astronomer or amateur mycologist. Practice to recognize the birds, the constellations or the mushrooms, nothing better to maintain your memory ... and to amaze your friends! Rely on mnemonic references "Spring forward. Fall back.", "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." ... Who has not learned any of these phrases to help memorize conjunctions, historical dates and other chemical elements? What if you invent your own mnemonic phrases? Reading to make your neurons work Reading is a brain activity par excellence. By making your neurons work, reading maintains and even improves your performance. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know which book to choose? Why not revisiting the history of your country and the world? Immerse yourself in the great frescoes, historical novels and other testimonials. Remembering buried school memories, these readings should also revive your memory of dates and make you unbeatable! You will not forget the date of the fall of the Berlin Wall! !

MARINE KAFER

memories I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like memories that much because for many peoples it rhymes with nostalgia. Many people remain in nostalgia and live only for that or just stuck in the past. I try to do most of the things between nostalgia and memory. For this reason I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take so many photos, video ect of my travels or in my life. Nothing is more beautiful to describe a landscape by its memories than through a photo. Since my first EVS in Armenia, I have always been remembering something that touches me. This can be a restaurant receipt, a concert, a postcard, a pebble ... All these memories resting on my wall around a map of the world. This map of the world is scratchable, it allows to see what remains to travel or see everything that I have already done. Every morning when I wake up I have this view. That allows me to motivate myself and go to work, because it is thanks to the work that I can afford to do all this. Since my EVS in Kalamata I start doing the same thing in my room.

JULIEN DEBUSSCHERE

OUR Send Organizat ing ionS

I found sending organization via the Internet looking for EVS missions.

I had found several before but this one proposed more interesting projects. I contacted them via email and everything went very fast. Contacts GaĂŤlle and Maija who were there were really superb! I.PEICC is located in Montpellier and even though I am from Paris this posed no problems. We were able to contact each other easily via email and phone to exchange all the files and the documents. This association offers many missions regularly and is often in the first suggestions on the internet when one seeks an EVS project. It offers a lot of projects in different countries - in France, Bulgaria, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Romania, etc. Also, it covers a lot of fields - projects with children, people with disabilities, animals, the environment, art and culture, etc. There is a wide choice and for all tastes.

RĂ&#x2030;BECCA BERTOLI

My sending organisation ! YIC Youth Initiative Centre is a non-governmental organisation which was established by a group of active and experienced young people well recognized in the field of youth work. The Mission of YIC Assist in the development of the civic activism of the youth through promoting youth initiatives and active participation. The Directions of the activities of YIC: Increase youth participation in national youth policy development and decision making processes through : 1)Organizing activities to increase the effectiveness of youth policy procedures; 2)Involvement in policy+making groups; 3)Educating youth about human rights; 4)Contributing to the capacity-building of other youth organizations. Promote volunteering among young people and contribute to the recognition of volunteers through : 1)Providing opportunities to participate in local and international voluntary projects; 2)Networking with local stakeholders; 3)Raising awareness of the impact of volunteering and advocating for the legal designation of voluntary work. Enhance cultural awareness and artistic expression among youth and encourage cross-border dialogue through : 1)Coordinating artistic and cultural events, including exhibitions, art residencies and film screenings; 2)Offering information, consultations and opportunities for participation in local and international trainings and cross-cultural exchanges. This year my organisation will celebrate its 10th anniversary.

ANNA KHIGHATYAN

INTERVIEW WITH A LOCAL VOLUNTEER Can you introduce yourself in a few words so we can know you better? Hello my name is Mirto, I was born in Kalamata is i manage with my friend Kostat the fifa farm in permaculture. Can you tell us about the project in the farm ? The "Farm of the Natural and Traditional Culture of Fifa" is an urban farm visited with the aim of preserving local biodiversity and promoting education

arable

culture.

The management is RE: THINK SOCIETY, a community whose main objective is to develop and train selfmanagement techniques for our food and waste, has the main task of maintaining a seed bank of traditional varieties and creating a local network. and not just our region. Its main subject is education for self-cultivation and nutritional self-sufficiency, through a variety of educational programs, as well as actions to spread the culture of everyday culture in a broad sense. Do you work with some local association, school or farm ? The Re : Think team works continuously with Phoebe Farm and develops its work through successive collaborations with scientific partners, institutions, schools, clubs and a wider audience. What do you associate with memories ? What would you like to say to a future young person who is interested in doing volunteering ? The farm belonged to my parents from their parents. Working in this place every day allows us to remember his family memories.

JULIEN DEBUSSCHERE 40

Past E vent Kentro Neon Kalamata (KNK) and K.A.NE. Social Youth Development celebrated their 10th & 11th anniversaries together on Friday 12th of April in the Youth Centre of Kalamata. There was a double cake for the party, nice drinks, Dj, dancing, gift lottery, smiles and many many surprises. People could take pictures in the photo booth in the corner decorated with lots of balloons, a picture frame and a lot of glitter ANNA KLAGHATYAN.

INTERVIEW WITH AN EVS VOLUNTEER Interviewer : Marine Interviewed : Enzo 1. Tell us something about yourself. Who are you ? My name is Enzo, I’m 24. I come from France in the very top of France. I’ve made a “service civique” for 9 months in a structure with kids in France and now I’m here, doing an EVS at the KEFIAP and the horse center in Kalamata for 2 months. Apart from that, my hobbies are mainly online video games and listening HARD metal music (Bring me the Horizon, Bad Omens, Slipknot). 2. Why did you choose to do EVS ? How did you hear about EVS ? I’ve discovered EVS from a local youth worker, who sent me to ADICE, my sending organization in Roubaix. I decided to do an EVS to re-orientate myself, to know what I would like to do in my professional life, to improve my english and of course to travel and meet nice people. 3. What is your EVS project ? I have two projects, the first one is at Kefiap center, which is a center where people with disabilities can come every morning to have some activities and “therapies” for 3 hours. So my mission is to accompany the patients of the center during their transport to the Kefiap, and assisting the staff with the activities. The second project is at the horse therapeutic center, where kids with disabilities can ride a horse and play games to develop their psychomotor and psychological capabilities. 4. Why did you choose this project ? I chose this one because I didn’t have experience in working with public with disabilities, and I didn’t want to lose one year at school learning something that I maybe won’t like. It was the possibility to have a try to the job, before studying for it.

5. Why Greece ? I chose the project and not the country. 6. Describe your experience so far : My experience in general is quiet bad because I’m not doing many thing at the Kefiap center. And I’m super happy with the horse center, which is just a “bonus”, as it was not supposed to be part of my project. 7. Are there any important things that you have learned here ? I’ve learned that in Greece you have to put the toilet paper in the trash bin, and not in the toilet. 8. What is your most precious memory from this EVS ? My most precious memory is called Catarina. 9. What do you think about Greek people ? They are very welcoming, friendly people. Greek people are globally nice, especially Fotis. 10. What is your favorite place in Kalamata ? I cannot choose between the castle and the port of Kalamata. 11. Is green or blue the warmest color ? Green is the warmest color 12. Do you have a message for people who would like to do EVS ? Choose wisely.

The volunteers responsible for this publication are hosted in Greece in the framework of the European Erasmus+ programme, KA1/youth - European Voluntary Service. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.