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NOVEMBER 2012

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LiNK

autumn edition

KENTRO NEON KALAMATAS

NOVEMBER

KENTRO NEON KALAMATAS

1st november 2012

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Editorial The second fan-­zine of the Youth Centre of Kalamata is here! After a very intensive month the Youth Centre of Kalamata is having around 30 work-­ shops and more than 1000 members!!! Isn’t it fantastic?

All these are the result of the volunteering spirit which seems to create a movement of sensitive and active citizens in the city of Kalamata. This spirit is the one which is offering an open space for the local youth, a point for meeting each other, for interacting, learning, cooperating, loving and creating together.

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Everything happens in the Youth Centre is the result of the efforts of the active citizens. Recently we fixed the floor of the dance class and this wouldn’t be possible without the contribution of our friends and members!

The new floor was financed by the party we had in Speakeasy the last Feb-­ ruary, by Athanasia and her face painting fund raising activity, the people who donated money during the registrations and KANE organization which for the last years is supporting this project with own funds and lot of vol-­ untary work…

For all of you who are participating at the activities of the youth centre, is obvious that the building needs more things to be fixed in order to be com-­ plete and safe for all of us, so we will remind you that we are based also in your contribution in volunteering or donations or efforts in order to find a building for free… Don’t forget that the Youth Centre is a totally private, non political, non religious organization, which is not receiving any funds from any national or European organizations. Our target is, with the power of the people and the fantastic group of volunteers, to manage to make of the people and the the Youth Centre a self funded project.

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That’s why this year we will have an open monthly meeting for all the vol-­ unteers and our members in order to put on the table the new ideas, new projects and new smiles!!! You are invited to join the first open meeting in Friday 24th of November… be there!!!!

Filaretos Vourkos

(page 12-15)

... EVS - what it is & how to do it (page 16-17)

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...EVS seminar in Athens for volunteers

(page 11)

... upcoming events

(page 10)

... Introducing of new volunteers continues

(page 8-9)

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... interviews with interesting people

(page 6-7)

... Organic farm in Kalamata

(page 4-5)

... Youth Centre Is Open

On This Issue

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Youth Center is Open: KENTRO NEON KALAMATAS

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Now a Now all is ready for creating a shared space and welcome the Kalamata citizens.

Enjoy!!!

by Loic

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After one week, in order to finish with the registration and to make the workshops groups, all the workshops started the second week of October in a good mood.

The Youth Center of Kalamata opens it’s door for a new season with new workshops, like Swing dance, Islandika….

The registration was very intensive, during 1 month, around 800 people were registered in 26 workshops (Latin dance, French, do it yourself, hip-­hop ….).

The workshops started on the first week of October after 2 reg-­ istration weeks.

In the beginning it is a little bit difficult, beacuse there are a lot of people, in a small place. For example more than 140 people for the first lesson of Latin dance, more than 100 for Spanish lesson and approximately 70 people for French lessons.

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The workshop -­ it is a place for the people to learn a lot of things (how to play an instrument, learn languages), make cul-­ tural exchange with other volunteer, and promote the values of non formal education.

What Has Happened

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Farma Fifa Permaculture Labas!(: I‘m Ieva, 18 years old girl from Lithuania. I work on Environmental Aware-­ ness & Natural Farming project. It takes place in Farma Fifa Permaculture, which is a perfect place for a green minded nature kid like me. I have only one month working experience so far, but I can already introduce you to three main things, which I ab-­ solutely love about my project!

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NO COMMERCE! Farma Fifa is like a little peaceful island separated from the messy, fast-­moving capital-­ ist world. Our goal is not money, profit or fame. I like to call it a Farm-­Museum. We don‘t have objective to grow as much as possible, we aren‘t sellers. We just want to keep the variety of plants, create a visible example of an urban farm, which people ( kids, students, community excursions, etc ) could come and explore any time. We want to spread „green ideas“, highlight the importance of agro-­cultural mentality creation in community, also, we‘re always open to discuss such issues as Kalamatas dump problem, forest fires, etc.

NO CHEMICALS! It’s an organic farm, which means we do not use any fake fertilizers. Instead of them we help vegetables to grow better using our Pure Love, Sincere Care and well, we add some compost at the end too. Nevertheless, our compost is 100% natural, and we pre-­ pare it ourselves. Farm is also responsible for composting boxes all over the Kalamata, which is an important project for spreading environmental awareness and more ecologi-­ cal way of living over the locals.

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NO RULES! Mother Nature has no codex, no concrete frames. Its faces and moods changes every day, so successful collaboration can be created only through constant observation, as well as some experimenting. Nature gives us a lot of hints: we plant vegetables accord-­ ing to the moon calendar, collect seeds after noticing their colour change, arrange the garden evaluating the movement of tree shadows, different soil condition, plants in-­ ter-­relations, etc. We might do mistakes, but that‘s just a part of learning process!

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Volunteer: Οδυσσεας Φωτοπουλος Interviewer: Inés

Interview

What is your work in the Youth Center?

What do you teach? For who ?

-­ I'm a local volunteer and I teach the guitar for children, teenagers and adults during the workshops on Monday and on Wednesday.

-­ How did you know the Youth Center ?What do you think about this place ?

-­ I get to know the Youth Center from my friends and from the various events of the center. I think it's an amazing place where different cultures can meet and communicate with each other.

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-­ How long have you played the guitar ?

-­ Since I -­ Since I was a child, I played the guitar for a long time but I have systematized my studies the last 3 years. My teacher's name is Thodoris Panagopoulos and he is the person who helped me a lot with the guitar and he is kind of mentor for me...

-­ What do you do now ? What do you study in Kalamata ?

-­ I study the guitar and theory of music.

-­ Do you like to teach, and why ?

-­ Yes, I like it a lot, because I love offering my knowledge to other people especially -­ when we are talking about music. It's a really wonderful thing.

-­ Who are your favorite compositors ? What kind of music do you like ?

-­ There are many that are my favorites. Some of them are Leo Brower, Villa Lobos etc. My favorite kind of music is rock, metal and classical music for guitar and in gen-­ eral.

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-­ What would you like to do in the future, what are your projects ?

-­ I want to be a solist guitarist. I know this is very hard but I will try to achieve this goal.

7/ Are you member of a Youth Center in your country?

No, I am not, but I have already done voluntary works. For instance, I have been to Germany to do landart in a park for children, and last summer I went to Italy where I was a volunteer in a music festival organized by an alternative radio.

I met a lot of people from all over the world, so they were great experiences.

8/ Tell me two important things that we have to know about you.

I need to sleep 10 hours per night;; otherwise I am angry or

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6/ Is there anything from your country you think you will miss during your project in Greece?

I may miss food like “croissant”, “pain au chocolat”, cheese, bread and our French newspa-­ I m pers.

5/ Tell me one thing you really don’t like in Greece, and one thing you really like.

Greek people drive so fast, I have to be careful at all moment! However, I like the rest. Here, people are very friendly, welcoming, and you can talk with them easily. Besides, the life is quite calm and I like it very much.

4/ What is the first thing you put in your luggage for coming here?

I put my sleeping bag because I would really like to travel in Greece, Thessaloniki, Athens, I put Corfu…

3/ Is it your first time in Greece?

Yes, I have never been in Greece before. That’s why I wanted to go to Kalamata;; in order to know a new culture and a new way of life.

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2/ What is your project here, and how many months will you spend here?

In the Youth Center, I work in the info point and I am going to teach French and classical guitar for children. I will stay here for 10 months, till August.

1/ Who are you?

Hi ! My name is Inès, I’m 18 years old and I come from Vierzon, a small city in the center of France. Actually, I’ve just finished my high school studies this year and I chose to do my EVS in Kalamata.

Interview

Volunteer: Inés Interviewer: Manuela

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Introducing of new volunteers continues

Hey! My name is Hrafnhildur, but

you can call me Raven (like the bird) because that’s the meaning of the first part of my name.

I come I come from Iceland. I’m 20 years old and just graduated secondary school. I will be staying here for nine months and I already love this town! I will be working in the youth center and giving Icelandic lessons.

I’m I’m very excited to learn about Greek culture, Greek language and experience new things.

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Giasas!

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My name is Leonard Pristl, I come from a little city in central Germany called Bamberg where I have passed the last three years of my life. Until my 15th year, though, I was living in Greece, in a little village called Ag. Dimitrios, and for this reason I speak really good Greek. As a volunteer, I will be working in the KEKIKAmeA in Kalamata this year.

Now I am 18 years old and I love going for skiing in Now I am 18 the winter, I love the white mountains and the nature but I also fell in love with the sea and the beaches here. I decided to come again to Greece to make my EVS project becaused I missed the good weather and the Greek lifestyle and because I like to work with children.

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Hrafnhildur

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The youth center has been open for three weeks now and we already have an extra workshop, Swing and Rock & Roll, which is on Mondays. A lot of people have already registered and I personally can’t wait for it to start.

Dorian, an EVS volunteer, has won competitions for his Rock & Roll dancing so he’ll be there showing off his talents, I urge you all to come and see. It’s almost November and that means that the ‘Do it Yourself’ workshop is starting soon, I’m very excited to see how everything will look in that workshop. Our amazing Greek volunteer Athanasia will take care of that workshop which will be without a doubt really fun because our EVS volunteer, Irene who you all know for her Greek skills and awesome Spanish lessons, will also help from time to time. I can’t wait for this year to kick off with a really good start with these exciting workshops.

Future Activities

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On-Arrival Seminar

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Like all new EVS volunteers also this year's bunch working in Greece gathered in Athens to learn about and share the start of a volunteering experience. 43 volunteers from 18 different European countries spent six days exploring the various possibilities, aims and obstacles, that a youngster doing longterm EVS should be or is likely to get acquinted with. The four trainers responsible for the daily workshops made sure the learning process would not be another boring school lesson. They instead prepared activities which kept us interested and alert throughout the day.

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By  Kaja

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Although our timetable was filled with activities, we managed to find time for some touristic strolling and one or two ouzos at night's crowded squares. Our list of things to see and do in Athens is nevertheless still long. Luckily we're returning in a couple of months for our mid-term evaluation seminar. In the meantime we are hoping to make some trips and visit other volunteers, who are spread all around the mainland and Greece's islands.

Apart from games, that took place at the hotel and were supposed to help us understand the purpose of European voluntary service and our role in it, they also presented us with some challenges, that were to be completed in the busy streets of Greece's capital.

By interviewing Greek people, finding the old parliament and figuring out how tall the guards are, we were getting accustomed with Greek culture and their daily life, which would hopefully soon become a part of our life as well.

In Athens

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In Athens

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EUROPEAN VOLUNTARY SERVICE

ARE YOU BETWEEN 18 AND 30 YEARS OLD? ARE YOU READY TO HAVE AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE ABROAD? Do you want to collaborate with an organization in another coun-­ try being helpful to other people and developing your skills? THIS IS YOUR MOMENT!

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I am Spanish and I came here to Greece thanks to a volunteer European programme for young people, and YOU CAN DO THE SAME IN A FOR-­ EIGN COUNTRY!! It’s not difficult, you can achieve it in really easy steps… and I am sure it will change your life!

So, to start, you need to have a look to the website of YOUTH IN ACTION PROGRAMME (http://ec.eu-­ ropa.eu/youth/youth-­in-­action-­programme/europe-­ an-­voluntary-­service_en.htm) and search for a project you could be interested in.

Last year eight volunteers from Belgium, Denmark, Bulgary, Lithuania, Estonia and France went there to collaborate in a volunteer project and they shared their experienc-­ es in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bSeKX-­ qKTlc8&noredirect=1#!. The volunteers not only learn about Spanish culture, enjoy the Spanish environment, and have contact with the community and young people of the area, but they also take advantage of this wonderful experience to show their own cul-­ ture to other people and to have a beautiful exchange of ideas, thoughts, experiences, and knowledge that could change the view of the world and your personal and profes-­ sional future for sure!

So... why not to do it now?? Europe is waiting for you!!

By Irene.

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There are a lot of projects all around Europe and an easy example of them it’s my sending organization in Spain: “ASOCIACIÓN INICIATIVA INTERNACIONAL JOVEN” (http://www.info-­europa.es/). This is an organization created by a group of young people in 2003 after they had some experiences abroad. As a result of this, they de-­ cided to help other local young people to have the same experiences they had and to create this young space in Malaga, on the south of Spain (Andalucía) with a really useful information point called “INFO-­EUROPA”. Their more important aims are to promote plans, programmes, and projects related to the youth which could help them to improve their personal development as active citizens, increase the knowledge in the young field and to contribute with the relationships between other countries of Europe and also with countries in other parts of the world (they have an open project with Guatemala). Right now, the organization is run by two members although they carry out all the activities they promote thanks also to the help of local volunteers and foreign volunteers coming from other countries of Europe who can be you! It’s been more than 10 years they are working as a hosting organization receiving young been mo volunteers from Youth In Action programme to take part in projects of several months ending in summer.

TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY NOW!!

If not…WHEN??

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Fotini Filaretos Maria Panagiota Dimitris

+ all the other people + a helping in any way creat-­ ing this fanzine LINK

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publica-­ tion [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

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NOVEMBER 2012

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LiNK

autumn edition

KENTRO NEON KALAMATAS

NOVEMBER

KENTRO NEON KALAMATAS

1st november 2012