Link65 1 April 2015
Content + Editorial + Who we are
+ Nothing is as paper books! + On arrival seminar
+ Independance of Greece +Mid term seminar +Eastern
+ Theatre lesson
+ Intervew with volunteer
+ Tango in Kalamata
+ Recipe
+ Naamloos
+ Scout in Germany + Help needed + What’s new + What’s coming soon
Editorial Like today, 1st of April 2008, the court and the tax office approved the K.A.NE.’s Article. This, 7 years ago, was the official start of a very interesting life changing journey. Being on board since the beginning I could say that it isn’t an easy one but definitely goes forward and brings even more interesting “things”. In 7 years we managed to achieve all the initial objectives of the organisation but one. We managed to create 2 youth structures, without any funding, which now are both independent, we managed to offer opportunities to hundreds of youth to participate in youth mobility educational projects, we contributed in the development of our city and organised plenty of beautiful activities. Additionally we created 4 sustainable job positions and we are ready for more. The only objective we didn’t achieve up to now is the recognition of youth work. However we managed to contribute and continue to this direction to the extend we can. If you like statistics here we are; We hosted 85 long term and 76 short term EVS volunteers, 14 internships and about 476 youth workers or youth in seminars and youth exchanges. We sent 32 local youth for EVS, 16 for internships and 119 youth and youth workers to seminars abroad. Of course however the international youth work gives impressive numbers we are more proud for the 2 youth structures we created in local level.
The Youth Centre of Kalamata and Kalamata Street Festival. Both of them, now independent from KANE, were created with no funding at all but they managed from zero budget projects to become big voluntary organisations which trained more than 4000 youth for free (6 years of youth centre) and hosted more than 400 artists and more than 30000 people (in 8 festivals). For a small association in a small city (Kalamata is a town of 60000 habitats) we are doing pretty good and we are happy for that. And please allow us today, through this editorial, to brag a bit about it... HAPPY BIRTHDAY KANE!!!
Filaretos
Who we are My name is lolita but you can call my lola also. I have twenty years old. I studie social work. I love animal and in particularity my favorite are horses. I like dancing, listen music. My personality adventuress, Philosophie of lolita : stay serious but when the time is for enjoy, laugh because life is simple ! =) I am Burçin BEZİRKAN, from Turkey. I am 25 years old and coming from Antalya. I studied Public Administration at Akdeniz (Mediterranean) University and I am doing master at same university and on the same major. Here in Kalamata, I am working in Farma Fifa with Mirto Fifa for Natural Farming Project. I love reading book and watching movies and I love this Country!!!! Aye, i’m Laura nineteen years old and i come from the south of France. I’m interest in learning other language and cultre and that’s why i came the Greece. I’m more of an indoor person with a calm personality and i really like snow that why i love winter but i pefer spring for the flower. XD Hello everyone, as you already may know, I am Daan the Dutch EVS’er. Don’t confuse it with Deutsch, I am from The Netherlands. You know, Amsterdam, cheese and weed. Ok, I would love to meet a lot of people, so if you are in for a beer or a coffee, you will find me!
Hello, I’m Agnieszka, I’m 23 years old and I come from Poland. I’m volunteering in Youth Centre of Kalamata. I’m a big fan of music festivals and live music. My favorite season is summer, and the most enjoyable sport is snowboarding ;). Hello people, I’m Nuno Davide and I twenty-three years. I’m from Portugal and I live in (Lisbon). I studied Graphic Design, and I love drawing, painting, listening to music, playing football and many things .. I came to Greece to evolve in my artistic career and learn and experience new cultures English Greek principaly. ;) So..I am from Poland. My name is Kasia and I am 23 years old. I study Croatian language and literature. Balkan, most of all Serbia, is my place in this world, but I love to travel, to live in different places, to meet new people, because from this people I draw energy and joy. I love to dance and sing even I’m not the best in it. I love to listen to people and see some situations from different perspective. I learn by experience, project in Greece is next step in my “education”on”. Hallo! I’m Ines Hofer from Vienna, Austria. I’m 27 years old and studied Zoology (Animal Behaviour) at the University of Vienna. Here in Kalamata, I’m volunteering for Re-think Project and Farma Fifa Permaculture. I like being in the nature, hiking, travelling and enjoying life
Aye my name is Lorenzo Brizi ad i come from Italy. I come from a small town located between lazio, umbria and tuscany. Named acquapendente. In the province of viterbo. I’m 20 years old and i will stay in Kalamata until september. I will work to the youth center as a teacher of italian and also in tourist information center. I want to try new working experience to improve myself and also enjoy the summer, the beach and the company
Hi! I’m Stina, 20 years old and from Hamburg in Germany. My project here where I volunteer, is in the Youth Center. What I like the most, is music. In Hamburg I sing in two bands, I’m learning the guitar and go to concerts and festivals as much as I can.
Hello, my Name is Jana an I am from Hamburg. I am working in the therapeutic horse riding project and also in the KEFIAP Center. In my free time I like to dance ballet and meet some friends.
Like we say: we keep the best for the end so now K.A.NE people Hello fellow EVSers! My name is Argyris, Αργύρης, Арјирис, 아라리스 (the last one is Korean, and the one before is my contribution to serbocroatian) and I am the most long-term Euphoric Violent Surrealist (EVS) in K.A.NE., I am an all around player, attacking with the power of unlimited love and laughter and defending with the shield of memory. I have been living in Kalamata and working for K.A.NE. since April 2014 and I know everything about the meaning of life and death. Feel free to ask me whatever you want ☺
Hi my name is Fotini Arapi and I am project manager at K.A.NE. organization and responsible for all sending motilities (sending EVS volunteers, participants in training courses, interns, etc). Apart from my work in K.A.NE., I also volunteer in the Youth Centre of Kalamata, a volunteer initiative managed by a team of local volunteers. I am very proud of and I love the Youth Centre, its dynamic, and most of all its natural inclusiveness that allows everybody to feel “at home” there. See you around :-D Filaretos Vourkos / Last 7 years I am working in the field of non formal educa- tion as a volunteer, youth worker and youth trainer. 4 years ago, I decided to create the Youth Centre of Kalamata, in order to initiate the youth work in Kalamata and promote active citizenship as factor of change.
Independance Day Of Greece The Ottoman Greece is the period of Ottoman rule. Most of Greece was then part of the Ottoman Empire in the fourteenth century,
The Greek Revolution (1821-1830) is the conflict with which the Greeks ultimately supported by the major powers (France, UK, Russia), managed to get their independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Kalamata is the first city to fight against the Ottoman Empire to regain their land and independence.
CELEBRETION OF INDEPENDANCE DAYÂ : 25 OF MARCH.
Lolita Garcia
Traditions around Easter
There are many traditions around the Easter in P o l a n d. Many Polish people decorate eggs, which symbolize life and rebirth. Decorating eggs often turs into art. Holy week begins Palm Sunday, one week before the Easter Sunday. On this day many people go to church with willow branches decorated differently with dried flowers. This day in many cities take place contests, in which the winners are the owners of the most beautiful and the longest palms. Palms reach even tens meters, but the requirement of the contest is that they have to stay vertically. Six days after, during Easter Saturday Catholics prepare the baskets with food inside. Traditionally they put inside egg, slice of bread, salt and pepper. Some people put inside piece of cake as well. With the nicely decorated basket,
people go to church to bless food that they have prepared. Food which basket contains is the first meal of the Easter Sunday. That day families celebrate together, they sit next to big tables, on which different kinds of dishes are served. Next Day- Easter Monday its called in Poland Smigus Dyngus as well as Wet Monday. The traditions is that people pour water on each other. Traditionally this custom relates to beginning of the spring and end of winter as well as it symbolizes purifying. However nowadays people forget about initial meaning of the celebration and custom maintains as an entertainment
Agnieszka Lul
Interview with Stina
Aye Stina, you arrive just a few weeks ago so can you present a bit yourself ? Hello! I’m 20 years old and from Hamburg. Hamburg is the second biggest city in Germany. I have a younger brother, Janis, who will turn 18 in July. What is your impression and feeling about Kalamata since now? I think it’s a really nice city! You can find everything you need: mountains, the sea, bars, nice cafes… Because it’s not a very big city I already feel comfortable and know how to reach the places I need to :). And the people are very friendly here! What is your project and what do you do? My project is in the Youth Center. I coordinate the workshops which take place there, take care of the spaces and will just start with my own workshop: to teach German.
Until when are you staying in Greece? How long is your project? Until the beginning of September. So I will be here for the whole greek summer:) You are only 20 years olds what made you want to do an EVS? Last summer I just finished my high school and I didn’t want to study just right after. I wanted to see something from the world, find out about a new culture and meet people. And why in Greece? Any particular raison? Two years ago I’ve been in Greece for a concert trip with my choir. We’ve been in Thessaloniki, Patra, Athens and Santorini. I really liked the beautiful landscapes, but mostly the hospitable Greeks where I was living! For EVS I was actually just looking for a project which I’m interested in, but I was really happy when I was chosen for a project in Greece, so I could visit this nice country again. What do you want to do when you finish your EVS? Then, finally I want to start with studies. I want to study Cultural Studies, which is about many things, like art, music, architecture… And you can combine it with cultural management for example.
What are your hobbies? My favorite hobby is music. In Hamburg I sing in two bands and learn the guitar. I also love to visit concerts and music festivals. Besides, I like to swim, to ride the bike, to go out or hang out with friends or make yoga. How do you spend your time in Kalamata when you are not working? I stay at the beach, drink a coffee in a cafe and go out at night. And I actually want to continue learning the guitar. So, if anyone wants to borrow or sell a guitar: TELL ME! Thank you for your time Thank you for interviewing! :D
Laura Doddi
BASIC HUMMUS RECIPE
Serves 6-8 as a starter *2 x 400g cans of chickpeas (reserve the liquid and a few chickpeas for decoration) *4 tsp tahini *2 garlic cloves, crushed *1 tsp crushed sea saltin olive oil (plus extra for drizzling) *3½ tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice *Paprika (optional) *Coriander or parsley leaves (optional)
Rinse the chickpeas in cold water and tip into the food processor. Add the tahini, crushed garlic, salt, lemon juice and seven tablespoons of the reserved liquid from the cans. Turn on the food processor and slowly pour in the oil while it runs. When the mixture is fully combined and smooth, tip it into a serving dish. Drizzle with some more extra virgin olive oil and decorate with a few whole chickpeas. Sprinkle with paprika and finely chopped coriander or parsley leaves, for colour.
Burรงin Bezirkan
Scouts in Germany In Germany it is very popular to be part of a scout group. The most Scouts belong to a church community but there are also a lot independent associations.
The Idea of scouts is from Robert Baden-Paul. In 1907 he made the first meeting of scouts. For him it was important to motivate children to life with the nature and to find their own opinions about politics and to make them think independent. At the beginning, scouting was only for boys, but around 1950 a lot of girl scout groups started to help the people after the second world war. Now, to be a scout as a girl is very popular. In Hamburg we have beside a lot of church scouts an independent association named “Pfadfinderbund Nord�. This association follows the idea to show children the nature and teach them how
to respect the nature and how to life together in a group. The Groups are not bigger than ten people and the children have the same age. Also the group leader is very young to get a better relationship to the children. Normaly the groupleader is around 6 years older. As a scout you have Weekly meetings with your group, were you learn to sing, to play a guitar or you just play some games together. Once a month you go camping in a forest with a special tent where you can have a fire inside.
Every year in summer is a big trip to another country in a European country. For three weeks you go to a hiking trip and take everything you need with you. Because you have a lot of things to carry we have special backpacks. For me scouts are the perfect way to find a lot of new friends who are interested in the same things like you and discover a lot of countries together with friends in the nature.
Jana Henschel
Nothing is as paper books! It reduces stress, increases the ability to concentrate, makes people more susceptible to listening and thinking exercises. And, not least, enhance empathy, or the ability of people to understand the mental and emotional states of others. In younger people, then, has been shown to slow the cognitive decline typical of advancing age: in short, there are many studies over the years have demonstrated the powerful benefits of reading. Provided, however, that you adhere to the “old way”, or with a book in hand to browse page by page and not, as more and more often the case, on the screen of a computer or a smartphone. What you read in your own home, at the library or sitting on a bench in the public gardens, to make a difference is the paper book. And yes, because to get the benefits of reading is necessary that the action of reading is done carefully, pausing and focusing on what you are doing. The new ways of reading that goes to the success and rapid spread of new electronic devices (computer, smartphone, tablet) does not guarantee, on the contrary, the same results: a US study conducted in 2006 on how to read the electronic media has emphasized that people struggling with a text to be read on the computer (but also on tablets and smartphones) tend to use the so-called “model F”, or read whole lines higher up the text, then moved to read half of the subsequent lines until you get to read the lower half of the page scrolling only the left side until the end of the text. One type of speed reading that leads yes to high
light the words - and concepts - the most important, but that prevents a deep understanding. The content on the web, then, are designed to continuously capture the user’s attention through words, sounds and image galleries, all factors that hinder the ability to focus on what you are reading.
Lorenzo Brizi
in Athens
On Arrival Seminar
From the 16th to the 21th of March we had the possibility to visit Greece’s capital city for our On Arrival Seminar. We were 45 people from 16 countries staying in the Stanley hotel, which was fortunately in the center of Athens. So we could reach everything very easy (eeeven if we didn’t have much time to use it).
But at least we could see the Acropolis from our hotel roof, haha. In the morning we were always using our own bus to go to another hotel, named Novotel, where we had the space for our 10 hours seminar work per day. The bus wasn’t very necessary, since the other hotel was just 10 minutes by foot, but I don’t mind, it was comfortable of course…
In the seminar we did a lot of things. For example talking about our expectations, our fears and could ask our few questions. And we played many games and role-plays which was the funny part of the work. Besides everybody was presenting his/her EVS project to the group, which was quite interesting. So you could see what different projects are offered in the EVS program. In the nights we went out of course. Even if it was hard, because we, and especially me, weren’t not used to get up at 8 in the morning and were extremely tired. Many times we found each other before going out in a room of one Spanish guy, surrounded by many funny Spanish people drinking their 2 liter beer bottles. One highlight was our visit in the turtle rescue station on Thursday (we had two hours of free time) where three of the group are doing their EVS. It is a really nice place, directly on the sea. The volunteers live in small and very cute wagons with a lot of nice space outside. I think it’s perfect for the summer. But: I didn’t expect the turtles to be so big! Really crazy. The biggest one they ever found was about 4 meters long.
In this seminar we met a lot of nice and funny people & had a lot of fun. Aaand we ate a lot. I woke up without having any hunger - and usually I’m the most hungry in the morning - but I continued eating because the food was so GOOD and for free! I’m really looking forward to meet all these nice people again in the Mid Term Seminar.
Stina Binder
MID-TERM SEMINAR
Volunteering is amazing experience which let us get new experience, learn a lot about others and ourselves. Volunteers support work of NGOs but also they need support. This we can get for example on seminars created especially for us. Last week me and rest of volunteers from Kalamata we went to Athens to meet there volunteers from others cities in all over the Greece. For all of us this is middle of our adventure with EVS program. What we did during this time? Have we been good volunteers? How we changed and evaluated during this time? What we will do after coming back to our countries? It looks like easy questions, but they are not at all! If you decide to live your country, family, friends, studies, job, life! for one year it have to has consequences! Of course everything is still there, but‌ are we still the same, do we still want the same things‌ ?
Mid-term seminar was created to help us to answer for this questions. More than 40 people from almost all european countries had possibility to share their experience, ideas and fears. Facilitators did their best to show us opportunities which are waiting for us. But, seminar is not only serious, professional meeting. It was nice to meet again friends from on-arrival seminar. It was amazing to talk, play, and go out with people who in vrey shor time become to be your friends. After 4 amazing days we came back to Kalamata, full of great memories and hope for future. We will see what will bring next months ;)
Katarzyna Chojnowska
Theatre lesson In the Youth Center the actor needs to develop three instruments: Body, Voice, Emotion. The acting classes at the Youth Center we do various exercises to improve our bodily expressions, facial and among other things. We learn to articulate and use our body, learn to know and work our emotions, self-confidence, lose inhibition, lose the fear to express themselves and respect. Another important aspect that we learn is the collective work. Theatre is a collective art. And in the Youth Center learned in working with people from different culture
Nuno Davide
Tango in Kalamata
For Agnieszkas and my name day our lovely mentors gave us as a present a free tango class with private teachers in Kalamata. I had never danced Tango before, so I had no idea what to expect. Our Tango class took place at Tango Impro with Maria and Thanos. For me it was a very interesting lesson and I enjoyed it a lot, so I can definitely recommend those two. The best part was to watch them dancing Tango at the end of our class. Very impressive! What is Tango? Tango is a vibrant and playful dance between two people. It has very rich potential for expression, improvisation and connection and is danced in both modern and traditional styles.
It is often described as a passionate dance, because of the close connection partners can have. At the heart of tango is the desire to listen to, understand and converse with the person you’re dancing with, through this unique language of dance. So tango can be many things for different people. In tango there is a ‘leader’ and ‘follower’. Through the embrace, the leader offers invitations to the follower for where and how to step. The follower decides in what way they will accept the leader’s invitations. Both leader and follower try to maintain harmony and connection through the embrace, and with the music, and so the dance is born. Like the symbols of yin and yang, the roles of leader and follower each have a little of the other within them. Tango is a collaborative process, which encourages the development of sensitivity, clarity, trust and respect.
Ines hofer
Naamloos Finally, after three long month’s the sun shows her lovely warm smile to Kalamata. Time to get out of our houses, stop looking movies and start wearing sunscreen! It is time that we lose our winter dip and be active because what is more nicer than enjoying the sun while doing active things? Looking around Kalamata, you are able to do a lot of things. Easter is coming and in an around Kalamata a lot of things are organised. (For the exact activities for Easter ask local inhabitants because probably they can tell you much more). Always wanted to see Kalamata through the eyes of a bird? Go up to the mountains overcome the fear of heights and jump with a parachute down. An amazing experience as they told me, for sure we need to try this! Besides this, all the lovely bars will siga siga open their beach bars and serve you the best cocktails. Or drink just a beer but don’t forget, let the sun embrace you with a lot of love! Maybe some people where sad because of the weather this winter but let’s not forget that Kalamata was able to offer us a great variety of activities during the hard months of the year.
We have had great party’s in the youth centre, seminars brought lovely people from all over Europe, live bands gave us the feeling of love through our ears and the never ending love of the bartenders brought us joy and happiness. People, let’s give everyone a smile and show them the real beauty of Kalamata :) Daan Roorda
Help needed * CHAIRS
Strange as it may sound, the Youth Center is in need of chairs! As the Youth Centre acquires more and more members, and the use of the chairs is extensive, our poor old chairs are breaking down. As it is, it is impossible to have all the chairs that the workshops need. If you have any chairs that you do not use, or you think that you can spare, you can bring them!
* MARKERS for the white board
As all of the language workshops make use of the white board, we consume approximately 3 markers per week!
* Pens
You can never have enough of those!
* Computers
Unfortunately, the Youth Centre at the moment has only 1 working (almost) computer to be used in the info-point. We need at least 1 more computer to be used in the dance workshops (for now we are using a borrowed one) and 1 more for the outside activities‌
* Volunteers
As you may have noticed, most of the time in the Youth Centre, apart from our lovely volunteers from abroad, there is usually also a Greek speaking volunteer around, to give information about the workshops and help in case it is needed. If you want to become and volunteer in the Youth Centre and dedicate 2-3 hours per week to help with the running of the Youth Centre, please, do not hesitate to contact us at: kentroneonkalamatas@gmail.com
What’s new Italian lesson Come to learn the beautiful, romantic italian language with our italian volunteer Lorenzo. German lesson for beginners... with our new German volunteer New german teacher for advance... with one of our new German volunteer who will replace Ines Yoga Lolita give yoga lesson on friday
What’s coming soon Youth Center Birthday Party on the 4 April at 21h00
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 there in.
The End