ISSUU N°98 - SEPTEMBER 2017

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N°9 8

Septem b er 4 TH 2017

Editor : Mariam Sassi

Designer : Anna Szlendak

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#LINKEXPLORE

Content Contact

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About us

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Yana Volkova 12 Joana Ganilho Marques 15 Sara Amghar 19 Molly O’Doherty 21 Martyna Czypicka 23 Sofiene Lahdheri 25

EVS, K.A.NE. Hike to Mount Tygetos Interview an EVS volunteer The West Beach of Kalamata Wonderful Welsh Cake Make-up «No make-up» Photo Report

K.A.NE. Staff members of KANE: Filaretos Vourkos Fotini Arapi Jelena Scepanovic Nantiana Koutiva Vyron Giannakopoulos

K.A.N.E Social Youth Development Youth Center of Kalamata Plateia Othonos 10 Kalamata, 24100, Greece

EVS: Anna Szlendak Joana Ganilho Marques Mariam Sassi Martyna Czypicka Mehdi Jaffar Molly O’Doherty Sara Amghar Sofiene Lahdheri Yana Volkova

info@ngokane.org +30 272 111 0740 kentroneon.wordpress.com ngokane.org/index.php

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@kentroneon

WHO ARE WE ?

ANNA

Kalimera! I am Ania and I come from Poland. I will be working for KANE and running Photography and Ukulele workshops. I studied photography in the Institute of Journalism of the University of Warsaw and worked for press photo agencies when I lived in my country.

I enjoy every form of photography, I use both digital and

film camera, I also create my own pinhole cameras. Besides, I am totally addicted to travel.

MARTYNA

Hey guys! My name in Martyna and I’m new volunteer from Poland! I’ve grown up in Poznan (west side of the country).

I’m 26 this year and I try to enjoy every minute of my life! I’m crazy about Greece, this is my favourite place in Europe – however I love to travel and I take every opportunity to see the world.

In my free time I like to read and spend time outside of the house. I love to eat, this is my biggest passion! I’m totally a beauty freak.

JOANNA

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Hello ! My name is Joana, I’m 29 years old and I’m from Lisbon, Portugal. I studied fine arts, art education and museology and I just arrived Kalamata for a 12 months EVS project. I’ve worked for a lot of time in bookshops and I love to read. I like quiet places where I can be in touch with nature. I’m a curious person and I’m always better if I have a cup of tea with me

MOLLY

Hello everyone! My name is Molly and I come from the UK. I’ve moved here from a city called Bristol in England. I am going to be working in K.A.N.E.’s office.

I’ll be helping with the programming, development and evaluation of activities. I’ll also be helping out in the Youth Centre and running an English Conversation workshop. I love cooking, watching films and doing yoga. I also really enjoy helping people to connect with their local history. Before I came here I was working in

museums and archives for many years. I am really excited to be in Kalamata and I feel very lucky to be here working as an EVS volunteer.

SOFIENE

Taking a decision to leave everything what you have and take a deep plunge into something unknown is never an easy one. I took such a decision, left my job and decided to take one-in-a- lifetime opportunity to do my EVS in Greece. My name is Sofiene, I’ am 26 and I am from a tiny country in North Africa called Tunisia. I am a photographer, videographer, graphic designer and I am here to share my experience and knowledge as well as expand it and acquire new skills. I’m social, open minded and always curious about different cultures and meeting beautiful people.

SARA

Kalimera to all of you, I am Sara, I am french and I am 21 years old. Since yesterday, I am a new volunteer in Kalamata and will stay here for a year (maybe more ...?) in order to give some help to the horse riding center of kalamata and the Kefiap as well. More over, I will give french lessons at the Youth Center of the city. I met people I will work with and I am really excited to start being part of the project. Horse riding center is a real peacefull place for anybody who needs to connect his

mind with his body. The couple of therapist working there are sensitive and receptive people, so if you have any physycal pain, just go to the horse riding center.

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MARIAM

Stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things is the best way to grow, and this is what EVS is all about.

My name is Mariam, I am 24 and I come from Tunisia.

Passionate by traveling, arts, adventures as well as meeting new people and discovering new traditions, places and cultures. I decided to leave all of my normal steady life in Tunisia to come seek inspiration and explore a new way of living in Greece, in the beautiful city of Kalamàta. I would use all of my

knowledge and dig even deeper to give the best of me, but also try to learn everything I can from other volunteers, from locals and daily life experience, either languages, dancing, music instrument, sports etc.

YANA

I am Yana from Ukraine. For 5 years I was studying architecture in university and I fond of everything about it as well as about natural building. Before coming here I was working as a project coordinator of the workcamps and as freelance graphic designer for different social festivals and non-governmental organizations. The last 4 years I’ve been travelling to different places in Europe such as eco-villages and rural areas helping people and promoting volunteering for

peace. All kind of arts, nature, voluntarism, and travel -- my biggest passions in life.

MEHDI

There are at least as many things to know as there are humans and countries. EVS enables the possibility to know much more about our World.nΚαλημερα, Hello, my name is Mehdi, I am 24 and I come from France.

Passionate about Life and Nature, my biggest motivation is to learn from other cultures, from people, from life. I decided to quit my job there too, so I could catch the opportunity to experience something unique in Greece, in Kalamata, and all the Greek cities I will

have the chance to see. I will bring you all I have, and I will learn from everyone all I can.

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K.A.NE.

FILARETOS

jelena

NANTIANA

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Hello, I am Filaretos Vourkos. For the last 10 years I am working in the field of Non-formal education as avolunteer, youth worker and youth trainer. 6 years ago,I decided to create the Youth Centre of Kalamata, in orderto initiate youth work in Kalamata and promote active citizenship as factor for change.

Hi, I’m Jelena Scepanovic, an EVS coordinator in KANE and the volunteer of the Youth center. I came from Montenegro 2012 as an EVS volunteer.

I really liked the idea of the Youth center and the work that KANE does, so I decided to stay and be part of it.

My name is Nantiana! I’m 23 years old. I live in Kalamata! I was living for 5 years in Patras! I was studying there greek philology and now I’m teaching greek to the youth center in Kalamata.

fotini

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Hi my name is Fotini Arapi and I am project manager in K.A.NE. organization and responsible, among other things, 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 atmosphere, and most of all, its natural inclusiveness that allows everybody to feel

“at home” there. See you around :-D

VYRON

would describe Vyron as an imaginative fast learning and inventive generalist with a passion for remarkable food and the great outdoors. That’s enough talking about myself in third person. Hello, I am Vyron Giannakopoulos, I consider myself a curious and open-minded person. I have studied the science of Geography and as the newest member of KANE I am here to help by managing the creative projects of EVS volunteers, planning events, creating new projects and

doing anything that will add value to our organisation. In my free time I like exploring new places and learning new things. But feel free to contact me on any issue if you need help.

Namaste

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HIKE TO MOUNT TAYGETOS (FROM A LETTER)

(from a letter)

Yesterday at 12:00 pm we received a call from Xara and she told us about some hike organized by hiking club. Something about few hours hike in the evening as I understood. At 3:00 pm we were already at the office of the Hiking club ready to go.

We took with us some stuff like food, water and warm clothes. When we started to get inside the car we realized... that it's night hike...we will spend night in the forest and hike will start at 3 a.m. We were shocked.

Without anything for camping, without enough of the food, without even my night insulin -- we said no, we are not going. But one man proposed us to pass by the house and take all stuff we need -- so we agreed and we left.

It took us about 2 hours to get to the refugee house of the hiking club.

Place is amazing but not easy reachable. road that leads there is not really a road just stones.

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wine, vegetables. We went to bed around 10 pm and slept till 2 which was nothing as we were 3 in the tent. Wind was also so strong and loud.

At 2 am hiking club made a call that we are leaving. We started to pack the tent and when we finished we realized that we not supposed to. It was like our brains were not working properly.

We started a bit intense going up through the forest. In the beginning the path was good, with no stones. We couldn't see stars yet and were walking in absolute darkness.

Lightning our path with torches. After about 1 hour we reached the hill, very open area, we did a small break to refill the bottles with fresh water from the spring and to wear warmer cloth as we were starting to go up. We could see very clear stars and the moon, lights of the cities around.

We started again. Wind became so strong that when you lift your feet it going on side with the wind. I guess I never experienced such a strong wind. It was so difficult to breath so we were clothing our mouths with jackets. When we went more up it was not possible anymore to control our movements so were were walking as a monkeys using our hands.

Then we did another break at 5:30. it was about to sunrise. We felt so tired already but there were few more hours to walk.

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At some point there was a path that we needed to climb. It was like a wall where you needed to find stone to catch. Something like a climbing wall but with a bit bigger stones for foot and of course more risky. It was such a crazy feeling when you make a step and in absolute silence you can hear stones that are falling under your feet.

Finally we reached final path to Taygetos. There we met the strongest wing. Or maybe it seemed strongest as were so exhausted. The whole group was separated in a lot of small 2-3-4 people but main one was already on the top. I stayed with Sara and one couple. Sara looked very very bad and we needed to make more and more brakes.

15 more minutes and we reached the top!

View from there was crazy. The most amazing thing in Taygetos is that when sun is rising only 1 or 2 hours you can see shadow that it makes on the sea and sky --- pyramids. like 2 pyramids inside of each other. Its phenomenon that looks so crazy! Feeling of reaching the top is something that you can’t compare with anything else.

2404 meters. and it was only one way....

We needed to come back. same way. super exhausted. With no food. We did it in more hours but we did it.

Now it feels so good. The only thing that me and Sara were missing is a lack of "stop and enjoy the moment". But we manage with Sara to do it on the way back!

YANA VOLKOVA 14

INTERVIEW WITH AN EVS (YANA VOLKOVA) VOLUNTEER Hello Yana, Τι Κανεις; Thank you for being here. What do you want to tell us about yourself?

I’m an activist and I love everything connected to arts and crafts. Why did you decide to be a volunteer?

I decided to do my first volunteer project four years ago when I went to work camp in Czech Republic, but my motivation was very selfish. I wanted to learn Czech language and study; I was thinking mainly about myself. And then, after I met many people from different cultures, different countries, I realize that I went for something else, I took from this experience something else and from that moment I realize that it was a life change experience. After that, I decided to do other work camps but with other motivation, to help the local community, to do be able to have some social impact with my work. And from that moment I started to do more and more social projects and now I feel that I’m addicted to being involved in many social projects.

You are in Kalamata for 5 months now. What are you doing as an EVS volunteer and what are your projects here?

My project is connected to art as a tool for social change and so far I did projects about environment and plastic pollution of the ocean and sea. I did one event of beach cleaning, and other with a movie screening about ocean pollution, and the last one was “Music Day 15

of Kalamata” where we were making costumes out of plastic and trash, to raise awareness about pollution, and also musical instruments made out of materials that we can find in our trash bin.

When did you start to be interested about the environment? Do you have a particular event or time that you relate with the moment you started to think about this issue?

When I started my voluntary path I met many people from different NGO’s and other environmental organizations. Being surrounded by those environment friendly people made me realized that this topic is also very important for me because I love nature and it’s very sad for me to see how we are destroying nature. So I decided to dedicate my voluntary work to this.

When you’re working on a project, what does energizes the most you and why?

The thing that energizes me the most is people around me. I didn’t think about that before I came here, but I’ve been realizing that if I’m alone I’m not motivated, I don’t want to make any changes, or anything. But as soon as someone joins my team it motivates me very much because I see that they are interested and they want to make changes and it brings me more motivation and more energy to do things.

What makes you feel passionate about your project?

Love to nature and arts, and the two of them together, when we can connect.

What have you learned as a volunteer so far?

I learn that we can make changes if we are together, if we are united and that everything is possible, we just need to keep moving.

What was the most grateful experience so far?

II think it was tree festivals that we organized with an NGO in my hometown, Kharkiv, in Ukraine.

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It was Fair of Social Initiative, and in that moment, when we were making this festival, I realized that I was doing great things and it had a big impact on my vision of life.

Can you tell me 3 words that describe you as a volunteer?

Creativity, curiosity, energy.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I like to draw, to paint, to hike; I like to just spend time somewhere outside of the city, in the forest, by the sea.

What inspires you?

Other people, other creative people, and nature.

What are you afraid of?

I’m afraid of losing motivation, to lose curiosity about life and to lose people who are supporting me and who are close to me.

Do you have a motto in your life?

Yes, it’s “It always seems impossible until it’s done”, by Nelson Mandela. This is my biggest motivation: I always need to try everything and then I will know if it is or it isn’t for me.

What do you miss the most?

I miss creative environment, with artists, music… a lot. We have it here but I miss it in a bigger scale, like a community of artists.

There is something here in Kalamata that reminds you of home?

I don’t think so, it’s all very different: the environment, people…

What is your favorite place in Kalamata?

West Beach.

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Tell me 5 things you would like to do before you die?

I never thought about that… I want to travel to Latin America; I want to do a big boat trip; I want to learn a musical instrument, perfectly; I want to become an artist; I want to get rid of diabetes.

Where would you like to live, if you could choose anyplace?

Somewhere where it’s not as hot as in Kalamata and not as cold as in Ukraine during winter.

I don’t know, I want to travel everywhere and then I can choose.

What makes you smile?

Music, mountains, sea, and painting.

Thank you :)

JOANA GANILHO MARQUES 18

THE WEST BEACH OF KALAMATA Kalamata or Verga, who knows ? �

You are chilling at Kalamata beach, full of people, coffeeshops and babies crying. This beach is maybe the closest from your place so you don’t think of going further away to explore because anyway your plan was to go to Navarinou, buy an ice-cream in Athanasiou and chill somewhere close to Athanasiou in case you want to buy a second ice-cream. That was my basic plan for sometime to be honest until I discover THE WEST BEACH OF KALAMATA ( or Verga, who knows ? ). This story starts one night as I wanted to sleep on the beach (for fun). I never slept on the beach so I decided to bike till the last hotel by the sea (Filoxenia) and check if there would be good spot where I could sleep without being noticed (# I like adventure but … !#).

After some time walking, I end on a beach I had no idea about before, wild and quiet. It was 01 :00 AM and the only thing I could hear were the waves because no trafic around.

Perfect ! I found my beach. Most important then was « the good spot ». This beach is not completly open space like the main beach in Kalamata. You find many huge stones on your way, which changes the look of the beach.

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In kalamata beach you can’t really hide yourself to : • P*p* (open-air experience) • C*c* (open-air experience) • Swim topless (and have a sunbath) • Swim naked (and have a sunbath ) And so on … (imagine what you could do on a wild and quiet beach far from bunch of tourists) But at the west beach YOU CAN DO IT !

So, I was by this beach completely new for me full of huge stones and surounded by cliffs. I walked at night, my camping light Queshua strongly hold in my hand (# you never know on what you step on#). After some time struggling with my cheap flip flop that couldn’t stand this stony beach, I found the perfect spot to sleep under trees. Some people who already passed by there before created kind of a « roof » with a plastic material so then you could sleep there without unpleasantness such as insects or leaves falling down right on your face (.#Love nature#). I sit happy of my exploration, really thinking that I can sleep here under trees and the sea as the only company. I open my bag, hungry and realise that .... I FORGOT THE FOOD.

END OF ADVENTURE

SARA AMGHAR 20

WONDERFUL WELSH CAKES cacennau Cymraeg gwych in Welsh

Welsh cakes are traditional cakes made all over Wales. They are a kind of mix between a scone, pancake and biscuit. Easy and cheap to make, you can find them in Welsh homes at any time of the year. Here I’ll show you how to bake them just like your lovely Welsh grandmother would.

Ingredients You can often find all the ingredients in your kitchen cupboard, so need to spend a lot of money. Good news for poor EVS volunteers!

500g self-raising flour 250g salted butter 85g caster sugar 1 egg 200g raisons or sultanas 2 tsp cinnamon 2 tsp mixed spice A small bit of milk A little extra butter, for greasing

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Method 1. Pour the flour through a sieve into a bowl so that it is fine and smooth. Rub the butter into the flour with your hands so that it forms into small pieces, like breadcrumbs.

2. Add the spices, sugar, raisins and then the egg to the bowl. Mix them together until you create a ball of dough. Add a splash of milk if it is a little dry.

3. Cover your table with a light layer of flour. Roll out the dough onto it and it cut into small round biscuit shapes using a cookie cutter or a cup. If you have a cookie cutter with slightly frilled edges this is perfect.

4. Heat a heavy frying pan to a medium temperature and grease it with butter. Cook a few cakes at a time for about 3 minutes each, turning them over when needed. When they become a golden brown colour they are ready.

5. Serve them with a little sugar, butter or jam and enjoy!

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MOLLY O’DOHERTY

MAKE-UP NO-MAKE-UP

What you should do, to look good during summer

First and foremost – sunscreen protection. I wrote an article about it in previous Link issue! Without a sunscreen your face is going to look too tan, dry and unhealthy. Little bit of sun breeze is definitely enough!

Do you really want to look like this…?

What to do, when you have to (or want to) do your make-up, but there is 30oC outside?

Answer is easy! Your summer motto should be: Less is more! In everyday life, my make-up is very simple – I’m using only mascara and eyebrow’s shadows set – both waterproof. It’s very comfortable if you want to go to the beach and swim a little. You don’t have to worry that anything bad will happen on your face! Every brand have waterproof cosmetics, so choose your favorite! My ultimate favs are:

Pierre Rene – 5 e

Too Faced (Better than sex) – 24 e 23

But what if you want to do full face make-up? You should invest in BB or CC cream! BB cream is a foundation and the moisturizing cream mixed together. It also provides a sunblock, which is the most important for your skin care! CC cream is a color correction cream. A CC cream has all the benefits of a BB cream but with the specific feature of homogenizing the coloration of the skin, by correcting the complexion concerns such as redness or dullness (in: Wikipedia/BB cream). You have a variety of products to choose:

On the top you can use regular powder (the one you are using usually). I wouldn’t recommended any counting products, but use a blush and, the most important, highlighter! Blush will give you this healthy, natural look and highlighter… is just a magical powder/liquid. Trust me, a bit on temples of your cheek and on a bridge of your nose and you will be glowing! You can use a highlighter even on your bare face! You’re going to look stunning!

Don’t forget to use a setting spray, so nothing will move or melt because of the sun!

Enjoy sunny weather and beautiful make-up!

MARTYNA CZYPICKA 24

PHOTO REPORT !

White Night Kalamata

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SOFIENE LAHDHERI 27

LINK

N°9 8

Septem b er 4 TH 2017

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.