CODE: WS061
DATES: 02.07.-15.07.2006
VOLS: 10
LOCATION: Passugg
TYPE: RENO /DISA/ ENVI
AGE: 18-30
PROJECT
The educational institution Fontana is a training centre for people with impaired hearing and for deaf people. Sometimes there is the caretaker with his family alone living at the centre, some other weeks the place can get quite crowded with groups of people coming for seminars and trainings. In two previous workcamps volunteers helped the people at Fontana doing various maintenance work. Both the volunteers and the people at Fontana were very happy with the result. For the first time this summer the workcamp at Fontana will consist of a mixed group of international
volunteers: there will be deaf and hearing volunteers working together.
WORK
Beside the two houses belonging to Fontana training centre, there is a small hut. Volunteers will help to renovate it. Volunteers will also do maintenance work in the surrounding areas: to clean up pathways and to collect wood or stones.
LOCATION
The Fontana training centre is situated in Passugg. It’s surrounding: Wood, grassland and mountains. Passugg is close to Chur, a typical Swiss town with 32’300 habitants.
REMARKS / SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
This project is open for deaf people or people with impaired hearing as well as for people without handicap. It’s an excellent opportunity to meet new people and to enhance cultural exchange, not only between different nations but also between the culture of hearing and non-hearing.
LANGUAGE
English and sign language
PICTURES
Here’s the link to the pictures of last year’s workcamp in Passugg:
http://www.workcamp.ch/e/frameset/galleries.htm
CODE: WS062
DATES: 09.07.-23.07.2006
VOLS: 12
LOCATION: Tobel
TYPE: RENO
AGE: 18-30
PROJECT
The mission of the foundation Komturei Tobel is to create a place where people can meet and work on various projects together. The foundation got properties from the public authorities and now wants to bring life into those buildings.
WORK
One project of Komturei Tobel is to convert a small and ancient farmhouse into a hostel. The volunteers will work on reconstructions. Volunteers’ tasks are: to help the carpenters, to paint walls, etc.
LOCATION
Tobel is a village in Thurgau. It lies not far from the towns of Wil, St.Gallen and Winterthur and from the big lake called Bodensee, bordering Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
REMARKS / SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Mr. Strasser who is in charge at Komturei Tobel is looking forward very much to welcoming an international group of volunteers, to work together, to spend time together and to make unique experiences of intercultural exchange and encounters.
LANGUAGE
English
CODE: WS063
DATES: 16.07.-30.07.2006
VOLS: 10
LOCATION: Teuffenthal, close to Thun
TYPE: AGRI /ENVI
AGE: 18-30
PROJECT
Edith von Allmen and Raphael Zuberbuehler are the owners of the farm called Buehlmatt in Teuffenthal. They live there with their children, but not only with them. Buehlmatt is also the home for 2-3 adults with mental health problems. Buehlmatt offers to those people professional care, work on the farm and a home. All together there are about 8 people living at Buehlmatt. There are cows and some smaller animals on the farm too. People on the farm Buehlmatt are happy that the workcamp will turn their home into a place for intercultural exchange.
WORK
The volunteer-tasks consist of maintenance work on the grassland, on fields in the hills and forestation work. The tasks are not only farm-related, volunteers are also needed to do conservation-work.
LOCATION
Teuffenthal (close to Thun) lies in the mountains. Teuffenthal consists of (farm) houses spread across the hills. There are only 180 people living there. Thun is a bit more than 10 km away. Thun is a charming little town with stunning view on lake & alps. From Thun it’s only 20 minutes by train to reach Bern, the capital of Switzerland.
REMARKS / SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
No drinking and no drugs are allowed inside and around the farm Buehlmatt. If anyone breaks this rule, (s)he will have to leave the camp immediately. (To go for a drink on an evening or at the weekend away from the farm, is not a problem.)
LANGUAGE
English
PICTURES
Last year’s pictures of the workcamp in Teuffenthal:
http://www.workcamp.ch/e/frameset/galleries.htm
CODE: WS064
DATES: 23.07.-06.08.2006
VOLS: 15
LOCATION: Toggenburg
TYPE: ENVI/AGRI
AGE: 18-30
PROJECT
Today’s tenants of Mountain Farms in the Swiss Alps struggle to make a living. The work on the steep fields is rough and laborious. Usually, the task is not only to farm, but also to take care of the environment. E.g. By cultivating the farmer can help to provide landslides. The local partners in this project are: The tenant of the Sheep Mountain Farm Gulmen as work-supervisor, the municipality of Gams as sponsor and Mr. Joerin, CEO of IKT CJ, as local coordinator.
WORK
The volunteer-tasks consist of maintenance work on the Mountain Farm Gulmen, building repairs, to put up fences, to repair water pipes and to do maintenance work on the trails. Furthermore volunteers will help with forest operations and do maintenance work on alps for the municipality of Gams.
LOCATION
Working on alps naturally means living in the mountains. Gams and Wildhaus are situated in the region of Toggenburg, in Switzerland’s east. When the weather is good, you have a spectacular view over the top of mountain chains, over Switzerland to Austria, Lichtenstein and even Germany.
REMARKS/ SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
For this project we are looking for mountain- and nature-lovers who are particularly interested in learning about life, traditions and challenges of Swiss Mountain Farmers. Your campleader, Flurina, has grown up in this region herself and is looking forward to sharing her knowledge and experience with you. Volunteers should not be afraid to do hard work, spend the days outside and live a simple life.
LANGUAGE
English
CODE: WS065
DATES: 12.08.-25.08.2006
VOLS: 9
LOCATION: Corwetsch
TYPE: RENO
AGE: 18-30
PROJECT
Until the early 1960’s, there were cows and sheep on the alp called Corwetsch and cheese was produced. Today, there are only abandoned and run down huts left. The union Corwetsch wants to renovate these alp huts into simple accommodation facilities. The goal is that these alp huts can be used by groups working on social or ecological issues and that the huts will provide shelter for hikers.
WORK
Volunteers will help to renovate the alp hut Corwetsch in a simple manner. That means, that no big machines are used, you do most things with your own hands. The renovations should fit into the landscape.
LOCATION
The alp hut Corwetsch is in the middle of high mountains (2024 meters above sea level). The closest village is Gondo, a place in the upper part of the canton Wallis, very close to the Italian border of Switzerland.
REMARKS / SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
This workcamp is only suitable for people, who can live without comfort during the duration of the project. The workcamp site is far away from so called civilisation. There are some solar cells, but almost no electricity.
Because of the altitude, the weather is hard to predict. At night the temperature can sink below zero, even in August. If you want to join this camp, good hiking boots are indispensable.
All volunteers are required to send a MOTIVATION LETTER.
LANGUAGE
English
PICTURES
The Corwetsch union’s website: http://www.corwetsch.ch
Last year’s pictures of the workcamp in Corwetsch:
http://www.workcamp.ch/e/frameset/galleries.htm
CODE: WS066
DATES: 13.08.-31.08.2006
VOLS: 15
LOCATION: Solothurn
TYPE: ART
AGE: 18-30
PROJECT
The interkulturelle Kreativwerkstatt Solothurn is the name of a small union of local artists, working in the region of Solothurn. There is a writer, a photographer, a painter, a guitarist and off-and-on some other artists working together on different projects like performances and sculpture expositions etc.
Now the interkulturelle Kreativwerkstatt plans a special project for which it seeks the help of international volunteers. The idea is to take texts written in different languages and to paint them on canvas in order to create written paintings.
The viewer of the paintings will probably not be able to understand all the texts, written in various languages. The point is not to understand everything, but to let yourself touch by the art and to start an intercultural dialogue between the international group of volunteers, the artists and the local public.
WORK
Volunteers paint their texts using various techniques on canvas.
With the help of the volunteers, the interkulturelle Kreativwerkstatt Solothurn will also offer afternoon-workshops for local schools. The teachers and the students are looking forward to meeting international volunteers in the workshop and to working with them.
At the end of the workcamp volunteers will help to organize an exposition in Solothurn and show their art to the public. The paintings will be sold and the money will be used to initiate further projects aiming to enhance intercultural dialogue.
LOCATION
Solothurn offers everything what you can expect from a small Swiss town: old town with historic and picturesque buildings and it’s only a 15-minute’s walk from the city center to the countryside.
REMARKS / SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
You will spend most of your free time socializing with the people in charge at the interkulturelle Kreativwerkstatt.
Volunteers applying for this project need to be creative, are talented for art and – if possible - have some experience in creating art.
All volunteers are required to send a MOTIVATION LETTER showing their experience and knowledge in the field of art.
LANGUAGE
English
CODE: WS067
DATES: 19.08.-03.09.2006
VOLS: 12
LOCATION: Thunersee
TYPE: ENVI
AGE: 18-30
PROJECT
Members of the union called Region Thunersee are municipalities around the lake of Thun.
The aim of the union is to take care of the cultural landscape in the region. One big and ongoing project is to maintain the old pilgrim-path. It is part of the famous trails leading to Santiago de Compostela. Around the lake of Thun this path fits nicely in the landscape between lake and mountains. It’s a beautiful old trail, not only for pilgrims, but also for nature-lovers and hikers. In order to maintain the path this project called Treffpunkt Pilgerweg needs the help of volunteers.
WORK
The volunteer-task consists of maintenance work on the pilgrim-path around the lake of Thun. One of the main tasks will be to repair dry stone walls. An expert of dry stone walls will show you how it’s done.
LOCATION
The location is settled around the lake of Thun. Thun is a charming little town with stunning view on lake & alps (mountains). From Thun you can reach Bern, the capital of Switzerland, in only 20 minutes by train.
REMARKS / SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Volunteers participating in this project need to be healthy. It’s not suitable for people with backache, because volunteers will be asked to carry stones in order to work on the dry walls.
LANGUAGE
English
[sursa societatea_civila]
