Weekend in Kavadarci!

Zdravo!

Saturday we took the opportunity to go to Kavadarci (in the south of Macedonia) with our coordinator, he used to live there and we wanted to meet people from rural areas for our project. It was also nice to discover the city and our coordinator's previous employment with the youth organisation, CreACTive.

How is the best way to meet local people? We spent the saturday night in local pubs and had the chance to meet other international volunteers (EVS, Peacecorps...) and local youth workers.

Understanding rural life is not always easy, so on Sunday we went to Marena, a little village near Kavadarci to visit and meet Vancho a local farmer who lives with his mother in a house in the countryside.

Their welcoming was perfect, they showed us the house and the garden, gave us an interview and invited us to eat and drink homemade rakija and ajvar, what more can we ask for :) ?

Under a beautiful blue sky, we walked to find the CreACTive farm, a 500 square meters land run by the association, where local youth and international volunteers work together, and can discover the permaculture techniques, eco-construction principles, composting and other environmental values.

Perhaps in the future the youth from Marena and Kavadarci could bring these ecological techniques to the rest of farmers and habitants in the area, it would be great.

Back in town, we returned to the pub for a meeting with one of the youth involved in the CreACTive projects, he told us about his experiences and we shared a good moment.

Intense weekend if we can say, but we enjoyed it. We love to meet new people and discover new places, and it was very productive for our 'coming soon' photo exhibition.

The trip back from Kavadarci to Kumanovo allowed us to have some rest. Our coordinators version of a direct bus, it wasn't. We stopped for 45 minutes in Skopje! but finally we made it.

Counting the days until the next discovering trip around Macedonia, we think it wont be before the end of our EVS period, which is almost over :(

Hope to see you around!

Artistic workshops in the Staro Nagoričane School

In the framework of our Intercult'rural project we are organising artistic workshops with the 8th grade students from the Staro Nagoričane School.

Every monday we visit the school and propose artistic and creative workshops to the kids. Normally based in the idea of recyclart, we are showing them how different materials can be reused in a creative way giving them a “second life”. 

During this workshops we can also practise with them the concepts learned at wednesday's english lessons! From our point of view, it seems like they enjoy these activities.

This week the children have learnt how to make recycled paper, where the paper is coming from and which are the consequences when we waste it!

Two weeks ago they made halloween decorations (re)using toilet paper rolls and soft cardboard boxes like cereals or cookies boxes, and last week they created recycled boxes from milk and juice tetra-paks :)

See U next monday for more creativity!

Some of our social life :)

Hello everyone!

Tic-tac, tic-tac...we are already in the middle of our EVS (even more)!! Time flies when you're having fun... our mission is going well, like we said in posts before, we enjoy going to the school in the rural area, and the activities in MultiKulti are evolviong positively :)

But not all is work!! We are enjoying our life in Kumanovo... cafes, pool, walks: who said you can get bored in this city ;)

And also....sports! Yesterday we went to the local Sports Hall to see a Balkan League match between Kumanovo and Kojub.

 During the match the ambiance was great, Kumani ultras have lots of energy! 

Finally the Kumanovo team won 84 - 76 after an equilibrated match, at half time they went to the locker rooms with one point of disadvantage, 40 - 41, so Bravo guys! 

We let you with a photo from our weekend in Thessaloniki (amazing city!), this one we will be in south Macedonia meeting people for our rural development project :)

Till next time!

My first week in Tabanovce

In the village of Tabanovce, around 10 kilometers from the city of Kumanovo, there is a refugee camp in which currently around 120 migrants live. Most of them have been there for months without any freedom of movement. The situation is the result of Macedonia closing its borders in March 2016 and hence blocking the route for migrants to pass from Greece to Serbia and from there on to EU countries. Since March a couple of hundred migrants are stuck in camps in Gevgelija (in the south of Macedonia, close to Greek border) and Tabanovce. The migrants who have chosen to seek asylum in Macedonia, have recently been admitted to transit centers in Skopje where conditions are slightly better for them. However, the majority of the people in the camps do not want to seek asylum in Macedonia as their plan is to continue to Germany or another Western European country where they might have family or other ties.

Last week, as part of LEGIS-CID co-operation (to know more about what LEGIS is doing with the refugees, follow them on Facebook!), I (finally!) get to visit Tabanovce with LEGIS local volunteers and staff twice; Thursday was mainly about seeing around but Friday I spent several hours in the camp and get to talk to people and play with the children. The entries and exists of the camp are controlled and only persons holding a pass can entry. The camp itself is a in a sort of a field practically in the border of Serbia, close to the railway station and some private houses. The migrants live in containers and many NGOs have their own containers in which they organize activities like games for children, sports for adults, language lessons etc. Currently the camp is quite empty and the facilitates seem to be quite all right. The biggest problem is that many people have spent up to seven months in the camp so they are very frustrated of the situation; they are kept almost like prisoners without freedom of movement, without being able to work or go to a proper school (about half living in the camp are children) and no one knows how much longer the situation will last.

People who are not used to work with migrants and refugees often think it is something scary or really hard psychologically to visit refugee camps or transit centers. And yes, hearing the stories of their journeys can be really tough and it definitely is frustrating not being able to help them achieve what they want. But the truth is, people are rather similar no matter where they come from and what their situation is; when spending time with them you often end up talking about everything and nothing like with anyone else. The children enjoy running around, playing games, drawing and painting, like children do all over the world - but these kids seem to be particularly happy about the activities as there is not endlessly to do in the camps and because it helps them to forget about the situation even for a while. And that is what we as volunteers are in the camps for. :)

Paintings by children in Tabanovce 2016





























Jannika

Photos From Halloween Party

Hello everyone,
Thanks for joining our party.
Hope too see you in another our event.