My name is John, I did European Voluntary Service in Greece for one month in the mountain village of Krioneri in the Korinthos district. The volunteering involved working in the forest on a footpath, working in an English school helping students with their English. I also spent one week doing an arts project in the village Kindergarten with the local children.
Week1
After a gruelling 7 hour bus ride from Leeds to London, followed by a 4 hour flight from Gatwick airport to Athens we finally arrived from England expecting the Greek climate to be much hotter than back home but surprisingly the first fews days the weather in Greece was more like typically British weather with rain, wind and fog. On arrival to Kiato via train we met our mentor Panos, he drove us up the mountain to the village of Kryoneri where we are staying at Hostel Ellison. Kryoneri which literally means Cold Water is a small village with a population of around 1000, the village has a few taverns, a few small shops, bakery,.pharmacy and a small English school where we will be helping students with their English..Kryoneri and it's surrounding area is naturally beautiful with lots of picturesque valley's, mountains, woodlands, natural springs and amazing views. The biggest downside to this town for me is the lack of transport into the city. Most people here have cars and the twice daily bus is very unreliable and does not operate weekends or school holidays, we arrived on a Easter holiday so for the first week there were no buses at all.
On the second day we were shown the filoxenia house which we would be moving into at some point during the project, here we were given an impromptu task of cleaning up the garage below and the 40 bicycles inside it.
On thursday I managed to visit the city of Patras and meet some friends. The weather in Patras was much warmer. I came back to Kryoneri on saturday
morning.
On saturday morning our mentor Panos took us for a walk around the village and along the Environmental footpath on which we would be working. Work on the footpath would have started sooner in the week but had to be postponed due to the bad weather. The Environmental footpath is a longterm project which using volunteers each year aims to build a walking route along the valley stream using eco friendly means and materials sourced from the woods.Each year volunteers from various countries stay in Kryoneri and contribute their efforts in constructing the footpath and cleaning the stream, gradually the footpath will take shape and eventually the footpath will be accessable for everyone.
Later that day Panos drove us to ancient Corinth where we climbed the ruins of the acropolis, the views from the top of the caste are amazing.
By Sunday the weather had cleared up and we began working on the footpath, first we cleared weeds and foliage from an old wall at the beginning of the footpath and below the foot of a church. After clearing foliage from the wall most of the day was spent cleaning up an ancient Ottomon fountain down near the streamin the valley. The fountain was once an important meeting point for villagers, the water is clean and apparently drinkable, a section of the fountain is known as the washing machine as villagers used it to wash their clothes. We dug up and removed segments of leafs and mud which had layered over the stone walkway and we removed leafs and debris from the water of the fountain. In the water we discovered crabs and baby shrimps, in the surrounding area we also spotted lizards, frogs, bats and a slow worm which looks like a snake.
Week 1 Tasks:
Wednesday - Clean 40 bicycles and garage.
Thursday,Friday – project postponed due to rain.
Saturday – Given information on the environmental footpath project and tasks required.
Sunday - Removed weeds from church wall.
Sunday - Begin cleaning of the Ottomon fountain.
John, short term EVS volunteer in Greece.
Project part of INCLUSION FOR ALL
and supported by the British Council
and the Youth in Action Programme
of the European Commission.
For more information about INCLUSION FOR ALL, visit the special webapge in clicking here.
For more information about INCLUSION FOR ALL, visit the special webapge in clicking here.
We will publish the next weeks in the next few days. Keep a look on Turn Up The VOLume
