wtorek, 22 października 2013

Mikroworkcamp

We started this week in a very active and useful way. Our little team of  ten volunteers had a mikroworkcamp in the course of which we planted more than 1,400 trees. But before going into details let’s see how this activity was made possible.

 The idea of cooperation with Nadleśnictwo Pułtusk is not new. One of the last steps towards preparation was a trip to the forest with the kids from the Social Care Centre at the end of September where we were also invited. While we, volunteers were playing with the kids, important decisions were made in the background. They heard about our activities and proposed cooperation.

With the head of Nadleśnictwo, Pani Ania, the
head of the Social Care Centre and the kids
in September
Another important element was the training organized by 
Centrum Zrównoważonego Rozwoju „Horyzonty”as participants joined us for our mikroworkcamp. It was also a good way for them to practice English, as the day after they went to Italy for a study visit. Two volunteers from SPW, Pia and Tom also joined us.


So now, let’s go back to what happened yesterday. The day started with a meeting in the office, where Sylwia presented the participants the activities of our organization and the idea of workcamps. It was followed by ‘getting to know each other’. After a quick introduction, we played our favourite name-game but soon we had to leave. Those trees can’t plant themselves!
After arriving to the venue, we split into teams of two. Hayk was our leader, he translated us the instructions that we got from the forester (the man who works in the forest). He showed us different methods of planting and kept an eye on us to do everything well. While working, we had the chance to get to know each other and this way, working was more enjoyable. In our coffee break, the head of Nadleśnictwo came to visit us and he thanked us our work here and every participant got a package with a book,  keychains and some flyers to remember this day. When we were done with planting a trees, a bonfire was waiting for us with bygos and kiełbasa.


What have I learnt?

We were lucky enough to learn different methods of planting trees. While working the Polish participants challenged us to say some Polish tongue twisters and we also learnt some new, useful phrases in connection with working outside.



Impact on the local community

The effect of our work won’t be felt soon as trees need time to grow but we still felt that we did something useful. The ironical part of the day was that as we were leaving the forest, we saw a big truck full of trees. Also, as a continuation of this project, there are going to be more workcamps at Nadleśnictwo.



Do zobaczenia,

Zsófi