Greece : Camping with families

Artwork using natural materials

Children prepared food for everyone..

In the beginning of September, the Greek team held the next outdoor activity with families. This consisted of outdoor survival in a totally natural mountain setting. The site is called “Arkoudorema”, which means “bear’s stream”. We carried food and equipment for a weekend, set tents, cooked our food, bathed and washed in the river and played games and sports for all families. In some games there were two teams – one with adults and one with children – competing against each other. In some others they had to cooperate. We created artwork with natural material, we managed to orient ourselves inside a maze, we searched for rare natural objects and identified shapes and textures in nature and then we cooked our food, collected wood to keep warm. We ever baked bread on charcoal!! The next day we collected our things, tidied the place completely and returned, only stopping for a swim in the waterfall.

Outdoor activities in Agia Varvara waterfall

We carried our things.......

Santa Barbara waterfall

Rock climbing

starting fire

Smile of Zoi -  Zoi in greek means L. I. F. E.

competitive games

Enough Zoi!!!! No more activities......

We waited for the weather to improve before implementing our next meeting with families. The meeting was in one of the most beautiful sites of the region of Paranesti, strangely unknown to most inhabitants of the broader region. The site is called Agia Varvara (Santa Barbara) waterfall. There, parents and children played games in nature, exercised and broadened their senses, discovered local flora and then picked wood for a fire and had a picnic, exercising survival skills in a natural setting. The meeting ended in music and dancing, thanks to our wonderful Giorgos Alagiozidis, who is not only a father of two lovely girls but also a great musician!!

Conclusion meeting after Turkey

Greece: fourth local meeting with parents

 

Team building activities

 After our international meeting in Purskaklar, Turkey, we held a local meeting with the group of trainees. There, the people that participated in the trip undertook to present their experiences. We presented a slide show with photographs and videos, and we also shared with all the people some tastes and smells of Turkey, to try to share as much of the experience as possible. After drinking Turkish coffee, tasting Turkish delights and viewing scenes from the beautiful country and of the activities held there, we stepped outside to the nearby woods to practice some more games and activities, having to do mainly with teambuilding  and trust.

Greece: Second international meeting in Turkey

Greece: Second international meeting in Turkey

meeting with local authorities

too much snow!!!!!.......

 

The second international meeting was held in Pursaklar, Ankara, Turkey. Greece participated with a total group of twenty, 16 trainees and 4 staff members of our centre. We had the opportunity to meet with the local group of trainees, who held a wonderful evening in our honour, full of colours and tastes of the orient. We visited local authorities and public institutions of adult as well as school education. We also implemented  - to the point that weather allowed – outdoor activities proposed by our Turkish partners. The visit also included cultural experiences such as visits to the Museum of Anatolian civilizations, Ataturk’s Mausoleum and local markets.

Greece: third local meeting

Greece: third local meeting

After implementing outdoor activities with the participation of the entire families, it was time to do some theory. We held an indoor meeting on December 2011 with the participation of parents only - no children allowed this time, and we discussed the activities implemented, requesting feedback and evaluation.

Greece: first International Meeting 2-6 November 2011

Yasemin exhausted after environmental actions.

Jigsaw

Game : Giants and elves

Walking through the path

Rui, Roberta, Bogdan, Ioan : Who answers correctly the questionnaire?

Greece: first International Meeting 2-6 November 2011

The first meeting for the project was hosted in Paranesti. The activities during the meeting included:

-         presentation of each participating institution, the region and the work and profile of the institution

-         visit to local institutions having to do with adult education

-         visit to local site of natural beauty and environmental interest and implementation of activities to do with activating the senses

-         visit to local public authorities and dialogue with the Mayor of Paranesti

-         meeting with the local group of trainees and observation as well as participation in local activity – crossing an environmental path

Greece: Second project meeting and international meeting of partner countries

The second project meeting coincided with the first international meeting with partners. It was a great opportunity to give the greatest possible European dimension to our project, as the local group of trainees met with the representatives of the partner countries. Our centre organized activities by the river path, in which both local trainees and international partners participated actively. The local trainees’ group comprised of parents who had brought their children along. The activities proposed by Greece were recorded by the other partners, and hopefully some of them would be implemented in the other countries. The activities had to do with the active discovery of local flora and fauna in the form of a contest. The feedback received was a very positive one.

Greece: First Grundtivg meeting on a local level November 2011

Game: Find your tree

Greece: First Grundtivg meeting on a local level November 2011

The first project meeting was held in Nikiforos, municipality of Paranesti and took place indoors and outdoors. First there was a presentation of the project aims and objectives and how the group of trainees would be involved. After that, we stepped outside the conference room to give the people the first taste of what the programme was going to be about: outdoor activities. We played games as icebreakers and team building and the trainees left with big smiles on their faces – setting the next appointment to be held next to River Nestos. They all set as a requirement that the actions involve the whole family, so we agreed on that.

3rd Meeting in Romania

                    

 

  Our 3rd project meeting was in Botoşani,Romania.It was an unforgettable experience for all the participants.Also It was a great experience for the participants who are going to make a camp with their parents in their countries within our L.I.F.E project.According to our project application form we are proposing the activities that should be implemented with our parents when we are having meetings in European countries then after we get ideas and experiences about the activities from eachother,finally we are ready to implement them in the local level.

"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."