A volunteer knows when to count on other

Hello again!
During the last couple week, we asked as many people as we could to help us and vote on a plateform called Lechstarter. This endless voting wasn't in vain as we managed to take the 3rd place and be granted 50 000 złoty by the compagny.

So what are we going to do with this money? We are currently arranging, renovating, a space in the village. Except for the name, "Pralnia", everything about this place will be renewed. We hope to open during this summer a Fabrication Laboratory in here. A FabLab (in short) is a place open for the community and everyone who want to, where tools are available and where you can learn about different techniques (3D printing, serigraphy, litography or event sewing or wood working).

This new place will bring a new energy to Sokołowsko and enable the community to work together on project that you really care about. The only limit in a Fablab is your imagination!
 In France we would say Y A PLUS QU'A  

See you soon
Juliette and Ben

A volunteer is also part of the community

Getting accepted b the community and taking part in there activities is one big part of being an European Volunteer, volunteers all over Europe could say the same. Last week;end we took part in the annual cleaning of the village.

Even if it is now smowing again, at this time it felt a bit like spring was around the corner!
Thank ou for this moment of conviviality!

Ben and Juliette

A volunteer have fun and help other have fun

Hey everyone,
Here is a video about our Escape room, the one we did in Pralnia!
It was really the perfect spot! Very creepy when it is dark. We hope that after the renovation we will be able to make another one. maybe change location if you have some ideas!

Ben and Juliette

A volunteer propose activities

Hello everyone,

Today is the first day of a new week of FERIE! We did a lot of different things during this last week, a lot of people took part in the activities we proposed and that made us very happy. In the pictures you can see some examples of these workshop as making recycled paper or playing boardgames. We also animated creative workshops where children and adults surprised us by their creativity. For us, volunteers, it is really meaningful to be there and to feel the energy of the people from Sokolowsko, to watch them interact with each other and with us. So, first of all, thank you for this week and we hope to see you as much during the second week of the holidays. 

During this week, I, Juliette, also turned 26. It is a bit sad to be away from your family and friends for this occasion but being in Poland with so many new people made up for the nostalgic feelings. I like this country very much, I like the poeple here and I am happy that I added a new candle to my cake (that we may call life) here. I feel a bit poetic today, sorry! 

See you soon for a new workshop in Pracownia Orange! 

Ben and Juliette

A volunteer has to work... but where?

This is where we work most of the time. The association Filtrator worked in collaboration with Orange Foundation to put together a small cultural center. Orange give us the means and we can organise different workshops here in Sokołowsko. In this room we host workshop and you can have access to internet!

As you can see in the pictures, we actually have 3 computers, a printer and a 3D printer!

Come and see us! The room is open thursday and friday from 15:00 to 19:00 and on saturday from 11:00 to 15:00 

To gdzie pracujemy najbardziej stowarzyszenia time.Stowarzyszenie Filtrator pracował we współpracy z Fundacją Orange ułożyła małe centrum kultury. Orange dają nam środki i możemy organizować różne warsztaty tu w Sokołowsku. W tej sali gościmy warsztaty i można mieć dostęp do internetu! 

Jak widać na zdjęciach, w rzeczywistości mają 3 komputery, drukarki i drukarki 3D! 

Zapraszamy! Pokój jest otwarty czwartek i piątek od 15:00 do 19:00 i w soboty od 11:00 do 15:00

6 months in Sokołowsko

Dzień dobry, co słychać ? 

On our side everything it is going smoothly. It has been 6 month now since we arrived in the village, lots of activities became our own little routine.

Last time we uploaded this blog the sun was still high and shining, in the last months the scenery has changed a bit but we have come to love this as much as the last. Finding exciting new possibilities in the winter landscape arround 

Sokołowsko. Much more has happened since the last time, you might remember us writing about Pralnia, in the village. Well thanks to the help of many people, we made progress with the electricity, installed some furniture, cleaned and painted. And voila, the good message, the building is about to be opened to all of you !

We feel like a part of Sokołowsko now, meeting with you on a daily basis, meeting with the children at school and in Pracownia. Being present for old traditions as the christmas dinner, singing christmas carrols in the school, celebtrating new year arround the bonfire. Thank you for sharing these moments with us !

We made a lot of contact here in Sokołowsko, but also all around Poland, enough to give us the opportunity and the desire to come back or to stay here after our mission.We travelled around Lower Silesia and got used to your language even if we can't really communicate efficiently in Polish yet. Even though it is really difficult for us, we still hope to be able to speak with you in your own language at the end of this volunteering.

We know some of you made progress in english so do not hesitate to visit us in pracownia to have some conversation, to share the highlights of your region, of your country. We are still loooking for some travelling advices, places that you really like in Poland and that we, most probably, didn't visit yet.

Juliette and Ben

FERIE

Cześć,

Soon it will be the winter holidays (FERIE!!!). For the occasion, the team of Filtrator planned an amazing week for you!

Zapraszamy!

Dużo warsztaty and a lot of fun!

See you there!

Juliette And Ben

New blog, for a new adventure

Dzień dobry!

Sorry for the late introduction of this blog.
Maybe you already know us, and if you don't, come by Pracownia to see us.
So what about our story. Well there is not a lot to say. We are Ben and Juliette, a Belgian and a french volunteer in the village of Sokolowsko, where we are working with the organisation Stowarzyszenie Kulturalno- Ekologiczne ”Filtrator”.

In this short article we would like to tell you more about the reason we became volunteers for this organization but also how you can be one as well. There are many different ways of volunteering and many different projects in which you can take part depending on the topics you prefer. Our adventure starts with encountering the European Volunteering Service, which is a European subsidized project, part of the Erasmus+ program.

This program has the mission to stimulate young people (17-30 years old) from all over Europe, to actively participate as a citizen. By this participation the program aims to improve personal competences and start an intercultural dialogue between participant and their new environment.
All these opportunities can be found on the EVS-database: http://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/project_en

Ben, why did you decide to come on this mission?
“After graduating I was not quite sure what direction I wanted to go: another study, maybe an internship, what line of work would I want to do ?, can I find work with this degree? Can I commit myself to a steady job ? Would I want to stay in Belgium ?… All these questions dangled in front of my eyes and made me realize that I was not ready to answer any. So I started looking for something that could give me more insight, more experience. That is when I found my first foreign volunteering opportunity, at first I went by different hosts from the WWOOF-network  (organic farming). Which was always a short commitment of at most a month, when I came back from this journey. I was longing for a longer commitment where I could participate and watch the longterm evolution of a project. This is what I found in the project “be curious for the world in Sokolowsko”, a project where foreign volunteers would be invited for the first time, to build on a network within the community. To strengthen the connections and stimulate new ones. A project that would give the oppurtinity to work and live within the community of Sokolowsko, to be part of it.”

What about you Juliette?
“I just graduated too and wasn’t really satisfied with the job I found after that ( not steady, not really interesting). In my future job, I want to connect people with their environment, with their culture so that they can protect it and pass it to the next generation. The EVS program is an opportunity for me to challenge myself, to discover new ways of growing as a person, to do things differently. By applying for this project I wanted to bring my competences in the environmental field to this organization and learn as much as possible about alternative education here. With the experience I will acquire here, I hope to go back to work in my country (or another) with more confidence and more competences. Plus I really wanted to test myself in a new environment, a new country.
Why Poland then? I have never been here before, that is why it is so interesting, I have a lot more to learn, the culture, the language, the food… everything in fact, and I am really looking forward to that.”

You can come to speak with us in english, in polish or even in french or dutch if you have any questions about us or the EVS program.  See you soon in Sokolowsko!