We are happy to announce that we still have free places for our EVS project with handicapped children in Athens, Greece (application deadline 1st February 2008). The project is for one year (starting june 2008) and it is also open for volunteers with disabilities (preferably) and/or social disadvantaged (2-6 months depending on the occation).
A bit of information about our project: KAAPV is a state institution housing 100 multiply disabled children and young people who have been abandoned by their families. Despite changes in mentality over the last years, the children living there are still cut off society and spend a big part of their time doing nothing. The volunteers offer the institutionalised children extra care and stimulation and function as a bridge between the institution and the outside world. The volunteers help with daily care tasks (e.g. accompanying kids to school, bathing, feeding), and, most importantly, organise free-time activities for all the residents (swimming, walks, games, etc.). Thanks to their youth and enthusiasm, volunteers affect the staff of the institution in a positive way, helping break the routine, bringing new ideas and making the staff see the children with a new perspective. Besides, contact with different cultures broadens the horizons of staff, volunteers and children alike, and increases intercultural understanding. Also, through working with children who are doubly excluded from society due to disability and institutionalisation, the volunteers become sensitised to the problems of the disabled and resume an active role in resolving them. Finally, the volunteers gain not only valuable skills and experience which may be useful in their future career but also a sense of responsibility and social involvement.
For more information we will be happy to answer your questions, you can send them to us straight.
