ESC010 - Youth worker on a farm
URL: https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity/placement/32382_en
ACTIVITY DATES: A total of 47 week(s) during the period 01/02/2023 to 30/12/2023
ACTIVITY LOCATION: Diggieweg 14, 9660 Brakel Belgium
ACTIVITY TOPICS: Social challenges / Environment and natural protection
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 31/12/2022
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
The volunteer‘s tasks on the farm are feeding the animals, cleaning the stables, working in the garden together with other volunteers and visitors and many other things that can occur on a farm. As he/she learns more Dutch, further options are for example to involve him/her in guiding the visiting groups on the farm and accompanying kids on a farm camp. Working on a farm camp includes tasks such as cooking for the whole group, doing the wash-up, washing the children, putting them into bed, comfort them when they miss their moms and so on. Also, inventing a lot of funny outdoor games! All of this of course together with other volunteers. Depending on the volunteer‘s interests, we can think of working out a specific project such as building a nice game element on the meadow. There‘s also the possibility of making little promotional films on Diggie or designing flyers - We appreciate it when the volunteer integrates his/her own creativity, skills and ideas into the Diggie project!
ACCOMMODATION, FOOD AND TRANSPORT ARRANGEMENTS
The place of residence depends on the volunteer‘s preference. One option is to stay in Brakel, the small village. We will then look for a hosting family or a nearby place of residence. In this case we’ll also provide a bike to come to Diggie. Another option is that the volunteer lives in Gent, a city 30km away. Then we‘d search for a room or house to share with peers. From Gent the volunteer will have to take train and bus every day to come to Diggie. All costs of residence and transport will be payed by Diggie. The volunteer has to cook his/her own meal. We provide 180€ monthly for food.
TRAINING DURING THE ACTIVITY
We’ll teach the volunteer some specific skills needed on the farm. He/she has to learn to heat up the wooden oven to bake bread and pizzas in it, how to make felt out of our sheep’s wool and butter/ice cream out of our neighbour farmer’s milk. The volunteers usually learn a lot from each other. We always have a nice mix of volunteers with less and more experience. We attach great importance to the volunteer learning Dutch as it greatly enhances the tasks he/she will have. The volunteer has in any case access to the Online Language Support, but we can also look for additional language courses.
PARTICIPANT PROFILE
We are looking for a creative and enthusiast all-round volunteer. Social skills and motivation are the most important characteristics. Education or experience in youth work, social work, farming or graphic design can be valuable, but aren’t necessary. We expect the volunteer to love animals and people, in particular children and people with special needs. He/she should like to work outside even when the weather is bad.