Museum

  Greece

Rural Areas

Term: Academic Year, Fall, Spring, Summer, Throughout the year, Trimester, Winter 
Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks and 3-6 months
Typical Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Dates: On-going

Description: The environmental Museum is established in the old elementary school of Fiskardo, situated at the top of the hill in the village of Fiskardo possessing unique view from all sides of surrounding sea and landscape.

Both the building and the land were originally donated to the village around 1940 by a rich local named Vandoros. After his death the building was offered to the community for cultural purposes. As a school the building has short history. Even so many important people of today have spend some years of learning in this building. After the school was abandoned due to immigration and lack of children the building has been occasionally used as; customs, classroom for English language, shelter for immigrants, classroom for pottery lessons and every now and then also been used as a voting place. In 1999 the building was partially offered to FNEC in order to be refreshed and transformed into a Museum. The entire work in the Museum was undertaken by volunteers, including repairing and refreshing the old building. Early 2000 the first part (1 room) of the Museum was ready and it started receiving visitors.

The success was enormous, mainly because our Museum is a small unconventional interactive place and visitors are requested to touch in order to learn. No professionals help was asked and that gave to the visitors more appreciation for our volunteer work. In 2001 the Museum had changed completely and now both rooms of the building are used by FNEC volunteers. On May the 12th 2001 is the official opening day and many important people honor us with their presence.

The Small environmental Museum takes very fast its place in all tourist guide books around Europe. The Museum is practically the place were our work is presented to the public and the place that hosts our offices and other working areas. There are displays about the Environmental Issues of the entire planet focalize in our island.

VOLUNTEERING FOR THE MUSEUM PROJECT:

1) UPDATING AND RUNNING OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL MUSEUM
Volunteers will have to develop and construct new displays for the environmental Museum of the Club, also the volunteers will (in summer months) guide visitors in the areas of the Museum. In the winter time part of the work consists in maintaining the Museum's Garden while in the summer watering the garden is a duty that the volunteer have to perform.

2) PROMOTIONIONAL ACTIVITIES
Publishing of environmental issues and club activities:

-Presentations; are carried out in the summer period weekly with slides and video. The volunteers will work for the development of such presentations and also will be asked to take part in these by speaking to audience.

-Leaflets, DVDs and CD roms; of fnec activities can be produced as well as books. Volunteers are welcome to develop and perform their own ideas related to the club activities and interest.

-Newspaper; FNEC publishes, 6 times /year, a newsletter addressed to clubs members volunteers and institutions. The volunteers are expected to design, write and publish the newspaper.

3) CHILDREnS AWARENESS
During the summer months FNEC undertakes childrens education days in which the local children are introduced through games, theater plays, happenings etc to some environmental issues. The volunteers are expected to create and develop such happening and perform them in the presence of the local children.

4) HELPING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
FNEC members and volunteers are ready anytime is needed to help the local community and the residence of the area. Whenever such an insistence arises volunteers should be ready to assist.

All of the work has been made by volunteers. It is obvious that some tasks undertaken by them are extremely demanding but also offer unique opportunities to our volunteers that they will hardly ever get in their life again. Such examples are; the digging for recovery the skeleton of a 5 m long whale, the washing of the bones and their final reconstruction. We have already continued with such skeleton reconstructions of a turtle.

Highlights: After finishing the voluntary placement here you will receive a Certification of Participation.

Qualifications: No necessary qualifications.

Cost in US$: 270

Our private camp is free to anyone that wants to use it.

If our extremely basic accommodation doesn't suit you we can arrange for a rented room for you at an additional price.
Price doesn't include; meals, flights, visas, or insurance.

Experience Required: no

Age Range: 18+

This Program is open to American, Australian, Canadian, European, Kiwi, South African and World Wide Participants. This Program is also open to Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Greece Independently

Typically Participants Work in Groups of depends

Application Process Involves:

• Resume
• Written Application

The Hellenic Foundation for Youth & Volunteering's Mission Statement: The Hellenic Foundation for Youth & Volunteering (HFYV) and its department (Ionian Sea Research Centre, Fiskardo's Nautical & Environmental Club) is a non-profit organization established on the island of Kefalonia (Cephalonia) in Greece in 1998 and deals mainly with the promotion of volunteering and youth mobility. Since 1999 we are a member of the European Commission supported project, European Voluntary Service and in the year 2003 we have been awarded as one of the 4 best projects in Europe. Parallel to this and since 2000 we are running various internship programs for shorter periods of time (1-2 months). From 2008 we work only with independent volunteers from all over the world on long and short term projects, from 2 weeks to 6 months. The Hellenic Foundation for Youth & Volunteering offers courses, volunteer projects/internships, work camps, and the possibility of learning experiences in the fields of research, rescue and environmental protection.

Year Founded: 1998