Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Coordinator Story: Barney at Green and Away


Green & Away International Volunteer Project

Summer 2019






My thirtieth international volunteer project – my sixth as coordinator – took place at Green & Away, an ecological conference and events centre in Worcestershire. The other volunteers were Karolina from the Czech Republic, Amaury, Clemmy and Nicolas from France, Marta from Italy, Annika from the Netherlands and Laura from Spain. Our work involved laying a phone cable, helping in the running of a wedding, and dismantling and storing the tents and other equipment. We also helped with chores around the project site, including preparing breakfast, cooking, washing-up, cleaning, watering the flowers, lighting the showers and shutting the gates at night. 



This being an English summer, the weather was a mixture of sun and rain, but fortunately the worst of the rain was at night – on the last night of our project in fact. When the weather was nice we always looked forward to a swim in the river after work. On our days off we went to Great Malvern and Worcester, where we visited the cathedral, walked and shopped in the city centre, and enjoyed fish and chips and coffee. We also attended a discussion forum where we gave our feedback regarding the project site. Some afternoons after work there were sports and games, and some evenings there was a campfire. I would like to thank our hosts at Green & Away and the staff at Concordia for making this project possible, as well as all the Concordia volunteers for being such a great team – always cheerful, hard-working, flexible, and fun to be with.







Barney, Coordinator at Green and Away Take Down 2019