Environment

SCI Summer camp in Kyrgyzstan

The project took place in:

Germany

Workcamp

Written by Nagima, Aisha, Begaiym, Zhanarkul and Aigerim from Kyrgyzstan

November 2017

We came from different backgrounds, but we share one common intention – the high aspiration to serve our community. We are all well-motivated young people with an ambition to contribute to the development of society. Volunteering and implementing social projects are the main fields of our interest since we believe that the source of happiness lies in serving others and feeling yourself useful in community. We were aware that the SCI is the outstanding platform that gathers ebullient youth to discuss about considerable subjects widely and get to know about bright ideas of each other. Additionally, the chance for horizontal exchange of experience and exceptional opportunity to build a worldwide network itself motivated us to take part in this Program.  These and other reasons led us to apply for this Summer School where we could obtain remarkable experience and at the same time we made our own contribution in realizing the workcamps.

SCI is a whole new life experience, where you meet many different people from different countries and make unforgettable life experiences. While participating in an SCI workcamp, we learnt something new every day: we actively participated in the discussions and workshops, visited many sights in Berlin including museums and memorials and deepened our knowledge on the topic of our program. Moreover, we became part of a small community where we could live, cook do shopping and work on the projects together with our program colleagues, which we would not be able to experience without this SCI opportunity. In short period of time you learn how to adapt quickly to the new environment, improve your communication skills and overall go out of your comfort zone. After completing this program, we have learnt more about Germany and its history and culture, met amazing people and made long lasting memories. We suggest young individuals, who are open to new opportunities and who are courageous to experience new life experiences that are educational and fun at the same time – participate in the SCI program, it is definitely for you!

These workcamps served as a seed of many new ideas for organizing our own workcamps. Next year, in 2018 we want to organize together our own workcamp called “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!” We are planning to do it in Kyrgyzstan. Main topics of the camp will focus on reducing plastic use and recycling paper and plastic. We chose this topic, because in Germany we saw how the rubbish is separated and go to recycling and we would like to help implement this system in our country as this is one of the main part of sustainable life. We will spend one week at the lake preparing our workshops & materials and then run the workshops at colleges & schools in Biszkek. The purpose of the camp is to raise awareness of city residents especially among university students to reduce plastic use and try to separate rubbish for recycling. Participants will decide which methods will be used for achieving aims of the camp. Same time workcamp will corporate with small recycling companies, which have experience in this field. Workcamp is planned to be in the last week of August and first week of September and welcomes all volunteers from Europe and Central Asia, who have an interest and experience in this field. We believe that workcamp will be our contribution to the better life of our community.

We look forward to meeting you!

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