Bona Fides Association and Caritas für Menschen mit Behinderungen are looking for Polish volunteers to join their European Voluntary Service project in Leonding, Upper Austria. To apply please fill the application form and send it to the following emails: mariachiara@bonafides.pl, k.zychowicz@bonafides.pl and information@caritas-linz.at . Please, write in the title ”EVS in Leonding– application”
- Location: Leonding, Austria
- Deadline: 19/08/2019
- Duration: 11-12 months
- Start: September 2019 – February 2020
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The organization “Caritas für Menschen mit Behinderungen” attends people with disabilities in living, working and educational interests. Our aim is to include people with disabilities into the society and support them to become as independent as possible. Our organization offers a wide range of services to people with disabilities in Upper Austria e.g. assisted living, work, training, therapy, kindergarten. “Caritas für Menschen mit Behinderungen” is one of the largest organizations in Upper Austria, which provides services for people with disabilities.
Sankt Isidor looks like a small village with one kindergarten, two after school care centersand five houses where children live (assisted living). In addition, there are two schools, a small church, an outdoor pool and many playgrounds for the children. In walking distance, one can find grocery shops and the next tram stop. Sankt Isidor lies close to the provincial capital of Upper Austria, Linz (just 10 minutes by tram). Linz is located next to the Danube and offers many cultural events. From Linz, one can reach the UNESCO world heritage area of Salzkammergut in under an hour by train.
We offer three different kinds of projects for volunteers in St. Isidor: supporting either the Kindergarten, the after school care center or with assisted living. Depending on a volunteer’s experience and preferences, we will be able to address the right kind of tasks. The main tasks are to support the staff in their daily work and to support the children in their leisure-time activities such as playing, sports, swimming, excursions, cooking. Further tasks include cleaning together with the children as a part of pedagogical tasks, as well as keeping rules in the team and setting boundaries for the children. Each volunteer will work in a group of five to eight children with and without disabilities. In the group, the volunteers will receive a warm lunch. Volunteers are working on their project from Monday until Thursday. Every volunteer has five weeks of holidays and is free for the public holidays as well. In the Kindergarten and after school care center, there are fixed holidays in the week before easter and during Christmas time, in the assisted living one can take their holidays individually. The accomodation for volunteers is located in the village of Sankt Isidor, so the distance between accomodation and project is within 100 meters. Volunteers have their own room in either a single flat or shared apartment with a shared kitchen, a TV, free wifi and laundry service.
We encourage the volunteers to bring their own culture, abilities, ideas and creativity into the group by cooking, singing songs, creating leisure-time activities and so on. Thus, the children in the groups can experience a new culture, new traditions and widen their horizon through cultural exchanges. In return, the volunteers will get an insight into the Austrian culture and into working with children with disabilities. Thus intercultural learning and communication shall be the aim for both the volunteer and the host organization. In addition, the volunteers receive full support from our staff and their mentor.