Bona Fides Association and Dansk ICYE – Lisbet Østergaard are looking for Polish participants (18-30yo) for a long-term project at Vestjyllands Højskole in Vestjyllands, Denmark!
Place: Vestjyllands, Denmark
Mobility: start 1st March or ASAP – 19th December, 2025
Duration: 10 months
Application deadline: 18.02.2025
Vestjyllands Højskole https://www.vestjyllandshojskole.dk/ is a Folk Highschool that is located close to the sea on the West Coast of Denmark. The school offers non-formal education without any academic requirements for admittance and with no exams. Instead, our focus is on community building, art projects and sustainability. The school has 40-60 students at a time, most are between 18 and 30 years old.
The school is famous in Denmark for its focus on sustainability and permaculture. The kitchen is certified organic, and the food comes from our own gardens as well as from local producers. We produce most of our own energy, and we have a strong focus on recycling and regeneration.
It has beautiful gardens which are all designed using permaculture principles. The gardens include a marketgarden, a forest garden, an alley cropping fruit field, a biodynamic garden that is run by local people and a tea and herbal garden. All in all, the school owns ten hectares of land which also includes a windmill, solar panels, a field for sheep and crops, an outdoor kitchen, a compost toilet and tiny houses that are built by the students of local and reused materials.
Among the subjects at the school, there are classes such as dance, music, regenerative farming, ceramics, textile crafts, sustainable building, wood work, permaculture, art, and performance writing. As a volunteer, you will be working in the garden, but in your spare time you will have the opportunity to take part in some of the above mentioned activities as well. You are also welcome to use most of the workshops in the evenings.
Being at the project
As a volunteer you will help out in the gardens. You will learn about permaculture and regenerative farming. You will harvest, sow and plant and look after the plants as they grow. You will take part in making compost and feeding the animals and will help to build a healthy soil. Besides gardening you will be faced with tasks of craftsmanship, especially carpentry and maintenance. If you have special skills or ideas for art projects, gardening or creative work, there is plenty of space to form the projects.
You will have your own room and eat all meals together with the students and colleagues at the school. Besides the daily work, you will have plenty of time to get to know the students and take part in the school’s daily routines and activities.
Application
Send application to: esc@icye.dk Lisbet Østergaard and contact your sending organisation Bona Fides at: a.siembab@bonafides.pl and anna@bonafides.pl. Write ESC in Denmark in the title of your e-mail.