BOTANICAL GARDENS IN REYKJAVIK 50 (7:9)
- This is the eight year in a row SEEDS offers projects in the Botanical Gardens in Reykjavík. The Botanic Garden is an outdoor collection of living plants, founded in 1961 and it celebrated its 55th anniversary in 2016.
- The garden’s main role is to conserve plants for education, research and delight. It conserves some 5000-plant species in eight plant collections. The collections give an idea of the enormous diversity of vegetation in the northern temperate zone. The garden is open to the public and free of charge. SEEDS volunteers will be doing general park maintenance and assisting the horticultural staff attending the collection of perennials, alpines, trees and shrubs in the garden. The garden organizes guided tours and events throughout the summer and some groups of volunteers will assist in the preparation and practical work related to these events. These special events are all related to the general aim and work of the garden and some of them are carried out with a short notice. The work can be repetitive as general gardening tasks tend to be and most of it is outdoors. The project starts early every weekday, working hours are from 8:00 - 15:30, so volunteers have to be motivated to join early in the morning, but they will have more free time in the afternoon.
- SEEDS volunteers will stay in an equipped house, in a beautiful setting in the Botanical Gardens of Reykjavík, which are located about 4 kilometres from the centre of the city. Volunteers will be sleeping in shared rooms/dorms in a sleeping bag accommodation. Please bring your own sleeping bag. Please note that volunteers from other projects will also be staying in the same house. Volunteers will receive food supplies and be in charge of the cooking and cleaning activities. Do not forget some traditional/typical food from your home country for the international evening.
- Reykjavik is a dynamic, modern city which lives in harmony with beautiful nature, using renewable energy sources such as geothermal power. About two thirds of the population of Iceland live in Reykjavik including the metropolitan area, or over 200,000 people. The world’s northernmost capital bridges the Atlantic, between Europe and North America. Reykjavík is spread across a peninsula with a panoramic view of the mountains and the Ocean on almost all sides. In the summer, you can sit by the harbour at midnight and watch the sun dip slightly below the horizon before it makes its way up again. Visitors experience easily the pure energy at the heart of Iceland’s capital, whether from the boiling thermal energy underground, the natural green energy within the city and around it, or the lively culture and fun-filled nightlife. In the area closer than 100 km from Reykjavík, there are several spectacular waterfalls, geysers, impressive coastline and the well-known geothermal Blue Lagoon spa to visit.
- LANGUAGE: English will be the official language in the camp; high proficiency is not a requirement. Age 50+
SEEDS Iceland was founded in 2005 as a non-governmental, non-profit organisation with international scope. Our main activities relate to the promotion of environmental protection and awareness, intercultural understanding and peace, through the work on social, cultural and environmental projects in Iceland.
We aim to empower, inform and expand the horizons of people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds, to inform them about the world in which we live and to take an active role in its future development. SEEDS provides opportunities to live, learn, understand and experience, while sharing and cooperating with others from different cultures and backgrounds.
SEEDS Projects & Activities:
SEEDS works closely with local communities, local authorities and other Icelandic associations. Jointly we develop projects aimed at fulfilling an identified need or to help in the development of particular actions that are already being undertaken. Projects are designed to be mutually beneficial to all involved: the individual volunteers, the local hosting communities and Iceland as a whole!
By having a diverse array of projects and bringing together people from different backgrounds, creating more opportunities; we try to fulfil our vision and build on our founding ideas.
Activities developed by SEEDS include:
- Voluntary Service
- International workcamps & Exchanges
- Internships and lifelong learning programmes.
- Awareness raising initiatives and campaigns
- Seminars & training sessions
- Cultural, arts and education exhibitions.
Our projects in Iceland are funded and supported by:
- Contributions from participants and volunteers in the projects
- Youth in Action and Lifelong learning Programmes of the European Commission.
- Engagement of our long-term volunteers and interns.
- Additional non-financial contributions in kind from the local hosts of the projects.
We are members of the Icelandic National Youth Council (LÆF), the Icelandic Environment Association (LANDVERND), the Senior European Volunteers Exchange Network (SEVEN) and work actively as partner organisation of the Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations (The Alliance), Service Civil International (SCI) and Youth Action for Peace (YAP).
During 2010 we organised 80 different projects located in every corner of Iceland; we hosted more than 800 International volunteers from 42 different countries, who performed almost 60.000 hours of valuable volunteer work! In this time we increased our work with various environmental protection and conservation projects and we also raised the number of projects related to arts, cultural activities, festivals and sports events.
Volunteers performed different types of tasks, for instance ecological research, removing invasive growth, building hiking trails, cleaning up the coastline, reforestation and erosion control work as well as construction or renovation of heritage monuments or community centres. In the cultural/festival/sport events related jobs, SEEDS came into action helping in their organisation and also taking part actively in the events.
We bring together volunteers and hosts from different nationalities and backgrounds, aiming at building up international understanding and encouraging peace, while working for an identified need within a community.
Many of our participants want to visit Iceland and get to know the country from a different perspective, being able to interact with locals and at the same time dedicating some of their time to support particular projects and addressing specific needs of the hosts.
The rewards for the volunteers, communities and ecosystems are massive, while interacting with Icelanders, volunteers learn about the local culture and have the opportunity to build friendships; additionally, they develop new skills working in challenging and unfamiliar surroundings.
Contact Organisation
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Address
Via Mico Geraci 35
90125 PALERMO
Italy
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Phone
Local: +39.3939629434
Mobile: +39.3478289552
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Email
info@campidivolontariato.net
www.campidivolontariato.net