3th day

First day at camp Eleonas

Around 13:00 pm we arrived at camp Eleonas. It was way bigger than I first imagined it to be. The day started with a meeting with all the volunteers, they are volunteers from Spain and Germany and The Netherlands, but also the residents from the camp. Which makes it easy to communicate with the other residents on the camp. On a whiteboard, we can read the schedule for the day and sign up for the activities we want to do. I decided on helping in the cinema, sign permission and a woman's party at night.

The first activity was helping in the cinema, of course, the camp doesn't have a real cinema but they do have the Elea house. This is a house, I think 20m2, where all the activities take place. There is a big tv and we put some mats on the ground for the children to sit on. Soon a lot of children were running in and out, playing and they were totally not shy of seeing a new face. We made them some hot choco to drink and sang Let it Go as we watched to movie Frozen.

After the movie, Egloo and I did a round of sign permission. This means that parents have to give their signature for their kids to leave the camp on Saturday. The Barca foundation helps children practice in football and on Saturday they take the kids out on a trip. Doing this activity I could see a lot of the camp. There is one place in the camp which gives you a good sight of the Akropolis! It was my first time seeing it and I was really impressed cause it looks way bigger than I first thought.

When we finished the sign permission we went back to the project Elea house. There I helped with making some Christmas decorations for the Christmas party on Wednesday. All the kids wanted to help!  There will be a Winter Wonderland party on Wednesday.  We made a Christmas tree out of iron, rope, and napkins. The kids will all get a nice present and somebody will dress up as Santa Claus. This will be a nice surprise for them. 

Martin and I also got a tour around the camp. The camp is divided into 3 sections. This makes it easier to understand where somebody has to be or where somebody lives. There is a library where residents can learn languages like; English, German, French, and Arabic. Also, they have a science center, a big football field (where through the whole day residents are playing) and the house Elea (this is also the place where little school takes place).

For dinner, I bought a falafel at the camp from one of the residents. This tasted really good with all kinds of spices I have never tasted before. The residents cook food, and we can buy it from them. There is falafel, pizza, chicken and rice; a lot to choose from. 

The last activity was a woman's party. This is an occasion for the woman to connect, talk and dance. There are drinks, food, and music. Before I knew it the women were dancing and clapping. It was a really nice thing to see how they connect and bring all their different cultures together through music and dance. 

Around 21:15u we closed project Elea and left to go home, we traveled home together with the other volunteers and talked about the day. Again the city was still very busy, this is something I need to get used to, but it will be fine!

Tomorrow we will have a picnic lunch with all the volunteers, so we should bring something too. Martin and I decided on making a cheesecake that needs to be put into a fridge, as our oven is not working. 

Temperature: 19ºC