by Ana Buljan, Croatia
D.R.E.A.M is an EVS project involving 15 volunteers from Italy, Latvia, Croatia, Sweden, Germany, Portugal and Spain. It’s based in the city of Kalamata in Messinia region of Greece. It is focused on the development of environmental awareness for both the volunteers and the local community.
The D.R.E.A.M. project is a part of a bigger initiative involving a number of organizations in Kalamata. The project uses methods and processes of innovative design to promote recycling and upcycling.
The two main organizations facilitating the D.R.E.A.M. project are K.A.N.E. and R.A.D.I.Kal.A. K.A.N.E. is an international youth-focused organization advocating non-formal education, youth exchanges and in the partnership with ERASMUS+. Furthermore, R.A.D.I.Kal.A.’s main mission is to combine environmental awareness and recycling with physical activity, thereby engaging the local community in Kalamata.
The desired result of the project is to build a certain number of sailing boats out of recycle material such as plastic bottles. These boats will later be used by the locals, children and future volunteers in Kalamata.
The project will help to enhance students’ comprehension regarding environmental-friendly initiatives using invented bicycle to shred used plastic bottles into tiny flakes which will later be used as material for the boats. The production comprises a very specific and innovative set of stages in the boat-making process.
First, we have to construct a loom and make plastic cords using a specific stringing mechanism. This will serve to weave a net, which will be stabilized, elasticized by polyester and attached as a layer of the boat.
We are using a mold for an “optimist” sailboat and we are expecting to make 4-5 of them by the end of the project.
On June 23rd, there will be a live presentation of the outcome of our project, sailboats made from recycle material, to the locals and all interested people. The event will also include live music and will be part of the big celebration of 10 years of establishment anniversary of K.A.N.E.
Our final goal for the project is to educate the local community, especially children, about environmental issues which will, hence, increase their capacity to engage into the community and create the lasting effects upon environmental advancement and conservation.
