Rhodes Volunteer Community was created on January , 2016 in Rhodes in order to be part in procedures that have to do with the involvement of volunteers in projects of various kind. Its intention is to be a bridge between the volunteers and the local and also national and international reality in order to enhance the volunteers and help them express and develop in a personal and social way. Also to empower the volunteer to be more aware of their values, both cultural and intercultural. Our foundation has organized conferences about several subject matters on areas such as psychology, wellness, youth, unemployement, sports, music, entrepreneurship, diversity matters, adult education and so on. Also our members attended several seminars, symposiums, conferences and panels organized by other institutions.
Everything started when the leader, Stellalena Nalmpanti, decided to create this non-formal volunteer community, in the point of providing help to the local area, especially to the groups of people with less social opportunities.
Members of the Rhodes Volunteer Community are youth workers at the age of around 18 years old. Members activelly engage young members who want to offer their help to the local community as many as possible. There is not a specific number of members. For instance in 2016 our organization numbered approximately 55 young volunteers.
The organization has a cooperation with the Hellenic Mediterranean University and the educational departure of the Aegean University.
Important projects for the community has been implemented through the actions of Rhodes Volunteer Community. For example in 2016: Youth workers of the community cooperated with the target group of Roman’s people. By a historical view, Roman people , from their past , had to fight really hard for their survival and this made them to create a tradition that differs at many points of the modern culture of the developed countries. To give an example, they used to marry girls from the age of twelve years old even if the girls don’t want to. These girls create their families really fast since they get married and they face the problem of unemployment in an important degree. Sometimes their kids are obligated to work for their families and as a result they are isolated and the adaptation of them from the local community of Rhodes seems to be difficult. The biggest issue however in our opinion is that they don’t really give the necessary importance to the education of their children. Our youth workers managed, without being bossy or critical , to convince Roman parents for the importance of education. Furthermore, they inculcated to the children the will to go to school, and not to drop it, something that it was a really great accomplishment.
Another exaple of important actions is all the activities that have been done with people with special needs. To be more specific, deaf people had the opportunity to participate in the great number of six music concerts. Every concert was a memorable event, in which simultaneous interpretation took place. Concluding everything is achievable by everyone.
Participants at tKtC “the Key to Connection for us is to reinforce our efforts for the equality in our society.”:
Stellalena Nalmpanti a psychologist and a trainer in Erasmus+ projects and very passionate about Non Formal Learning and YouthWork. She is very familiar with the theory of Kinesthetic learning. She is wheelchair user and is passioned about movement, wishing to ” MOVE more, WALK more and why not DANCE? ” . She wants to promote movement as a tool of self development in her country and is a reason why the Key to Connection can happen in Greece.
Maria Roumkou is 19 years old and studies special education in the department of educational and social policy at University of Macedonia. Maria’s personality is characterized by determination to always achieve her goals. She is an open-minded person and always keen on acquiring new skills and abilities. One of Maria’s biggest dreams is to succeed in combining her passion for the art of dance with future employment in the field of special education. She is a youth worker in Thessaloniki and mainly is involved in the field of helping young people with special needs. In particular she is responsible for the integration in the University of a student with disabilities and for the creative time of a 10 years old autistic boy out of his home, without his parents. Both activities are directed to the achievement of these disabled people being more independent in the future, as adults. She has dreams, ideas, a big love for dance and she strongly believes in the therapeutic side of this kind of art. She also knows some target groups with less opportunities who have the will to participate in artistic things which happen in local area but they feel that it is not social allowed to be part of them. By taking ideas from the whole experience of the Key to Connection, she believes that she can convey the philosophy around this project, to the philosophy around the big common aim of all of us.
Anastasia Lampaki is 19 years old and studies Psychology in Aristotle university of Thessaloniki. Anastasia’s personality is governed by the characteristics of patience, dedication to learning any subject, and passion for art, especially dance. Anastasia would like to provide help to other people through her job, of being a good dance therapist, and pass on this knowledge about dance therapy to people with special needs. She is a youth worker in Thessaloniki and mainly is involved in the field of helping young people with special needs. In particular she is responsible for the integration in the University of a student with disabilities and for the creative time of a 10 years old autistic boy out of his home, without his parents. Both activities are directed to the achievement of these disabled people being more independent in the future, as adults. She has dreams, ideas, a big love for dance and she strongly believes in the therapeutic side of this kind of art. She also knows some target groups with less opportunities who have the will to participate in artistic things which happen in local area but they feel that it is not social allowed to be part of them. By taking ideas from the whole experience of the Key to Connection, she believes that she can convey the philosophy around this project, to the philosophy around the big common aim of all of us.
