Volunteers are expected to have basic skills in german language, for school project an intermediate level is required.

 The individual needs of the elderly are taken into consideration by full collaboration of relatives, physicians and nursing staff. Thereby basic care, therapy and social work complement one another

The town of Waldkirch is situated in the southwestern part of the Black Forest not far from the border triangle of Germany, France and Switzerland. At present the municipality of Waldkirch has altogether 20.000 inhabitants. The town has a long technical and industrial tradition. During the industrial revolution Waldkirch and its surroundings became a location of textile industry, but today it plays only an inferior role. After the Second World War optical and electrotechnical industry as well as paper processing increased strongly. The town of Waldkirch provides a well developed infrastructure for leisure time activities: adult education program, municipal library, music school, Black Forest Zoo, local heritage museum, 2 swimming pools, several sport stadiums and a lot of club activities.The inner-city transport is provided by 2 bus lines, which are running in half hour intervalls. On weekdays there are at regularly intervals train connections to the proximate town of Freiburg (20 minutes). There is a well developed bus traffic system to touristic centres of the higher Black Forest. Volunteers get a monthly ticket which is valid for all public transport associations of the administrative district of Freiburg.


B.During their voluntary service the volunteers will get non-formal qualifications as well as key qualifications in the areas of character-building and social and linguistic skills. They get to know different ways of life and learn to deal with people with disabilities, as well as with different themes. They learn how to work with elderly and partly gerontopsychiatric disordered persons and learn organisational structures of daily care for elderly people and how to find their place in it.
The volunteers are put into a team of employees and are treated as a fully-fledged team member. They learn how to get along with colleagues, bosses and roommates and to handle the sensibilities of intimacy and distance in the workplace.
The assignment of European Volunteers will not substitute a regular job in this project. The activities of a volunteer should expand and deepen the exisingt geriatric care facilities. The volunteer should enrich the geriatric care activities with new ideas and perspectives.
Volunteers will work mainly in the geriatric day care centre, where older people from Waldkirch and its surroundings are looked after on workdays from 8:00 to 17:00 h. Volunteers will be actively involved in the development of the day program of occupational therapy. Volunteers could develop their own ideas for new games, activities or stories into a personal project if they so wished - creative ideas are always welcome. The remaining of volunteers time will be spent in helping with other aspects of work at the centre as well as planning activities and courses. The volunteer will also be required to attend team meetings to report and co-ordinate resources. Volunteers are expected to accomplish a fulltime voluntary service of 35-hours per week, overdoing ill be balanced by additional freetime. At request of the volunteer and upon approval of the sending organisation and the National Agency it will be possible to work in other departments of the host organisation like housekeeping, kitchen, caretaking, reception or administration. In particular in the beginning the volunteer will pass through all departments of the retirement home to familiarize himself/herself with the structure and the functioning of the organisation (not longer than 3 weeks).
The volunteer can take part in a language training for European Volunteers arranged by the coordinating organisation. The aim of the language training is the command of oral every day speech with a special focus on the terminology of social care. Through language training the volunteer should be enabled to manage typical situations of daily life they will be confronted with during their voluntary service.
Apart from language learning the language training serves as a weekly meeting for European Volunteers from several EVS projects situated in the region. Every month a day of studies will be organised vor the volunteers, where the volunteers can visit the European Parliament in Strasbourg, go on excursions, or take part in cultural events. The content of this program will be discussed by the group and participation is left up to the volunteers.

C.Volunteers should have a basic knowledge of German and have an interest in, and willingness to work with older and partly gerontopsychiatric disordered people. It's necessary for the volunteers to be sociable and outgoing, to have enthusiasm, and to be open to foreign cultures. Volunteers should be able to interact well with groups of people. An enthusiastic, responsible and flexible attitude towards the work is important. Volunteers should be willing to learn new skills and share own experince with others, be able to work as a team and contribute to the process and be open to new ideas and be flexible to work in a variety of settings.
Candidates should describe their motivation for a voluntary service in this project in a detailed motivation letter. Important are neither national or social background, gender, language skills nor level of education, but a convincingly motivation.

D. Volunteers with special needs could be accepted after consultation with the hosting organisation to find and to agree appropriate opportunities of voluntary activities

E. The responisble person for basic and advanced training in the Residential Home will act as a tutor for volunteers and parent them during the whole service period. She takes care for the practical preparation and ensures the integration into the institution. She serves as the first contact person in case of acute problems and helds at regular intervals meetings with volunteers. The applicant make sure that volunteers take part in the on-arrival and mid-term meetings organised by the National Agency
The host organization secures, that volunteers will be introduced into their fields of work and that they find enough support to integrate well into the respective systems.
At regular intervals the social therapist helds meetings with all voluntary workers to reflect and develop their commitment.
The organization provides continuous monitoring, including easy access to the contact person (Tutor), regular dialog with the volunteers, in which the options for personal development and the interests of the volunteer are being discussed.
During the language training organised by the Coordinating Organisation the European Volunteers meet at regular intervals volunteers from other projects from the region where they can exchange experiences, problems etc.
The volunteer will also have all day telephone support from the coordinating organisation for high level crises or personal issues. The coordinator will also travel to the host project at short notice should the situation dictate..