Esperanzah Festival

CODE: SVI_ESPERANZAH_2025

Presentation of the partner:

Esperanzah! is a world music festival that has offered a varied programme of well-known and lesserknown artists since 2002. Every year it is an alternative line-up, open to the world and based on discovery. A programme that expresses cultural diversity and deliberately goes against the tide of monopolies, algorithms and the mainstream. It takes place at Floreffe Abbey, located between Charleroi and Namur in Belgium. Z ! Association, organizer of the Esperanzah music festival, aims to design and organize remarkable sites, events or cultural and social activities.

Volunteer work
Volunteers will be responsible for cleaning the festival site. They will collect waste so visitors can attend concerts in a welcoming and safe site. They will also be assigned physical tasks. They will have to make festival-goers aware of the protection of the environment. Volunteers will work from 9am to midday and from 1pm to 5pm. Your job is to keep the area clean and tidy. During the festival, volunteers are free to enjoy too! The tasks that need to be done can be physical.

Accommodation
Volunteers will be accommodated in a dormitory. Kitchen, shower and toilet will be available, but they will share it with another group of volunteers. There will be no washing machine. You will be asked to bring a mattress and a sleeping bag. Do not forget to bring working clothes as it can be rainy from time to time.

Food
TThree meals a day are provided for volunteers. Vegetarian volunteers will receive special meals. Only during the festival and not during the days off.

Specific information Clothing: Boots or hiking shoes (you might not want to take nice shoes because you might get VERY dirty). Do not forget, everything will take place outside. Work clothes (for the construction work), and comfortable clothes (for the festival). Summer clothes AND winter clothes because it can get warm or cold! In Belgium we can have very rainy summers with temperatures around 15°C but we can also have periods of high heat with dry weather and temperatures around 35°C, so we have to check the weather before leaving and be ready for anything. Volunteers need to bring clothes that dry fast because if you get wet, you might have to change clothes several times a day. If you think about bringing clothes that dry fast, you will not end up with only wet clothes left.

Meeting point

Rue du Poirier, 8, 1348 Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Arrival days are from Monday to Friday between 11am and 4pm. Outside these hours, we recommend you to take a hotel room on your own. To get to the meeting point you can take the train from the airport: https://www.belgiantrain.be/en.

* Nearest airport: Brussels South Charleroi Airport – 29 km

* Nearest train station: Floreffe Station – 2 km ƒ

* Transport between the railway station and the place of volunteering: Bus 10 (12min)

Camp language The project allows you to speak either French or English. You will meet people from all over the world, so English will often be the language used. Do not forget: you will work with 9 other volunteers on the project. The group can be a support even for linguistic understanding. We do not ask for bilingual people.

About Floreffe
Floreffe is a French-speaking town of Belgium located in the Walloon Region in the province of Namur. There is a fabulous range of things to do in and around this destination. Nothing compares to watching great masterpieces when your soul needs to be transported. By looking at the fabulous works of art in the Félicien Rops museum, see if you can find a deeper meaning in them.

The project includes:ƒ

• Introduction courseƒ
• One night at the bed and breakfast in Louvainla-Neuve
• Follow-up during the whole projectƒ
• Invitation letter or additional documentation for visa application.ƒ
• Accommodation in a shared roomƒ
• Train tickets from Louvain-la-Neuve to Floreffeƒ
• Meals

Not included in the project

• Vacation daysƒ
• Pocket moneyƒ
• Travel expensesƒ
• Flight ticketsƒ
• Health insurance (mandatory to present before arrival)ƒ
• Transportation from the airport to the project (Optional:ƒ Transportation: to and from the airport (taxi) : 160€ (variable price)