Fedasil Sugny II

CODE: CBB0626ESC

Work:

The aim of this project is both to improve the quality of the residents' stay in the center and to encourage exchanges between volunteers and residents, but also between residents. The residents are not a homogeneous group: they have different ages, nationalities, religions, lifestyles and life stories; there are sometimes major cultural differences between them.

The volunteers will work in several teams, which will likely be joined by residents of the center. On the one hand, they will participate in maintaining the residents' living environment (maintenance of green spaces and vegetable garden and other outdoor work, building benches, decorating a mural, etc). On the other hand, they will propose and participate in activities with the residents (cooking workshops, sports, themed evenings, etc.), particularly with the children. As the project takes place during school holidays, the children will indeed be present at the center. Feel free to bring your ideas of activities.

Accomodation and food

You will be accommodated in the center, in a mixed dormitory with bunk beds. The toilets and showers are located in a separate building. You can store your valuables in the dormitory (which your group will have a key to) or in the staff kitchen.

You will eat with the residents the food prepared by the center. On some days, you will eat the food that you prepared yourselves during the cooking workshops with the residents.

You will share the same living conditions as the residents, which are very basic.

Location and leisure

The Fedasil center in Sugny is located in the Ardennes region, in the south of Belgium, close to the French border. The center is very isolated; the region is sparsely populated and the nearest villages are 2 and 5 km away. It is surrounded by fields and woods; this site will therefore appeal to nature lovers.

In addition, the center has several sports fields and volunteers will have more than enough opportunities to enjoy leisure time and meetings with the residents. On the first evening, a drink will be organized, in order to welcome the volunteers and get to know the residents.

During the weekend, depending on what you decide, it will be possible to organize cultural visits and travel to the largest Belgian cities.

Project hosted by

The Fedasil reception centre for asylum-seekers in Sugny hosts people who have applied for asylum in Belgium. They have fled situations of war, persecution, discrimination or environmental disasters and hope, with this application, to get a refugee status that will allow them to reside legally in the country. Before being able to settle in Belgium and build their future there, they must therefore wait for their refugee status to be proven and granted through a long administrative process. During this time, they are hosted in this centre.

Always waiting, the residents of the centre live in uncertainty about the future and are sometimes subject to significant stress. Individual situations are multiple and complex, but never easy. Life at the Fedasil centre in Sugny reflects these individual dramas and the hopes of the residents.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/FedasilSugny/?locale=fr_FR

Directions to meeting point

Saturday the 11th of July in Gedinne train station at 3.05 pm. It is important to be on time: as the station is 25 km away from the center, it will not be possible to make several trips back and forth to pick up latecomers.

Find your route on : www.belgiantrain.be

Additional comments

The consumption of alcohol is strictly prohibited inside the center.

This project is a volunteering team, supported by the European Solidarity Corps program of the European Union. Compared to the usual workcamp participation scheme, some main financial and administrative differences must be underlined:  The participation to the ESC volunteering teams is subjects to several principles and conditions, presented on the ESC webpage: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/mission_en  The volunteers do not have to pay any fee (not sending, nor participation fee) to attend the project  The volunteers will receive pocket money, calculated on basis of 6€/day, once they arrive on the project in Belgium  The volunteers will receive a financial support for their travel, according to a maximum amount established in accordance with their travel distance  The volunteers need to register on the European Solidarity Corps Portal; CBB will organize their matching, on the online system, with the volunteering project  The volunteers will have to complete a participation report, submitted online by the ESC portal