2011 Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project
This project is yet another collaboration with Pangaea's partner Geberit in an international social-aid project. Following the project in the Solomon Islands in 2009 and in Pentakatha in India in 2010, Geberit decided to help two primary schools of Kraljevo, a town in central Serbia which had suffered a lot of damage from a 5.4 magnitude earthquake on November 3, 2010.
Following the construction of six sanitary blocks in both schools by ten apprentices in June 2011, a team of Young Explorers went to Kraljevo, Serbia for three weeks from August 21 to September 10 to work on projects concerning water management education, setting up PET recycling system, organising cleanup actions, different workshops with the 2000+ students of the schools, and giving a series of conferences about Pangaea and Mike Horn, and their respective expeditions and countries.
The team consisted of:
- Alexander GROOS (Himalaya Pakistan Expedition) from Germany
- Leena-Maret KRÖGER (Selection Camp Expedition Kamchatka) from Germany
- Simon STRAETKER (New Zealand Expedition) from Germany
- Agnieszka MIERSKA (Selection Camp Expedition Mongolia) from Poland
- Malgorzata Maria SADOWSKA (Selection Camp Expedition Kamchatka) from Poland
- Iga SOBANSKA (Selection Camp Expedition Himalaya) from Poland
- Luana REBHOLZ-CHAVES (Magnetic North Pole Expedition) from Switzerland
- Michael SCHOLL - Pangaea Young Explorers Programme coordinator
Please read the daily blogs of our activities during these three weeks, discover the photographs and watch the videos:
and read the impressions our Young Explorers felt from this enriching experience from a variety of aspects:
'The Geberit-Pangaea School Project in Kraljevo was an unforgettable experience for me. Every day and every single second in Serbia was like a gift. All smiles and conversations with children meant a lot for me. Their motivation and support also gave us, Young Explorers more power to act. People I met, places I visited, new dishes I tasted… Serbia will stay in my memories for so long… The project that we started there is a seed which is going to become a beautiful tree soon!'
Iga SOBANSKA (Pangaea Himalaya Selection Camp YEP)
'I'm very impressed how nice and hospitable are people in Serbia, I've never experienced that before to see the children who wanted to spend as much time as possible with us and to whom we, Young Explorers, are an enourmous inspiration. I will never forget these enthusiastic people!'
Agnieszka Beata MIERSKA (Pangaea Mongolia Selection Camp YEP)
'In Serbia I was most impressed by the people. Never in my life have I met so friendly, helpful and nice folks! I will always remember them.'
Malgorzata Maria SADOWSKA (Pangaea Kamchatka Selection Camp YEP)
'To see this young and motivated pupils in Kraljevo cleaning up the city and concerning about the environment really impressed me. From my point of view, that's the best evidence that working with kids and young people is the first step to live more ecofriendly in the future!'
Alexander GROOS (Pangaea Himalaya Expedition YEP)
'In Serbia I felt so alive for each day brought new exciting and unexpected experiences! I love working together with kids and I have a passion for protecting our environment. This Project gave me the unique opportunity to combine both. I truly feel that this experience made me grow as a person – it has simply been amazingly enriching! Working together with Young explorers is a great gift for we are a real team – we share and learn from each other.'
Luana REBHOLZ-CHAVES (Pangaea Magnetic North Pole Expedition YEP)
'Beside beautiful landscapes, delicious food and the friendly people of Serbia, it was the enthusiasm of young kids that amazed me so much. Serbia is a country of which we know few about, but has so much to share!'
Simon STRAETKER (Pangaea New Zeland Expedition YEP)
'You don't have to travel a long long distance to meet wonderful people, experience a different culture, see interesting landscapes and much much more. Serbia has been wonderful and it was amazing to get to know this country by the locals. Most impressive is how warmly welcoming and helpful Serbian people are - I barely experienced such a warm and homely feeling caused by the people somewhere else!'
Leena-Maret KRÖGER (Pangaea Kamchatka Selection Camp YEP)
In November 2011, the official inauguration of the sanitary blocks in both schools took place in an event gathering Geberit representatives from Switzerland and from the regional offices of the region around Serbia, the Mayor of Kraljevo and the Swiss Ambassador to Serbia - Please read the report of this event here.
The project will hopefully continue its journey into 2012 with the proposed Pangaea Tara Mountain EcoCamp 2012...
Sunday August 21 - Tuesday August 23, 2011
written by Alexander GROOS
1. Hotel Botika 2. Svetozar Marković 3. IV kraljevacki bataljon 4. Centre 5. Beach & Pool 6. Big market 7. Memorial to the victims of the German “Wehrmacht” massacre in 1941
After one week of exploring the beautiful Rhodopi Mountains in Bulgaria together with some friends from Sofia I started my 12-hours-journey on Saturday morning to Kraljevo in Central Serbia where our Geberit-Pangaea School Project is taking place right now. Travelling through Eastern Europe was again very exciting because I met backpackers from all over Europe and had to find my way to Kraljevo although in smaller towns nearly no one was able to communicate neither in English nor in German or French. Anyhow, very polite and helpful people supported me to arrive safely in Kraljevo at night.
I had more than two days left for myself until Michael and the other YEP's from Germany, Switzerland and Poland were supposed to turn up. So I tried to discover as much as possible of the city to be able to lead the others through Kraljevo to the most important places. The city is not too big – only about 80.000 people live here. Around noon most of the people visit the pool or “beach” next to the Ibar river in consideration of the high temperatures far above 30° degrees. I also used the heat to have a break and go in a bakery to buy one of my favourite foods in Eastern Europe: Burek. It's a kind of a warm flaky pastry filled with meat, cheese or spinach.
In the evening after the sunset city-life changes completely in Kraljevo. You can see lots of people in the centre sitting in one of the pubs and kids playing soccer at the square.
Just as all the other places in Kraljevo both schools (Svetozar Marković & IV kraljevacki bataljon) we are going to work with are located only few minutes walking distance from our nice hotel.
Nadja, one of the former pupils of “IV kraljevacki bataljon” school thankfully took some of her spare time to talk with me about our and her ideas and suggestions for the projects at school. She and her friends are also going to support us during the next two weeks.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of trash in Kraljevo along the river and in the parks. So that's definitely a topic we can work on with the eco-clubs of both schools. One of our ideas is to organize a clean-up, for example.
Monday August 22 - Tuesday August 23, 2011
written by Leena-Maret KRÖGER
This is where the Gerberit-Pangaea School Project begins!
Early Monday morning four of our project team started a two day road trip from Switzerland to Serbia – crossing Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia on our way. We could barely fit into our van since school material was occupying most of the space. Previously we had been collecting it – especially Anne Poggenpohl, a Young Explorer, had been of great help – and all together we had now a considerable amount of note books, pens, calendars, novels, posters etc. we could distribute to our partner schools in Kraljevo, Serbia.
Past December Krlajevo experienced a strong earthquake where major parts of the school had been damaged. Our mission for the next three weeks will be to help restore the school buildings as well as organize environmental actions and events for the students. Not only though do we want to raise awareness but also we intend to encourage a cultural exchange inbetween the Serbian students and us, the Young Explorers. We are very much motivated to initiate our project in Serbia and are eager to make the most possible out of this unique opportunity! Tomorrow the real work will start.
Tuesday 23 August, 2011
written by Iga SOBANSKA and Agnieszka MIERSKA
We were preparing for this day for a long time. The time passed so quickly since we got a message that we are selected for Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project and we were pretty excited about the adventure ahead of us. That is why, when we met at the airport in Warsaw and got to know that there is no space in a bus for us so we have to take a train from Belgrad to Kraljevo we had a feeling that the project has really started. Without any problems we arrived in Belgrad but there we realized that communication is not the best thing which Serbian people can offer. Almost no one can speak English in the capital city! However, we managed to take a bus to the train station. Even if we didn’t really know where we should get off the bus it came to us that is not a problem because people in Serbia are very nice and helpful. We had a chance to observe that when one man, even without asking us, took our suitcases out of the bus. Then he insisted on telling him where we are going so he could help us.
When we arrived at the train station we were in hurry because our train was supposed to leave in 10 minutes. However, when we wanted to buy the tickets a woman told us that this train does not exist! Fortunately, it didn’t discourage us and we found a bus leaving soon to Kraljevo. There we saw a difference between Serbia and our countries because we had to pay for our suitcases but what even more surprised us was the fact that in Serbia they have very modern air condition – they are just opening the door while driving!
Despite all these things which happened to us after three hours of driving we finally arrived in Kraljevo to meet other Young Explorers and our Super Project Coordinator! We went out for our first walk around Kraljevo, discussed the project, ate typical Serbian food and enjoyed spending time together. We are exciting and ready to start working for a project. We hope we will be able to make a difference!
Wednesday August 24, 2011
written by Malgorzata Maria SADOWSKA and Leena-Maret KRÖGER
Today had been quite an exciting day for us as we had visited the schools we will be working with for the next three weeks for the first time.
After having some Serbian breakfast we took a walk to the schools. First we went to visit Svetozar Marković where we sat together with the principal, some teachers and students, who are members of the eco-club, to discuss what we will be doing and what will happen during the coming weeks. It has been good to see that the students are very excited about our stay and eager to work with us.
The meeting was followed by a tour around the school where we could see the damage the building is suffering from last year’s earthquake. We also had the opportunity to have a look at the new toilets that were made by Geberit.
Later on former and current students of IV Kraljevački Bataljon showed us around their school which is - in comparison to the previous one - in a better state.
The principal and teachers welcomed us very warmly in a traditional serbian way - fruit (in this case plums) boiled with sugar and served together with water.
Also here everyone had been very excited about our project.
Afterwards we started to unpack the van and sort the school equipment which had been fundraised before our arrival to Kraljevo.
Two Serbian girls, Nadja and Angela, are really happy about our project and cultural exchange and so they offered to take us around the city in the evening. Due to that we have had a great insight into Serbian customs and culture.
We are excited about the upcoming weeks as we have a lot of ideas in our heads and work in front of us.
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110824 - School Visit 
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110824 - EcoClub
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110824 - School Material
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110824 - Kraljevo at Night
Thursday August 25, 2011
written by Agnieszka MIERSKA and Iga SOBANSKA (the new iGaga)
We have started our day with the next meeting with the children from the eco-club from Svetozar Markovic School. Even though we could easily see that we had a problem with communication they did they best to work with us. We have decided to prepare the posters about various topics to promote and spread a message about protecting the environment. We are also planning to do a clean-up of the river with the children from both schools to show them how they can care about our planet, that is why we also need to prepare some posters to advertise the event. We will hang all of them in the school in the places where they are very visible for the children so they can read them every day and maybe because of that they will try more to care about the nature.
After that we were invited to a house of a president of Ecological Movement Ibar (www.ekoibar.org.rs) – Miroslav Pavlovic. We went to his home near to Kraljevo and we were very nicely welcomed. First of all, at the very beginning we got slatko – typical Serbian fruit in sweet jam and glass of water which is a standard welcoming for all the guests coming to the house. Then a wife of the president prepared for us some typical Serbian cakes which we really enjoyed and during eating we got to know a little better about the Ecological Movement, what they are doing and in what actions they participated. That was very nice to see that there are some people in Kraljevo who care about our planet and try to protect it.
Later on we got a chance to play the national sport – tennis. We really tried to pretend that we are as good as Djokovic – their best player but we barely were able to hit the ball! After that we went to the river and on our way we did a clean-up, we collected all the rubbish from the road and near to the river where we stayed. We even swam to the second bank of it to clean the whole area. We spent there another 3 hours resting, swimming in the river and discussing different topics that we are interested in. The funny thing was that we saw some lizards and tiny frogs which were jumping around our legs.. After this extraordinary time by the river, the president of the eco-club came up with an idea to go to the medieval city situated on the mountain. We all went there by car because it was too far away to go there on feet. It took us 10 minutes to go up. On the top Kapo told us the legend connected with this place and then we were admiring the beautiful sunset. The scenery was gorgeous ! Can you imagine a beautiful river surounded by the majestetic mountains? Unfortunately it was getting darker and darker and that’s why we had to go down. After the day fulled with activities we met in our hotel to discuss the next day and plan what we would do then with children.
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110825 - EcoClub
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110825 - Excursion
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110825 - River and Cleanup
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110825 - Fortress
Friday August 26, 2011
written by Alexander GROOS
On Friday early in the morning we met the group of younger and older kids of the eco-club in the Svetozar Marković school again. The teachers led us downstairs to the cool room for the physic lessons where we could resist the heat of nearly 40° degrees outside much better. We discussed with the pupils their and our ideas for posters in their school to raise awareness for certain environmental problems. Meanwhile, Michael and Zorana bought pencils, posters and different kinds of colours so that we could start painting.
We split up in smaller groups to be able to work on our different conceptions for the “eco-posters”. Thankfully, the biology and arts teacher supported us with their knowledge and skills.
Aga, Michael, Zorana and me left the school at noon and visited the “Korali” company which produces dustbins, containers and play equipment among other things. Let's see what we can arrange with them the next days to get new equipment for both schools. Afterwards we went back to the school to finish the first awesome posters together with the kids!
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110826
Saturday August 27, 2011
written by Alexander GROOS
Saturday was the first day where we didn't have any meetings. That's why we could work on our presentations for the German, English and geography lessons in school and also on our video-documentary about our project and Kraljevo. While Simon was busy editing the others went to the street-art-festival. We filmed young people who were skateboarding, playing basketball or painting a monotonous grey wall with fancy colourful graffiti. In the night we went out to experience the life in the city again. It was really incredible to see so many people outside at this time and all the live-bands who played amazing music in front of the different pubs.
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110827
Sunday August 28, 2011
written by Luana REBHOLZ-CHAVES
Our day starts full of action and excitement. „We are going fishing!“, Kiepo – our local friend and president of Kraljevo's eco-club – announces. Not really knowing what to expect we arrive at the lake where a whole team of fishermen is already busy working. The men are experienced fellows and when we introduce ourselves they seem just as happy as us about our new acquaintance. Most of us have never fished before accordingly our first attempts fail but after a while and few good laughs we quickly learn how to fish and make our first catch!
After a fun time at the lake we make our way to Žiča monestary – a marvel close-by Kraljevo. Its bright red masonry impress us already from the distance as we drive towards the site. The monastery dates back to the 13th century and until now this place has remained very rich in traiditions. We enter the surrounding gardens and notice orthodox nuns dressed in long black robes. Together with a few priests they determine life at the monastery as they lead all ceremonies and events that take place here. Infront of the church a wedding party gathers around a bridal pair while in the mean time a baptism is taking place inside. It is most definitely a busy day at Žiča but despite all the hustle and bustle we enjoy this peaceful spot until it is time to go back.
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110828 - Gone Fishing
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110828 - Žiča Monastory
Monday August 29, 2011
written by iGaga (Iga SOBANSKA and Agnieszka MIERSKA)
Today the headmaster and teachers from IV Bataljon organized a trip for us to one of the most beautiful National Parks in Serbia called Kopaonik. Together with some students and teachers from different schools we left Kraljevo very early in the morning as a trip to this park took us more than 2 hours of driving. After the arrival we equipped ourselves with water and some snacks and started our hike to one of the highest peaks in Serbia. After two hours of walking and enjoying the breathtaking views of the beautiful Serbian nature we reached the highest point – 2017m. above the sea level called Pancicev Vrh. We were thrilled looking at the stunning surrounding and we did a big photography session on the rocks.
After resting a little bit we went down for a lunch in the restaurant where we got a typical Serbian meal which was very similar to what we eat in Poland – chicken soup and meat with cabbage. It was really delicious! And then we realized that the sun is no longer our friend because everybody got the sunburn! But it was not the end of our trip, afterwards we went to see the rocks on which according to the legend the king of Serbia had a rest. The views were again gorgeous and we got a chance to climb on the different shapes of the rocks. For some of us it was really something like a jungle park! We were having fun jumping on the rocks and after that we went ‘home’. We arrived very tired but also so grateful for the opportunity which we got. The national park and its fauna and flora are amazing, so that is why it left us speechless.
iGaga
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110829 - Kopaonik National Park 1
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110829 - Kopaonik National Park 2
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110829 - Kopaonik National Park 3
Tuesday August 30, 2011
written by Malgorzata Maria SADOWSKA
Today we went to IV Kraljevacki Bataljon to meet with the kids and do some more eco-posters. We were quite surprised by the number of children that showed up. All of them ready and motivated to work. Together we managed to do posters on greenhouse effect, decomposition time of various garbage or recycling. As we’ll place PET bins at schools, we also made posters to put above to inform kids that they should throw empty bottles there and not to a regular bin. It was really great to see the enthusiasm of the pupils to discuss ideas and paint. Even if it’s still holidays for them they come to school to meet with us.
Later on we headed to a conference room to meet with the teachers. We had a chance to introduce ourselves, tell about the project and our plan for next days. It’s still amazing to see how everybody is so welcoming and eager to cooperate. We handed them empty schedules for next week so they can write when shall we give our presentations about Pangaea, expeditions and countries.
Oh, and funny thing happend to us on a way back to the hotel. I don’t know if it was because of our really loud laugh and talk or maybe same Mike Horn’s T-shirts, but suddenly out of the blue one lady approached us asking who we are. It turned out she was working for a local television and wish to have an interview with us. We’re getting quite famous around here...
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110830
Wednesday August 31, 2011
written by Leena-Maret KRÖGER
This was the last day of the summerholidays for the students of Kraljevacki Bataljon and Svetozar Markovic. According to this we had a lot of work to do and finish, so tomorrow the students can actually see the difference the team from Geberit and the YEPs - with a lot of helping hands and ideas from the kids - were able to make during the Serbian school holidays.
When we got to the schools at usual 9am we divided into two groups. Half of us stayed in Kraljevacki Bataljon and worked with the kids from both schools, who are still full of energy and eager to work with us, while the other half went to Svetozar Markovic to help doing the last steps getting the classrooms ready for school to start (after the earthquake 2/3 of the school could not be used for classes due to the damage, now the whole school is going to be used again).
We as well finished the posters concerning environmental issues today and hung them up in the schools - 14 in total, including really artistic works and eyecatching headings.
Additionaly we also put the recycling bins for plastic bottles up and placed them in the school corridors, visible for the pupils to see and use. For that the kids made some special posters to hang above the recycling bins to show how important recycling actually is for our planet.
When we were done with the main work for today we sat together with the children from both schools to have a discussion about simple things everyone could do in their lives to make it more ecofriendly. It had been a very interesting conversation and amazing to see how they developed their own ideas to start making a difference.
After that we met Kiepo, president of the Ecological Movement of Kraljevo, again who showed us the "eco-house", meeting point for the Ecological Movement, which is set next to the river Ibar. For us it has been quite fascinating to see all the things inside the eco-house, such as an armchair made out of plastic bottles and tape.
In the evening a few of us went to meet with some kids from the schools to have a refreshing swim in river Ibar, which has been fun and we enjoyed a lot.
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110831
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Thursday September 1, 2011
written by Alexander GROOS
Early in the morning we met Kapo - the president of the “Ecological Movement Ibar” in Kraljevo – only few metres far away from our hotel at the railway station. At this place along the rails you can find a lot of common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) which is an invasive plant species from North America. Kapo and a group of other participants came together to cut this plant in this area before it bud because the pollens often cause allergic reactions to a lot of people.
After that we went to IV kraljevacki bataljon school to see the enrolment of the first class and the pupils of the preschool. Many kids we knew from the last days of painting were involved in the ceremonies and partook in the chorus or dance team. We were very glad to be invited to this vivid first school day and to see this young, happy and smiling kids next week again. Fortunately, they are the first ones who will benefit from the new sanitary facilities of Geberit and our work we did together with the older pupils.
While Zorana and Michael were meeting the principals of both schools again we went back to Kapo and his friends at the railway station to do a short Clean-Up. The whole area where they cut common ragweed were totally polluted by plastic bags, bottles, packings and so on. Thus, we supported them in collecting it. Finally, we counted more than twenty bags full of trash and could see a big difference when we crossed the footbridge over the rails on our way back to the hotel.
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110901
Friday September 2, 2011
written by Luana REBHOLZ-CHAVES
Sazavica is a magical place. It is exactly that kind of place you would read about in children’s books, the difference being though that Sazavica really exists. It is a beautiful nature reserve along an anabranch of the Sava river. It is especially known for its rich biodiversity and untouched nature.
The visitor center is a pleasingly peaceful spot where we enjoy the traditional Serbian meal goulash. I cannot remember the last time I tasted such a delicious stew.
Right next to the visitor center are vast pastures where traditional domestic animals from the region graze together. We fully enjoyed the beauty of this wonderful day and place!
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110902 - Sasavica 1
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110902 - Sasavica 2
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110902 - Belgrade
Saturday September 3, 2011
written by Agnieszka MIERSKA
After coming back very late from Belgrade last night we didn’t have a lot of time to rest because early in the morning we left for the next trip prepared by principal and teachers from IV Bathaljon School. First of all, we went to Monastery Gradac and we were welcomed very warmly by the nun living there. She told us the story about this Monastery that it was built at the end of XIII century by the Queen Jelena and the flowers – lilacs, which we saw few days ago in the park, were devoted to her. Furthermore, the nun prepared us some coffee and answered our questions about living in Monastery.
After that we got to our main point of the day – we visited the ecological camp taking place in Natural biosphere reserve Golia. When we arrived we saw the students working on the field and cleaning the reserve. We had a quick talk but they needed to come back to work so two main coordinators of the project took us on a short hike through Golia. We could have seen and admired the beauty of this part of Serbia and listened to the story about the reserve. Other participants of the camp could not have joined us because they came here for around one week and every day they have different tasks to do connected with the environment. They not only have lectures (they LEARN) but also they do some clean – ups and planting trees (they ACT) and they go for different trips, for instance to the waterfall (they EXPLORE)! This was very nice to see these motivated people who really care about the nature! After coming back from hiking we could have spent more time with these students as we had a lunch together. The meal was a surprise itself – we got a pig which was roasted on a stick and brought to us in one piece, we could even have seen the eyes of that! We really had a great time talking to these people and exchanging the experience and I hope that we can meet with them again.
After lunch we gave the presentation about Mike Horn, Pangaea Project, Selection Camps and the Expeditions. We prepared very nice multimedia presentation but as we ate the meal in the middle of forest we didn’t really have the opportunity to use it so we needed to improvise but I believe that everyone liked it and people seemed to be very interesting and curious about the project! Students who still fit into the age limit were eager to join Pangaea and they asked us so many questions so hopefully we will have new YEP members from Serbia.
As it was getting late we said goodbye to our new friends, left them some Pangaea flyers and slowly headed back to Kraljevo with one more stop in another Monastery. Slowly is a very good word to describe our trip because we were going down from the mountain through very narrow road full of rocks and dust so it took us a LOT of time to drive just 15 km to Monastery Studenica. Monasteries must be very special and typical for Serbian people because they want to show us as many of them as possible! We saw it just from outside because of the mass taking place at that time and after resting a little bit we came back to the hotel.
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110903 - Gradac Monastery
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110903 - Golija Biosphere
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110903 - Studenica Monastery
Sunday September 4, 2011
written by Iga SOBANSKA (iGaga first half)
Sunday wasn’t as filled with activities as the previous days. We decided to work on our presentations, Simon had to concentrate on editing videos and some of us wanted to rest and go for a walk around Kraljevo. In the evening we were invited by German teachers: Dana and Jelena to go for a trip to Vrnjacka Banja. This city is situated about 30 km from our place and it is wide-known because of its mineral water sources which can be used for treating different illnesses. Some of Young Explorers wanted to go to the swimming pool, but then it turned out that the temperature of water was almost 35 Celsius degrees!! For them – wishing for a refreshing bath – it wasn’t the greatest idea J. Afterwards , the teachers took us to the nice palace in the park where we admired the exhibition about Japanese art and national Serbian instruments. It was high time for having a meal. Everybody was pretty hungry and the walk made us even more hungry… We had a very nice supper in the restaurant called Crown and after eating we came back directly to our hotel.
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110904 - Vrnjacka Banja
Monday September 5, 2011
written by Iga SOBANSKA (aka iGaga)
Monday. School week starts again. Young Explorers spend this day mostly in the schools were they gave some presentations. We decided to divide into smaller groups what made our work more efficient and we were able to have meetings at the same time. The team offered different presentations about expeditions, selection camps and countries where we live. Our Project Coordinator – Michael – who is interested in sharks, also prepared a speech about his research on these animals. Children were listening us carefully and asking many questions connected with the topics. We were amazed how involved and enthusiastic they were. Evening was also special thanks to the meetings with students from Gymnasium. Those pupils are up to 19 years old, so they are perfect candidates to join our community. We hope that we encouraged them to act and spread the environmental message.
Afterwards Nadja’s parents invited us for a typical Serbian dinner. Together with the principal – Marina we joined this amazing family during their meal. We had a chance to try slatko, gibanica, sarma, proja. It was an amazing evening with delicious food !
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110905 - Presentations 1
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110905 - Presentations 2
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110905 - Presentations 3
Tuesday September 6, 2011
written by Malgorzata Maria SADOWSKA
Today we continued on giving our presentations. It was again very successful - kids were enthusiastic and involved. Maybe also because on our presentation about Poland we prepared a small quiz with candies as a reward for the right answer. Hopefully they learned something new and interesting. We definetely enjoyed the conact with kids and their response.
After evening classes we hanged the remaining posters at schools. We were happy as the eco-club members stayed in their free time to do it with us. It shows just how much they care.
Summing up the things we achieved during last days:
• more than 45 presentations
• to more than 2000 people
• 20 new Serbian YEPs on our Community
Isn’t that awesome?!
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110906 - Presentations and Posters
Wednesday September 7, 2011
written by Alexander GROOS (Pangaea Himalaya Expedition YEP)
Since our first walks through Kraljevo we have thought about doing a Clean-Up in the city together with pupils from the two elementary schools “IV Kraljevacki Bataljon” and “Svetozar Marković” because we found so much trash in the parks, next to the train station and particularly along the Ibar and Ribnica river. From our point of view, the best and easiest way to show young people the problematical effects of throwing away and not recycling garbage is to clean up a polluted places. Furthermore, it's an example to the kids how fast you can arrange smaller environmental actions. Today early in the morning we met with more than sixty pupils of one school and additionally kids from the eco-club of the other school. We faced a special event we were looking forward for all the days before: The big Clean-UP!
We were supported by a national NGO in organizing and conducting it. As a big group of young, motivated and excited people we head off to the Ribnica river which flows into the bigger Ibar river at the other end of the city. We could have already started to collect trash on our way to the final place as much as we saw... At the Ribnica river we split in smaller groups and started to clean the river and the area around. We were impressed how fast the kids collect all the trash. It was kind of a competition for them to find all the garbage and separate between plastic bottles and the rest. They were curious to learn about the idea of recycling because it's urgently required but unfortunately, not very common in Kraljevo, yet. (We could achieve one success afterwards. The principal of the IV kraljevacki bataljon is also very concerned with environmental problems and signed a contract with local people who collect separated trash from the schools to deliver it to recycling companies). After only two hours of work we had loaded a small truck with lots of bags filled with plastic bottles, cigarette packs, old shoes and every kind of other packings. Every Clean-Up surprises you again what people throw away each day instead of just putting it into the garbage can, as one girl said!
Our action was broadcasted in national TV. Thus, we hopefully could raise awareness for this “garbage problem” in Kraljevo and maybe motivate at least some people to change small things in their behaviour and put the trash into garbage cans.
After the successful Clean-Up in the morning and the amazing interaction with all the pupils we decided shortly to do another one around both elementary schools with kids who wanted to clean more places or just couldn't join us before because of lessons. In only one hour we had collected thirteen bags of trash. In reward for their voluntary work during hot temperatures and as a refreshment we invited the young participants for an ice cream. While were eating it we got in touch with them better and discussed what we did before. Seeing young motivated people concerning about the environment delights us and is the evidence that working with kids is the first step to live more ecofriendly in the future.
Thanks to all the dedicated kids and young people for their great help and work today!!!
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110907 - River Ibar and Ribnica Cleanup 1
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110907 - River Ibar and Ribnica Cleanup 2
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110907 - River Ibar and Ribnica Cleanup 3
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110907 - School Cleanup
Thursday September 8, 2011
written by Leena-Maret KRÖGER (Pangaea Kamchatka Selection Camp YEP)
Since this was our last day here in Kraljevo our day was meant to be a bit full - organizing the last things, getting everything together and ready, spending the last hours in the schools and at the end of the day the hardest of all: saying goodbye to everyone we met while our stay.
During the day half of us continued with the Pangaea-presentation-marathon (more than 45 presentations in 3 days, reaching more than 2000 peoples audience!) while the other half went to Svetazor Markovic to finally distribute all the fundraised notebooks, pens, pencils etc to the pre-school, 1st and 2nd Grades.
All of us have been quite busy today but we managed to get everything done. At 6.30pm we met some kids from the schools we've been working with for a last swim in river Ibar - at the final goodbye we even received farewell-gifts, the girls got beaded bracelets, Alex and Simon big postcards with pictures from the clean-up yesterday and Michael a shark-poster - and everything is selfmade! It was quite hard to finally leave after spending so much time with them, having fun and working.
After that we headed off to our farewell-dinner with a total of 25 amazing people we've met and which have been very welcoming and incredibly helpful throughout our stay. For the last time we enjoyed delicious Serbian food and the company of people who have become our friends. The evening lasted long and we had some very fun moments, such as dancing around the table to Serbian live music with Kapo, and letting the past weeks go through our minds again, but also some sad moments as this night meant goodbye.
Everyone who had been there received some group-photos from the excursions and daytrips we had, but no present can describe how much we appreciate what they have done for us. It has been hard to say goodbye after everything that happened.
It is quite difficult to explain how amazing all these people really are, how much they have helped us every single day and how they made our trip to Serbia even more fantastic. We are all very thankful for that and for every moment we spent with them.
Tomorrow we all will head home, packed with all those new experiences, tons of wonderful memories and the will to come back.
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110908 - School
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110908 - Party
Friday September 9, 2011
written by Malgorzata Maria SADOWSKA
It was the moment I knew that would come and the one I didn't want so much. It was the moment when we (Gosia, Iga and Aga) could find ourselves standing in front of the airport in Belgrade waving goodbye to our fellow YEPs.
Turning our backs and leaving was hard, but the flights were soon and we still had to pack the presents we received from our Serbian friends. Soon the next goodbye came when Iga disappeared behind the boarding gate - unfortunately we had separate flights. Then me and Aga headed towards our gate. We flew through Frankfurt that 'greeted' us with rain and cold temperature as if to emphasize 'No, this is not Serbia anymore.' Then a couple of minutes before 8pm we met with our parents in Gdańsk. Whole journey we were recalling the project and all fun moments we lived through. It definitely was an unforgettable experience and we were sad to go home.
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110910 - Geberit
Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project 20110910 - Swim
