Last year several scout groups wrote to us if they can come and contribute in Park Istra. As our place in Hrvoji is full in the summer, we started to search for an alternative place to host the scouts. The municipality of Koper suggested we could use a newly renovated traditional house in the nearby village of Smokvica. The house is protected as cultural heritage and listed as one of the 100 most beautiful rural houses of Slovenia. It turned out to be perfect for our scout camps. We organized a meeting with the locals of Smokvica, who welcomed our idea and gave us many suggestions how we can improve life in their village.
So, this month we started to accept scout groups. First group of 21 young people arrived on Friday 1st of July.
As real Belgians they went to watch the football match on the day of their arrival. The people in the local restaurant were surprised to see so many young people fully coloured for supporting their team. Even though Belgium lost it was a good evening arrival and everybody was aware of their presence :)
Early the next day we started with the work:
We painted the windows and doors of our house, church and belltower.
We cleaned and repaired the educational trail around the village.
We cleaned, sorted and removed a big pile of trash from the village.
We cleaned the growth around two abandoned houses (same house before and after the cleaning).
We cleaned a lot of bushes from overgrown terraces.
It is great to see how much a dedicated group of 42 hands can achieve in only a week. The locals are happy to see the change and happy to see so many active young people in their village. They show their gratitude, too. A few days ago a local prepared a breakfast of local delicacies and organized a barbecue party for all the scouts to thank them.
Same as other volunteers in Park Istra, the scouts are working in the morning and have free afternoons. They enjoy this time by exploring Slovenia, going for a walk to the nearby river pools, swimming in Adriatic sea, hiking in Škocjanske caves and playing scout games, footbal or basketball.
In the month of July three scout groups will come to help in the village of Smokvica. One already left, the other one is still here and the last one, which is the biggest with 29 scouts, will arrive on the 16th.
We are looking forward to meet them :)
Text: Jean Royer and Janez Matos