Mariam Kvirtia is a Georgian volunteer who joined Biohof Blumenthal eG, in Germany and carries out her long-term European Solidarity Corps project funded by Erasmus +. Read what she says about her experience:

”Hello!

I’m Mariam Kvirtia, 26 years old from Tbilisi, Georgia.

I am taking part in the European Solidary Corps program to volunteer for a whole year (12 months) for a sustainable Project in Germany. My Hosting place is now Schloss Blumenthal, the community, which bought an old Castle in south Germany Bavaria and turned it into sustainable Agriculture, Goat Farm, Cheese Factory, Hotel and Guesthouse.

My everyday life and work is pretty full of new challenges and different tasks. It is very dependent on the nature and season of the year. For example the upcoming season, spring will be full of planting vegetables, waiting for baby goats to be born, starting milking and making different types of cheese. last season, autumn we mostly harvested everything to prepare ourselves and our grocery shop for winter.

The community includes almost 50 Adults and approximately 30 kids, where I can fully experience a small model of society. This is a possibility where one has a chance to evolve new skills and find opportunities for personal development.

One another beautiful point to living here is being in and serving the nature, what somehow in our century, during the time of digitalized world and industrial time, has become unfamiliar for humanity.

Learning gardening, agriculture, dairy farming and cheese-making could be very healing for today.

Before this, while I was in Georgia I got a chance to start a similar project with friends and create a youth society ‘Parzival’, where we built a weekend school in a rural area, near Tbilisi. This was also a very important event in my life which led me to search and experience other communities around the world.

I always wanted to live in a community, where people try to follow conscious life, take care of the environment and each other, where everyone can explore oneself.

During my stay here in Schloss Blumenthal I can develop my own project and bring the ideas, which will be innovative for this place and for myself.

Even though I have already studied in Germany for a year before and got my graduation, This program gives a totally different perspective to get to know the country and the culture. I love how people take their everyday tasks with honesty, how they appreciate each other’s work and try to find an optimal solution in different situations.

Except for the work, there are many opportunities for other activities, like singing in choir, music, festivals, etc. That’s why I am looking forward to summer and plenty of new experiences.” – Mariam Kvirtia