Hungary PREPARATION ACTIVITIES

During Summer 2023, when we found out that we are going to Cyprus, we sat down to discuss how it is going to be. Together we agreed on expectations we have to meet to be able to participate in the YE: such as regular presence, being on time, writing articles in our newsletter, holding workshops for the smaller kids - all in all, being an active, responsible member of our community.

In September 2023, we filled out the agreement, but it seemed so far, we didn't really believe it was going to happen. We see each other every day from Tuesday to Friday, so the preparation was continuous. We mentioned Cyprus almost every day.

During Fall and Winter 2023, we did some programs in the afterschool connected to environment protection. We recycled leather jackets and trousers we found into earrings and purses; transformed jeans from boring to cool; renewed some white T-shirts, pillowcases and sheets with tie dye; and prepared natural, homemade liquid detergent from washing nuts. We also talked about the fashion industry.

We attended the online meetings which was scary in a way, because we don't speak English but we understood some words.

The logo contest was exciting. For brainstorming we used an AI picture generator and after we found some good ideas and had a vision we started drawing and editing in Canva.

We made the introduction pictures in January 2024. The photoshoot was long, but in the end everyone found a good picture. For the introductions we used google translate.

CHARITY MARKET

In February we made the action for Green Wardrobe which was a charity market.

On 17th of February we held a charity market in our afterschool, Ötletfa. Our partner was Charity Taxi, an NGO whose main goal is to connect the unused, cumulative surplus in the households of Budapest with the shortage and need in the rural settlements. Since its existence they have transported from more than 3200 households to 100 rural settlements with the help of 600 volunteers.

During our charity market we were volunteering, helped to unpack and organize the good stuff they brought. There were all kinds of clothes, shoes, kitchenware, home textiles, toys, books and electronic household appliances.

The market was open from 11am till 1pm. A lot of people came from the neighborhood so we collected a lot of money for our afterschool. The income was around 200 euros which is a huge amount since one piece of clothes is like 25 cents and even the biggest electronic stuff was around 7 euros. (Every item has its own price: most of the stuff is between 25 cents to 1 euro, bigger items - like electronic appliances, small bicycles, baby carriage - are between 1-7 euros.)

After you finished shopping and paid, you can vote about the use of income. This time people voted to improve our community garden and to organize the 'Take home a garden' family day where we plant herbs and spices in the garden and to take home and have a meal together.

After the market ended we sorted the leftovers into bags and took it to organizations we knew would benefit from it (Family Support Center, transition home for mothers and homeless shelter). Also we bought some clothes, material which we will reuse or recycle in the afterschool.

It was a good day - we worked a lot, but we had fun. The funniest point of the day was when we realized that someone accidentally bought our thermostat (for controlling the heating system). Thanks to the alarm chain in the community, we got it back the next day. :)

POSTERS CREATION

After we got the infopack we had 2 meetings: one for us, and one for us and our parents. We discussed the program, the schedule and talked about what we have to bring and how to pack.

We made posters about our recycling activities and finally we wrote this article about our preparation work.

We are really excited to go. See you soon Cyprus!