A week ago, we welcomed our new group of European volunteers from the CES program. There are ten young people from different parts of Spain and other European countries who will be with us for two months, sharing learning, living together, and working on the regeneration of our mountains.
This first week has been dedicated to welcoming, integrating, and getting to know each other. We have created spaces to get to know each other better, share where each person comes from, and start building a group. We have also taken advantage of these days to introduce the Semillistas project, how the CES program works, and the context in which their volunteering will take place.
Activities included team building exercises and trust games, guided tours of Órgiva to get to know the area, information sessions on Erasmus+, CES, and youth participation, and a first climb up Sierra Lújar. On this outing, we did some initial practice planting acorns in protectors, which gave us a taste of the work that will be done in the mountains over the coming weeks.
The group arrived highly motivated and enthusiastic. They are very happy to be in the Alpujarra and eager to actively contribute to the reforestation of Sierra Lújar and Los Guájares. This year, nature presents us with a different scenario than in previous years: after the recent rains, the challenge is not a lack of water, but an excess of it.
