The GKF team just finished celebrating Global Wind Day 2012- what a great event! Held in partnership with Enel Green Power Hellas, the event was dedicated to teaching the next generation about wind energy and much more, and was held in South Evia -Nea Styra and Karystos- on the 9th and 10th of June 2012.
What made it such a success?
After a brief introduction, Mr. Ioannis Paravantis, Assistant Professor in International and European Studies from the University of Piraeus did a presentation that captured the imagination of the kids. He got the conversation flowing and the children, aged between 8 and 16, soon had a great understanding about wind energy.
Everyone then took part in some very creative workshops. Volunteers from GKF, EGPH and the University of Piraeus took them on a journey of imagination and creativity. Each child designed and created their own windmill out of special clay, and their own turbines using paper (yes, in this digital age it is still an old favourite!). Armed with a lot of excitement, the group then headed out to the beach to see wind in action.
Each child took a turn in discovering kite flying using 2 line kites. Through this fun activity, we put into practice some of the elements they had learned earlier as they each got to experience first hand how wind creates movement and power. They were amazed and loved every minute of it!
A huge highlight for us all was a special group of autistic children who came from 'Hand By Hand Association'– which is based in Karistos. They took part in the events on Sunday. No words can sum up the experience for us. At each workshop, we could see how much they were enjoying themselves; from playing with the clay in the creative workshop, to feeling the texture of the kites before having their turn seeing the kite fly high and move around so gracefully. It was a wonderful experience for us, worthy of its own blog post!
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. The wind was perfect- it was enough to show everyone involved how much fun can be had with the wind, and how important it is to protect the environment around us.
Thank you to EWEA and Global Wind Day for coordinating the international celebration of wind; and to all our volunteers and participants who helped make it such a memorable experience.
Select photos below, with thanks to Stefan Rusen.
