A typical day in the life of a Mana Stream volunteer
Standard working day schedule:
8.30am waking up
9am - breakfast
10am “1pm - “ working on the trail
1pm - “ 3pm - “ lunch and relaxation
3pm - “ 6pm - “ working on the trail
7pm - “ dinner, singing by the campfire, games, sports, socializing
Usually a Mana Stream project lasts 2 weeks: 2 days for arrival and departure, 10 working days and 2 days off. Depending on weather conditions (rain, wind, etc.) and the group's physical condition, the team leader has the right to change the approved schedule. Although every day on a Mana Stream project brings new adventures, they do have some things in common. Here an example:
Morning
â ¦it's already 9 am. The camp is slowly waking up to the tasty smell of kasha, a traditional Russian hot cereal, in the morning air. Today it definitely smells like rice made with milk - a wonderful delicacy, especially when you have it with a dash of cinnamon. For volunteers on cooking duty today is a special day since they had to get up before everyone else, and have already made breakfast. At breakfast time everybody gathers at the camp fire. It's so pleasant to sit on a wooden bench with a warm plate of cereal in your hands, taking in the sun's tender morning rays and watching them sparkle in the morning dew.
It s approaching 10am and to get ready for work, find your gloves somewhere in the depth of your tent, pull your cap on, and lace the hiking boots a little tighter. All volunteers gather around their team leader. The people on cooking duty receive their last instructions - they will stay at the camp site so that lunch will be ready by the time the hungry crew comes back from workâ ¦
Day
The team leader carefully examines the group, reminds everyone of the safety procedures, presents today's schedule, and distributes work tools. Now that everyone is ready, the group can go to the work site. Three hours of work await them. The group splits into smaller teams; someone is clearing the trail corridor from vegetation, while others are constructing steps or building a small bridge across a spring. Sometimes the work becomes difficultâ ¦ It takes a lot of force to remove a big tree that fell on the trail; the tree has to be cut up into smaller parts, which are then carried away one by one. The bridge-building team is ready to put down the first logs for the bridge. This is not easy work, but instead of doing it all alone the team calls on others to help, and gets it done quickly, having fun all the while. The first three hours of work pass quickly, with a pause for snacks in the middle, and then it is time to return to the camp. In some projects It's leisure time from 1 to 3 p.m. other prolong it till 4pm because of very hot weather during daytime â “ but first everybody wants to have lunch! All that work gives our volunteers a healthy appetite. After lunch you can relax, get a tan, go for a swim, eat some wild berries, go fishing, or just hang out and talk to each other. As always, the interpreter comes up with a new entertaining activity. We'll see what awaits us today!!! After two hours of rest and with renewed energy, it is time to go back to work. Three more hours and everyone, exhausted but happy, returns to camp.
Evening
â ¦ dinner is ready! The cooks are at their best: the salad can compete with haute cuisine restaurants, the meat stew with potatoes is fabulous. Maybe it's because everyone worked so hard today and is absolutely starving? It is impossible to tear the girls away from tea and sweets, as usual. No worries, they deserve it. The dinner smoothly turns into hanging out by the camp fire. Volunteers start spinning incredible tales about different countries, discussing cultural peculiarities and idiosyncrasies. That's when the interpreter has to work especially hard, trying to follow all conversations and translate them into different languages. Yesterday everyone celebrated the American Independence Day, and international flags, made by the volunteers especially for this holiday, are still decorating the camp site. Once again no one wants to say good night and split up until next morning. The only consolation is that tomorrow is a new day; it's hard to believe that it is day number six of the project already. Tomorrow is a holiday and the group is leaving for a two-day hiking trip. But this is a different story
