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Wells, Playgrounds and Abitanti: A Week of Local Work

After almost a year of working mainly on our own house and basic infrastructure, we finally started putting more energy into the real reason we came here: helping local people and supporting good ideas in the villages around us.

In the last two weeks, we carried out several actions connected to local sustainable activities: organic farming, green tourism, cultural heritage, natural heritage and simple practical help in the villages.

It feels good to finally move more of our strength outside our own renovation work. Building our base was necessary, but this is the part of the project that gives us the most motivation: working with local people and helping where there is a real need.

Cleaning waste near Hrvoji

We continued with a clean-up action near Hrvoji that we had started two weeks before.

Because waste collection was not always well organised in the past, there are still many illegal dumpsites in the area. Some of them have been there for years, hidden in the landscape, but still damaging the place.

In one morning, we cleaned another two cubic metres of waste.

It is not glamorous work. It is dirty, heavy and sometimes depressing, because you see how much rubbish people have left behind. But at the end of the morning, the place already looks different, and that makes the work worth it.

The old well near the church

Near the church in Hrvoji there is a beautiful old well.

In the last decades, it had filled with stones, mud and rubbish. We cleaned it so that, after a long time of standing unused, it can again serve as a source of clean water.

In Istria, water is precious. Because of that, this action was not only about cleaning an old object. It was also about protecting a local water source.

The well is part of the cultural heritage of the village, but it is also practical. That is the best kind of heritage: something beautiful that can still be used.

A terrace became a playground

After a week of working through thorns and overgrown vegetation, one of the terraces near the bell tower got a new purpose.

We arranged a volleyball and basketball area there.

It already brings a lot of joy to Hrvoji, and we hope there will be many village volleyball and basketball tournaments on it in the future.

Later we found out that local residents had already been planning to put a basketball court in the same place. That made us even happier, because it means we helped with something that was already wanted by the village.

On another terrace, we also prepared a children’s play area. Our wish is to create a bigger playground too, one that could attract children from the wider area.

Small villages need places where children and young people can meet. A playground or a sports area may seem simple, but it changes the feeling of a village.

Helping Istraterra think about local trips

We also helped a local company called Istraterra.

Istraterra is a sustainable tourism agency started by motivated young local people. They organise culinary and ethnological trips around Istria. Their idea is to preserve local traditions and at the same time help local people earn income by presenting those traditions to visitors.

We really like this idea.

If local heritage also creates work for local people, it has a much better chance of surviving in the long term.

One example of their trips is truffle hunting with a local expert, followed by a cooking workshop and dinner with truffles in his wine cellar.

With the volunteers, we organised a small workshop. We asked ourselves what we, as potential visitors to Istria, find most interesting in this region. Then we connected those ideas into possible trips that we ourselves would like to join.

We sent our thoughts to the Istraterra team. They offered to organise special trips for our volunteers, and we will support them by becoming their regular customers. When they need help, we will also gladly support them with volunteer work.

A day in Abitanti

Another action for local sustainable tourism happened this week in the nearby village of Abitanti.

One of the houses there is being saved from decay by its owner, Miro. He wants to turn it into a wine cellar and an apartment for visitors who are looking for peace and nature.

Miro came with his tractor and drove a group of our girls to Abitanti.

There, we cleaned the plaster from the walls and uncovered the 300-year-old stone structure of the old house.

It is always special to work on these old Istrian buildings. Under the plaster, you suddenly see the stone again, and the house feels more alive.

Miro showed us the village

After work, Miro showed us around Abitanti.

He told us how he has been trying for the last twenty years to preserve the village. Thanks also to his effort, Abitanti is slowly being restored.

Walking through the village with someone who really cares about it makes a big difference. You do not see only old houses. You see time, work, memories and plans.

In villages like Abitanti, nothing happens quickly. Every restored wall, every cleaned house and every person who comes back matters.

Meeting Martin

While walking through the village, we met the first young person who had moved back to Abitanti.

His name is Martin. He is 21 years old and is setting up a farm in the village.

He took us to his wine cellar and offered us his Refošk.

Martin also plans to bring back Boškarin, an almost extinct traditional cattle breed, to Abitanti. He asked us whether we could help him clear forest and expand the pasture for his cows.

We gladly promised to help.

This is exactly the kind of project we want to support: a young local person, a good idea, respect for the land, and practical work where volunteers can really be useful.

Lunch after work

Meanwhile, Miro’s wife prepared lunch.

After work, we ate excellent food until we were full. These moments are always one of the nicest parts of our work with local people.

We come to help, but we also receive a lot: food, stories, trust, local knowledge and a feeling that we are welcome.

Before we left, we promised Miro that he can count on our help in the future too.

More work is coming

We did a lot, and there is still a lot more to do.

Already this Sunday, we are helping a local organic farmer. Next Friday, we will help organise an ethnological literary evening in Hrvoji.

Local people know us better and better, and they are starting to count on us more.

That makes us happy, but it also gives us responsibility.

We want to support ideas that are good for the whole community: villages that want to live, young people who want to farm, old houses that can be restored, traditions that can create work, and places that can become useful again.

This week reminded us why Park Istra exists.

We are here to help where our hands can be useful.

And we are glad that, together with local people, we can slowly build a better future for these places.