“The truth is that a state-of-the-art STEAM center at 950m is not something you will easily find in a Greek village,” says Haris Vasilakos, one of the young people who decided to start a new life in the village from scratch, APE -MPE.

After studying classical literature at EKPA, earning a degree in harmony and od, as well as a master’s degree in public administration, Haris went to the mountains and became responsible for the programs and activities for the revival of Vamvakus in Parnonas. The abbreviation “STEAM” comes from the English words “science”, “technology”, “engineering”, “art” and “mathematics”. But aren’t the countryside and high technology “opposite roles”?

“In a time when everything is evolving at a rapid pace, in a world of rapid change and unimaginably fast transfer of information, we have no way to think conventionally. Robotics, 3D printing, virtual reality and new technologies in general are no longer the future, but the present,” Haris explains. “Perhaps there is a stereotype that the countryside and its inhabitants are one step behind in terms of science and technology, but for this reason we must plan for tomorrow and think outside the box,” he adds.

The idea to create the Vamvakos workshop belongs to the President of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Andreas Drakopoulos, “who, thanks to the philosophy of “think globally, act locally”, has opened new paths for us and multiplied our initial thoughts about the work of the school as a multi-purpose center of activity,” notes the 38-year-old a man who now also works as a radio producer.

As part of its winter activity program, the lab develops 3D virtual reality worlds and Electron in Action science programs that introduce children and families to the concepts of electric charge and electricity.

Vamvakou is also a meeting point for gamers, as its lab has “all your favorite PC games like League of Legends, Player Unknown Battlegrounds, Minecraft, Dota 2 and Roblox available in the PC lab for endless play at 950 meters high.” !”.

But also through chemical experiments, visitors can produce their own “clean, healthy, economical, ecological and sustainable traditional village soap.”

“Therefore, in the village of Parnonas there is a place of virtual reality, electrons in action have a raison d’etre, high speeds of the Internet now play a fundamental role, which opens up new opportunities for remote work, for digital nomads and for a new and modern way of life away from urban centers,” — Harris notes.

Vamvakou and its activities are especially focused on children, with educational programs, film screenings, and activities being implemented as part of the village revitalization initiative. “A long time ago, our life in the village” is the name of one of the events that, through folklore, the revival of customs and local traditions, an empirical approach, the telling of folk tales and legends, traditional games, dances and constructions, introduces children to a different reality than that , which they know, but also familiar.

“The January moon is like a pearl,” say the farmers who meet with the weavers of Vamvakous and sing and tell tales and legends from the past together, and also, using the inclusion of the school library in the National Library Network, the Vamvakous team began to implement the educational programs of the National Library of Greece (NBL).

As Haris Vasilakos emphasizes, the village reconstruction team believes that “all programs are educational and recreational in nature and function beyond raising the child.” The main priority is to “complement the thinking of a young person, offer something more than his personality, stimulate his imagination and, of course, give him the opportunity through many programs to get to know our place. When leaving, he should take images with him that will motivate him to return to Wamvaku – why not imagine yourself at some point in the village. Also, you should know that the biggest fans of Vamvakus are the children themselves, and this makes us especially happy.”

In the activities of Vamvakus, there could not have been an experience of nature. The group plans to say goodbye in January, “guided by theatrical play, movement, improvisation, relaxing music and even silence, to discover the forest in the middle of winter” and “successful musical evenings at Voureiko cafe-restaurant continue, with a tribute to Vassilis Tsitsanis, as well as popular Folk Routes and Rebetika Routes.

More information is available at www.vamvakourevival.org.

Source: RES-IPE