SWAP SHOP IN CZESTOCHOWA
Today’s consumption society is trying to convince us that it’s fun to go shopping, grab unnecessary things, waste our money and then throw away our old stuff. It seems we are less and less conscious about the impact that overproduction is having in our planet (deplorable working conditions, poverty, exploitation of natural resources…) but there are alternatives and some of them are happening now in Czestochowa. Want to know more?
Stowarzyszenie CZ-Art in Czestochowa has a group of young volunteers from Spain and Turkey that, this year, are trying to raise awareness amongst the citizens about the way we consume and the effects that this is having in our society. Youth for Earth project is proposing an alternative for shopping by the name of “Swap Shop”, an exchange market where no money is accepted.
What makes the Swap Shop a special marketplace it’s the opportunity to estimate the value of any item yourself. Visitors can exchange their own things (clothes, toys, books, furniture…) or share their time and knowledge with others. So it’s not necessary to bring anything, there are also other possibilities:
1. Trading time: the visitor can buy time and get somebody to teach him/her how to make, for instance, a wallet from an empty tetra pack. But time might not be only used for a workshop, someone might want to make sandwiches for others, help with transportation or cleaning the place afterwards.
2. Sharing knowledge: people can also record video messages and share useful tips, academic theories, recipes, jokes and shocking facts, practical demonstrations of cool dance steps or how to tie a tie. Paying with knowledge means recording a message in front of a video booth with camera.
As you can see, there are many options in this market and all of them are useful. Volunteers guarantee that Swap Shop is much more fun than going inside a shopping mall because in this market you can meet people from your neighbourhood, you can talk, share and enjoy a nice afternoon together in a sustainable and eco-friendly way. You can start creating community networks and who knows how many interesting ideas may come from this exchange?
If you want to participate or organize one swap shop in your neighbourhood, you can contact us in [email protected]. In addition to this, we can give you more information about it and tell you when and where the new exchange market is going to take place.
Welcome to Czestochowa’s Swap Shop!