Stuttgart  - Lounging on the beach is one way to spend the summer holidays. Too boring? How about restoring a river in France, organising a festival in Lithuania or working at an environmental centre in Belgium?

All of these activities, and many more, are possible at volunteer work camps. Short camps are held during the summer holidays, and even young people under 18 can take part.

"Work" means different things at different camps. "One of the things we do is help clubs or groups with work that they can't accomplish by themselves," said Ruediger Kappes of Stuttgart-based IBG, a non-profit organisation that promotes volunteerism and international understanding. Participants expand a youth meeting place, for example, or build a playground.

Some projects revolve around environmental protection, such as tree-planting or bird-watching. At other work camps, "camp" is the key word.

"There the main focus is on the international encounter," Kappes said. Almost all such camps have participants from different countries, and their tasks involve things like looking after children, the elderly or disabled persons.

"The exchange with others, not the work, is the most important thing," noted Sandra Porwollik of Rostock-based NIG, a non-profit organisation dedicated to understanding among youth of all nationalities.

But there is still work to be done: three to five hours a day at camps for teenagers under 18, and longer at camps for older youths.

Most of the organisations offering work camps are engaged in a wide variety of projects. The German organisations arrange the projects themselves, and the non-German ones in cooperation with partners. Some organisations specialise in a particular area of activity or kinds of work. The IBO, based in the German city of Worms, arranges construction camps only. Participants pitch in wherever help is needed to build something.

Summer camps by a German group called the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ASF) often involve the legacy of the Nazi era: work at memorial sites of former concentration camps, for example.

Accommodation at summer work camps varies. Participants sometimes live with host families and the languages spoken can vary.

Some camps consist of tents, with participants themselves largely responsible for organisation. "Independently organising the daily routine is one of the camp's purposes," remarked Sylva Ullmann of the Berlin office of the IJGD, which arranges work camps for young people in Germany and elsewhere.

The younger the participants, the greater the supervision they receive, said Ullmann: usually two supervisors at traditional work camps for young people over 18, and more in camps for teenagers.

No application process is required for acceptance by a summer work camp. Basically, anyone can take part. Sometimes, however, would-be participants are asked upon registration to submit a statement explaining why they are interested in the project they have chosen.

"It's important to be open, curious, and to have a minimum of independence," Kappes said.

Internet: www. traegerkonferenz. de/link. html; www. active- international. de; www. asf-ev. de; www. bauorden. de; www. ijgd. de (dpa)