Our last days in Latvia took us through different kind of emotions which has been driving us throughout the time of Action for Europe and with thoughts about future. After Midsummer's Night we still spent couple of days in my countryside, spending evenings in candle lights and evaluating our teamwork, our attitudes, sharing our life stories and recalling back our aims and visions about Action for Europe. It was very silent and lovely time, full of nice spirit and enjoyment of simple things. I felt like being together with real friends after real challenges in our inner and outer journey, and it was also a very special time for me, being togeheter with some of my friends with whom I have shared living somewhere on the other side of the World, here in Livonian Coast - in the place which is the most important in my life..
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Every end is new beginning...
Our last days in Latvia took us through different kind of emotions which has been driving us throughout the time of Action for Europe and with thoughts about future. After Midsummer's Night we still spent couple of days in my countryside, spending evenings in candle lights and evaluating our teamwork, our attitudes, sharing our life stories and recalling back our aims and visions about Action for Europe. It was very silent and lovely time, full of nice spirit and enjoyment of simple things. I felt like being together with real friends after real challenges in our inner and outer journey, and it was also a very special time for me, being togeheter with some of my friends with whom I have shared living somewhere on the other side of the World, here in Livonian Coast - in the place which is the most important in my life..
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Our last destination
Another meeting in Parliament was with leader of one of leading political parties Krišjānis Kariņš and it was like the door was closed for the rest of the world and especially for the paparazzi!!! It was a time of sharing and I felt that this conversation was based on a human level. This means it was not political minded, or that both of us had to be careful what we should or shouldn’t say. What I gained from this meeting was to jump into the life adventures, it’s so easy to just go and let it all happen while if you take sometimes a step aside and not follow the mainstream, amazing things can happen. Of course there will be difficulties and challenges on the road but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t jump! He shared about his background and that he grew up as a Latvian in the
Also Latvian team has arranged a Fact Hunting during our days in
One of Latvian team members Sandra, who have been involved in F4F visiting course, school program in
Meeting in Latvian office of Transparency International has been an opportunity to meet professor Rasma Kārkliņš who is involved in corruption studies for many years and published a few books on this subject.
Another afternoon we had a time with Kaspars Goba – artist, journalist and good man (how some of our friends described him). 12 years ago, just a few years after Latvia gained independence he started to work in a freethinkers magazine “Rigas Laiks” where all his mates “also hated journalism” as he said with a mischievous smile. “Normally reporter goes to a place of event, picks the opinion of those who are most visibly involved and makes the news out of it. I like to live for a while with a situation, problem or event and to find out all it’s realities, to see it from “inside”. Kaspars have been writing and also in recent years making a movies about different social and environmental processes. “government wanted to allow to make a shipping port in very unique place in
We have been invited by Sandra to her apartment where a lot of people connected with IofC and just friends came together to have make-new-friends-party. Sandra has been involved at IofC for a number of years participating in at Foundation for Freedom course and also has been involved on School Program in
Chai, Chai, chai...... it was a year ago that I had real Indian chai......and now Inese Voika offered us a cup of real Indian chai at her place together with her children. After different meetings in
And now Action for
Marielle talked about Midsummer’s Night: “In The Netherlands I never celebrated the longest day while my father have been always mentioned it. Now I had the opportunity to discover the Latvian traditions together with my Dutch friends, Christian, Christina and Koosje. On Friday the 22nd of June we arrived at Ulla's countryside place, an very idyllic place in the forest near the sea. It were actually three spectacular nights with a big bonfire, a lot of Ulla's friends, we were making crowns, jumping over the bonfire, telling stories, swimming in the sea and enjoying each others company. One tradition I did was staying awake the whole night and seeing the sun rise from the sea on the 24th of June. If you don’t see the sun that morning than the Latvians say you will sleep the whole year. I hope now I have got enough energy to stay awake and have a year full of great challenges and adventures I am ready to jump!”
And now we are almost on the finish line – moving from Miķeļbāka to
Marielle, Ilze and Kostya
Thursday, June 21, 2007
UK
Action for Life 3 small reunion:)
In the evening we had an opportunity to meet people from IofC in
It turned out to be not so scary:) That was a nice day with a possibility to meet old friends and to get to know new, to talk to people and to listen to them.
In Greenwich
Across the world's divides:)
Being in
Lena
Friday, June 15, 2007
Some notes from Holland
Ilze, Zukhera (girl from New-York, that I was sharing a room with) and me, we took a bicycles and went to a beach. That was a nice road:smell of the sea, fresh grass and flowers, wet soil, sounds of laughter and bell, ringing on Ilze's bicycle... I suddenly understood that I wasn't cycling since my childhood. I almost forget this feeling of wind on my face and freedom inside me, and willingness to find something new and special on every corner.
There I understood how it is importamt to live on a moment, to enjoy it and feel life at full. It was a simple thought, but very important for me. :)
Vika.
the land of million channels
Weekend was a real treat - we had a two days spiritual camp in Schoorl - in conference campus just a few kilometres from the sea. One could definately feel connected to the nature there! But not only beautiful surrondings we experienced there. Action For Europe group were joined by people from Dutch team and also by Bhavesh Patel (UK) and John Freebury (Canada, Moldova). Bhav runned a Open Space Tecnology learning workshop, giving us an insight how to find solutions in complex situations, based on idea that the right idea at the right moment amongst the right people will arrise.
The toppic of this workshop was on Inspiration and even if the main idea was to have an insight on how the Open Space technonogy really works, all of us seemed to be very inspired by the process, by each other, by nature ...inspiration was welcomed and it came!
On Sunday evening we finally met Marielle' s family in their home - friendly chatting and enjoying meal (Marielle' sfather prepared unbelievably delicious soup for us) and company of each other, singing and laughing, sharing and discussing Open Space experience and many, many other issues.
Most of us are not used to do this anymore. Guess what?!?! After good weekend Monday morning we went to university. Dr. Wim Blauw in Erasmus University Rotterdam shared his life experience being a sociologist and professor to many foreign students as well as different kinds of a leadership. But Monday evening we had a possibility to meet up IofC Netherlands friends ans members in a Open house meeting in Amaliastraat office. Amazing to see people we have met before in Caux and other places and to see them in their own country, among their mates and also family members! We were sharing our vision, challenges and wishes. And hopes as well!
Another insipring event was meeting silverschmith Jan Nouhuys and his family in Netherlands silvertown Schoonven - he shared with us his life story and story of his life's passion - making beauty out of silver.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Next stop - Norway
Opening our eyes next morning we found that we brought with us a sunny weather. This Sunday AfE team had an wonderful opportunity to take part at barbecue party . Amazing! People all ages from families involved in MRA/IofC came together playing games, talking, eating a hundred (or a little bit less) kinds of cakes.
At the evening we had an opportunity to meet two friends Leif Hovelsen and Jens J.Wilhelmsen who shared with us a pieces of their life’s stories. They have experienced a life full of adventures and personal struggles and gave us an inspired examples of challenges they faced.
Raising up next morning we went to the heart of Norway democracy – Norwegian Parliament. There we spent some time looking inside parliamentary house and also had an hour conversation with deputy leader of Christian Democratic Party Mr. Knut Arild Hareide, former minister of environment. On the meeting AfE team presented themselves and also Mr. Hareide shared his experience of making decisions to be involved in political life.
Next stop of our Oslo adventure was a Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute where we meet a three experts who work at the field of Eastern Europe studies providing Norwegian society an update analysis what happens in this very shaky part of Europe. Also we discussed the issue of objectivity in the field of analyse and expertise.
One of our hosts Gudrun introduced us with work she is doing – together we visited the Oslo City Mission where drug addicts and homeless people could receive a support in difficult life situations.
Following visit to the Central Jamaa Mosque in Oslo had been for some of us a first visit to such a place. Meeting with Imam gave us a piece of the intercultural picture of modern Norway.
In the evening in Open meeting in Oslo IofC house was a chance for AfE group to share challenges and hopes they face on their lives as well their societies face nowadays. A man from the Norwegian business community mentioned afterward that he has started to believe that eastern Europeans could give to the West a new spiritual impetus for growing.
On Tuesday “Action for Europe” team had a possibility to meet young Norwegians, one of our hosts - Camilla’s students at Assiden college in Drammen. “It’s a exiting and meantime a bit unknown moment when two important parts of my life meets each other –my students, my job I really feel a passion for and my IofC friends. They are studying arts and media and they are the ones as well who after some years will shape our worldviews through media!”
Camilas husband Axel welcomed us in an art-galery where he works and introduced with a bits and pieces of Norway art, but afterwards Camilla and Axel invited us into their house to celebrate Marielle’s birthday! We enjoyed a lot playing football, chatting, having strawberries, getting to know our hosts and their friends, having a discussions about what really matters to us as individuals and meantime as a part of society!
Wednesday Abi and Herman Qvam’s invited us to their home based near As town and offered wonderful national dish (don’t remember a name but sweet and using as a starter). Abi and Herman told a story how they have started to be involved at MRA\IofC receiving a big international delegations in their house what was quit challenged for them.
Then we went to the University of Environment and Bioscience and had a chance to look at the tractor which had been developed by Herman and few his colleges due to use it in development countries. The special thing about this tractor is that it could be constructed very easy even from used components and could use organic based fuel. “The seed of this idea was MRA meeting 25 years ago when I had a dinner together with people who were talking about positive change and I questioned myself “What can I do?””. Herman and his friends have worked on this initiative without any support of government, nevertheless this invention received a prize in World Bank’s competition Global Development Marketplace 2006.
Same evening together with Norwegian team we discussed a possible continuation of AfE project as well as different ways of European IofC community common development.
Next day we had a chance to participate on the weekly gathering of Oslo Initiatives of change community meeting where people usually shared their quite time insights and thoughts.
Ilze and Kostya
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Karlstad
That was the evening when we saw clearly that one never knows when and where he will meet old friends! The dinner was cooked by Emmanuel Mutisya from Kenya that we all met in Caux and his friend Steven that Mariella met in Kenya during her African Action for Life outreach. That was wonderful evening when we shared our stories and heard the life story of Ove Jensen which was the most inspiring.
And as you may imagine, Jambo song was very popular that evening!
Next day we started from visiting Karlstad University where we had conversation with students, teachers and just friends.
From there we went to the Gejersskolan School where we met some students that were in Panchgani this winter. We were very much curious to know their impression from the place that means so much to us!
Emmanuel took us to his store where he sales African handicrafts. Great place, beautiful things, good spirit!
We were invited to the dinner to Leif and Christina Lindstrom house, where we enjoyed an amazing soup, which all the Ukrainians who used to eat soup almost every day were so much missing!
The last meeting we had was meeting with youth in Pentecostal church Karlstad Pingstkyrka. We attended service there, after which we had an opportunity to talk to church youth and share our experience.
That was the last day in Sweden – next day we went to Norway, where we are staying at the moment.
So our blog is to be continued!
Lena