Excuses to travel to countries that I never had even dreamed of seeing.
I'm just back from a Christmas trip to Hungary and Bosnia to visit (some of) the volunteers out that way. It was amazing. I can't stop gushing about the trip, but the most interesting comment about my holiday came in the form of a one liner. I was back at my project for the first time since the holidays, so people were indulging me and my excitement and letting me chat away about it. I told them about Budapest and the baths and the food and I told them about Sarajevo and the mosques and the food. And then I told them about Mostar; I think I told them about the train ride there and how astoundingly beautiful it was, and the quaint old town, and the front line. I explained that the city is pretty much divided by the river: Croats on one side, Bosniaks on the other, with little to no crossing or mixing. My coworker said, "felt like home, huh?"
I noticed that, too, while I was there. In Mostar and in Belfast there's a line, one is water, cutting through a city, deep enough for diving, the other is a wall, made higher every few years and landscaped as a lasting feature of the community. Each of the sides has their own places of worship and football teams to cheer on, thoughts about who the "other" is and a deep pride in who they, themselves, are. And both of the cities also have hope. There are people, local and international, working for change, believing that unified cities can be even more beautiful than cities divided. It makes me feel like a very, very small piece of a HUGE jigsaw puzzle, and it's encouraging to see and learn from the other small pieces around the world.
08 January 2009
10 December 2008
Ajvar for Everyone
I visited all the Balkan + Budapest BVSers in the past 2 weeks and we gathered in Novi Sad, Serbia, in the OIKOS center for our annual Thanksgiving regional weekend retreat. Here's proof ... also of Rachael's addiction to ajvar!Cheers,
Kristin
02 September 2008
Memories
While at the BVS Europe retreat in Berlin this past week, I heard for the first time about the death of a long time Quaker Cottage "teen group" staff worker. I met John while volunteering for a summer at Quaker Cottage. (I have relatives in Northern Ireland and found QC on google-- it was actually through Quaker Cottage that I heard about BVS rather than the other way around! Long term BVS volunteers at the time told me about the BVS Balkans placements; I'm now in Mostar through BVS.)
Anyway, I had fallen out of touch with the people at Quakers and thus it was only this past week that I heard about John's death this winter. He had left his job at Quakers with the dream of moving to Latin America. I remember bus runs (to pick up kids) with conversations about his dream of doing ecological work in Latin America, learning Spanish and being in a new culture. Sadly, he didn't live to carry out those dreams, but he will be remembered by all who knew him as a warm, wise and witty man with an amazing gift for connecting with teens. The summer I worked with him, I wrote down things he said (to me or to the teens) in my journal to record what I was learning from him. I wanted to write some of them down here as a tribute to John.
Ya ever met a ragin' hippie? That's me! It's my world and I can't have people messing it up. That rubbish you threw out window just made your community look a wee bit worse.
If you can get more than a syllable out of a teenager, that's a victory.
Stolen any cars? Done any drugs lately? (That's what I always say to teenagers I haven'tseen in a while!)
You're going to come out of that movie ['when the wind shakes the barley'] hating the English, but don't worry. We all do.
No fighting. Sort it out like.
Have an opinion, and be prepared to defend it. You need to challenge them. Ask open-ended questions-- who what when where. If a kid's not self confident, he won't be able to justify himself in response to a "why?" question because he'll assume the adult's right.
I'd rather eat my legs!
Anyway, I had fallen out of touch with the people at Quakers and thus it was only this past week that I heard about John's death this winter. He had left his job at Quakers with the dream of moving to Latin America. I remember bus runs (to pick up kids) with conversations about his dream of doing ecological work in Latin America, learning Spanish and being in a new culture. Sadly, he didn't live to carry out those dreams, but he will be remembered by all who knew him as a warm, wise and witty man with an amazing gift for connecting with teens. The summer I worked with him, I wrote down things he said (to me or to the teens) in my journal to record what I was learning from him. I wanted to write some of them down here as a tribute to John.
Ya ever met a ragin' hippie? That's me! It's my world and I can't have people messing it up. That rubbish you threw out window just made your community look a wee bit worse.
If you can get more than a syllable out of a teenager, that's a victory.
Stolen any cars? Done any drugs lately? (That's what I always say to teenagers I haven'tseen in a while!)
You're going to come out of that movie ['when the wind shakes the barley'] hating the English, but don't worry. We all do.
No fighting. Sort it out like.
Have an opinion, and be prepared to defend it. You need to challenge them. Ask open-ended questions-- who what when where. If a kid's not self confident, he won't be able to justify himself in response to a "why?" question because he'll assume the adult's right.
I'd rather eat my legs!
01 September 2008
Hmm, whatever could be confusing about a BVS retreat in Europe, Solomon??
...
Here's a photo from the week in Berlin, 17-23 August.
...
I just spent the weekend looking at almost 20 years of (real, old-fashioned) slides of European BVSers and projects... To see my results (270 so far!) come to the 60th BVS anniversary in Maryland the last weekend in September.
26 August 2008
10 June 2008
Life and whatnot
Well Hello,
I've been meaning to post on the blog for some time. So here goes.
Last week marked my, and many other's, 7 month celebration of being in N. Ireland. Time, as the old adage goes, sure does fly when you're having fun. So far my BVS time has been great. The conventional BVS wisdom is that the volunteer will learn and change more than the environment in which they are placed. It's true.
What have I done with my time in Northern Ireland? I've been to prison--through work--and heard stories of Ex-British Soldiers and a Republican(Hard-line Catholic) becoming friends and act in a drama together. I've seen Noble Laureate, John Hume, speak and see him walking around town. I saw former IRA-man, turned politician, Martin McGuinness, Deputy First-minister (equivalent of NI deputy prime-minister) speak. I've learned how to spell words correctly that Americans habitually misspell: globalise, neighbourhood, defence and the list goes on. I've seen transformation. I've seen people not wanting to change in the slightest.
What is my favourite thing about NI? With out a doubt, the people. Life is slower. As my boss says, "I work to live. I don't live to work." Life is meant to be enjoyed. Relationships are much more important that productivity (yet it is still crucial that there is a level of getting work done).
I've changed. I've grown. I sure have learned more in this seven months about the world, America and myself than I ever could have imagined. The life of a full-time volunteer is something that I am truly grateful to have experienced. BVS has truly ruined me for life. But I would never go back.
I've been meaning to post on the blog for some time. So here goes.
Last week marked my, and many other's, 7 month celebration of being in N. Ireland. Time, as the old adage goes, sure does fly when you're having fun. So far my BVS time has been great. The conventional BVS wisdom is that the volunteer will learn and change more than the environment in which they are placed. It's true.
What have I done with my time in Northern Ireland? I've been to prison--through work--and heard stories of Ex-British Soldiers and a Republican(Hard-line Catholic) becoming friends and act in a drama together. I've seen Noble Laureate, John Hume, speak and see him walking around town. I saw former IRA-man, turned politician, Martin McGuinness, Deputy First-minister (equivalent of NI deputy prime-minister) speak. I've learned how to spell words correctly that Americans habitually misspell: globalise, neighbourhood, defence and the list goes on. I've seen transformation. I've seen people not wanting to change in the slightest.
What is my favourite thing about NI? With out a doubt, the people. Life is slower. As my boss says, "I work to live. I don't live to work." Life is meant to be enjoyed. Relationships are much more important that productivity (yet it is still crucial that there is a level of getting work done).
I've changed. I've grown. I sure have learned more in this seven months about the world, America and myself than I ever could have imagined. The life of a full-time volunteer is something that I am truly grateful to have experienced. BVS has truly ruined me for life. But I would never go back.
26 April 2008
I just returned from two weeks and two days of project/volunteer visits in Northern Ireland and Ireland. The BVSers there and I retreated for a weekend at Corrymeela's Knocklayd house; the photo's the proof, I guess.
Last Sunday I heard on local radio in Belfast that that day (20 April) held two interesting anniversaries... The first was the 40th anniversary of MP Enoch Powell's infamous "Rivers of Blood" speech in 1968, in which he warned that rivers of blood would flow in the streets of the United Kingdom if laws were to continue allowing immigration from the Commonwealth; he was also opposed to new race relations' legislation. Quite a racist speech.
Ironically for us in BVS-Europe, Powell was the MP a few years later for an area of Northern Ireland in which one of our early BVS projects was located (Glebe House). With Powell's support, the BVSer there and BVSers in Northern Ireland thereafter were able to stay for a two-year term of service (instead of the usual 1-year-only for volunteers from the USA); this lasted from the 1980's until 2004. (We've been sending BVSers to N.Ireland since 1972. ) Then four years ago, UK Immigration rules tightened up and Enoch Powell's 2-year-BVS-legacy no longer sufficed for us.
But, I find it quite ironic that we got our privilege due to Mr Powell...
The second item on the 20th of April was the 400th anniversary of the 1608 licensing of the Bushmill's Whiskey Distillery, also in Northern Ireland. (No, we did not visit that during our retreat weekend! Not that I didn't suggest it...)
On that note... Cheers!
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