Black sheep

Am sitting in the office, 5 minutes after midnight, really happy that I managed the deadline =) No I am not the last minute applier. I just had so much to do, that I prioritized this way. Campaigns in Active are so far not a huge success, the member organisations have other things to deal with, but still, if we have time and energy to come up with some campaigns and apply for them, we can slowly but surely create a campaign culture in this organisation. Of course not to be stuborn and just run a campaign for a campaign. No no – I am thinking the other way around. I am thinking – what have our organisations in common, what are they dealing with, what can be the thing that will just enrich their current activities and bring the spirit of sharing the same ideals and goals?

I was thinking and thinking, believing that some idea would strike me in the end and it did! Inspired by the campaigns of IOGT-NTO that are clearly and in a very interesting and attractive way showing connection between alcohol consumption and violation of Human Rights, I created a campaign called “Black sheep”  - based on the same idea, but of course adjusted to the European standards. I even created an introduction picture:

Black sheep

So let´s see how it will work out. I enjoyed =)

Looking back – being thankful!

Switzerland – Germany – Göteborg. Those are the places where I have been these weeks. Everything went so fast that I did not have time to reflect or “digest” all the experience and impressions. Now I am sitting at UNF Congress, following the discussions and having lots of time for thinking.

IOGT Switzerland was an experience.  Sleeping on a farm, in straw but being at the Congress in a nice fancy place. Nice combination. My Switzerland experience is actually full of combinations – young and old together, local and international focus, serious discussions and fun. I was happy to see this organisation a bit closer. To understand it a bit better.

Germany was a nice holiday. Very short. Lots of kilometers spent in a car. But still energizing. Doing something what I do not do so often – watching a graduation party. Walking a bit around Berlin and Munster. Realizing that I understand more German than I thought. And almost no responsibilities.

And now UNF Congress. More than 100 delegates gathered for 5 days to discuss and plan and devote their time (it´s summer holiday here) and energy into making the world better. Congress sessions start at 9.00 food breaks are pretty short, now it´s 20.00 and the debates are still going on. People here gather during breaks to read through the papers, discuss them, prepare for the comming sessions. I like this culture. It makes me happy to see it! So eventhough I have not really a lot to do , I really enjoy following the whole process. It will give me strength for the days when I will sit in the office and feel very alone in what I do. I will try to remember that I am not. 

 I am very thankful for being able to see this!

What heading is needed to get the attention and action?

Those who understand slovak, can read here, that in Russia, alcohol kills 500 000 people per year(!!!!).  I call alcohol a weapon. The harms it causes are perceived the same way as harms summed up after a war. And still – alcohol is a present, is a symbol of celebration, is there to handle happiness or sorrow, is there to encourage and to calm down and it is a norm. Like there are no other ways.

There were news that passed the world some weeks ago about the war in Sri Lanka. The war started in 1983. That means 25 years of conflicts and  fighting. UN have counted that round 100 000 people died in this war.

How much does the formula give us applied on Russia? Alcohol in Russia for 25 years means 12 500 000 dead people. Silent catastrophy going on for years without getting any attention.

One has to go through different tests to be able to have a permission to own a gun. But one gun – with the most sensitive trigger is enjoying the free market in most of the countries. 

How can that happen?

Alcohol – where does it lead us

THANK YOU! A study in USA shows that prohibiting alcohol by parents at home does not neccesserly lead to a concept of “forbidden fruit”  and alcohol abuse by teenagers. The other way around – the more alcohol parents offer to their children – the more they drink and binge drink (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/ps-zta061009.php)

I am thankful for this study. I think it is important to make the adults aware of their impact. In spite of all the needs of independence and rebellion young people can experience, they are still influenced by the behaviour, opinions and attitudes of their parents and of adults in general.

Drinking alcohol at home to a Sunday meal having children at the table, celebrate birth of a child with alcohol, offer alcohol to children (just a little bit so they feel included) and the first thing to give the youngsters when they graduate a high school – just think a bit – what kind of message is that? What kind of behaviour does it foster? And what kind of consequences has that behaviuor?

No! Alcohol with all the harm it causes is not a thing to celebrate or to celebrate with. A new born child should not be welcome with a drug and a weapon. A freshly graduated student should not end up sleeping in a street or park next to own vommits. The town should not be full of beer cans after a friday evening. And a child should feel that s/he belongs to the family because of the way s/he is treated 24 hours a day 365 days a year and not because it gets to consume the same junk as the parents do.

Otherwise the celebration of life, success and relax becomes celebration of trash, violence, stupidity and lazyness and not rarely ends up in unconsciuos and death.

They say that youth is not responsible and reliable. But where is the responsibility of adults then when they pour alcohol into their childrens throats?

About sobriety

Intereseting enough but while I was zapping between TV this morning I got to hear two messages on two different channels related to sobriety. One was a study made where a person´s sleep after  alcohol consumption at a party was tested and compared to a sleep after an alcohol free night. The result: In spite of the feeling that one sleep very good after after a night  filled with alcohol, the body is very stressed, the puls is round 77 and one skips the dream phase of the sleep (pretty important part of our sleep). The same person but sober had puls 60 and dream phase. The conclusion – the body is very stressed which can then lead to increase weight, heart problems etc.

Another programme showed an intreview with Elton John who said that he was sober 15 years now  and it was the best 15 years of his life.

Was nice to hear!

Double moral – no moral!

When I need to raise the level of adrenaline or when I need some laugh of irony to spice up my day, I go and check the webpage of Brewers of Europe. Recently I have had much fun reading their Press release in which they are proud to be number one contributors to Alcohol and Health Forum with 1/3 of all commitments. The commitments are mostly connected to education programmes that are proved to be one of the most inefficient tools to reduce the harm caused by alcohol. But the top of the message was to read how they clap they shoulders for the Belgian Brewers project “Respect 16″ – related to reducing alcohol sales to minors. Yeah one could be happy for that initiative if one did not have TV and other media that around the same time inform that Carslberg (member of Brewers of Europe) literally encourages young people in Malawi to drink on friday evenings. An European could even think like: “Do not be hysteric here. Young people will either drink or not. They have information about alcohol. They know what the consequences are, they have heard about concepts like “drink smart” etc” BUT this drinking promotion is happening in Malawi, the country where this awareness does not exist and alcohol policy is an unknown term which means – open playground for Alcohol industry that does not need to respect any rules when it comes to sales and promotion. A baby could get alcohol. Brewers of Europe are in their press release celebrating their approach which is locally based and “not pan-European – one size fits all”  They tackle different issues in Slovakia than in Germany and they tackle the same issues by different methods adjusted to the culture/country. Carslbergs action in Malawi just confirms that – open market with no restrictions and no demands to reduce alcohol related harm – makes them to sell to everyone.  Their “concnern” about binge drinking of young people, drinking during pregnancy, at working place and concern about alcohol abuse stops at the borders of law.

I am so happy that I do not contribute to this mess.

And it´s launched =)

Active´s campaign Content matters is launched. If I could I would contribute =)

But you can so become a co-author of a book! =)

Time to express yourself!

The Easter holiday is over and I have to admit that I really enjoyed free days, sun, sports and long walks with Dante. It energized me more than I could expect.

I am back to work now, really full of enthusiasm to “work” with our issues.  There are several great things going on and I would like to mention two of them.

Content matters

 One is going to be launched hopefully tomorrow. It´s our camapaign called Content matters and it´s about stories and views of young people. More details on the webpage and in the coming Transit very soon =) For now I can publish at least a logo of the campaign. You will get to see this logo pretty much so I hope you like it =)

Another thing I really like is an initiative of European Commission and European Youth Forum (YFJ) “Have your say”. Young people writing blogs about health. Whatever comes to your mind! Write. I like it. It´s something Active people should not miss. If we miss this, then I wonder why Active exists. And it´s more than blogs. You can read more about it here

I really like how many possiblities there are now for young people to have an impact, to influence, to express their opinion and create a certain discourse.  And I just really hope that the youth I work for can see it as well.

After three weeks

Three really crazy weeks have past…week = work work work, weekend = Juvente skolen in Norway ( also work), week = work, work, work (the days at work are getting longer and longer), weekend = UNF international committee meeting, week = work, work, work (the days at work are really long  and end between 20.00 and 23.00. And then finally Sarajevo, including two different meetings and one seminar.

Sarajevo is very special. I always feel “deeper” when being there. It makes me think. I think about humanity. About time. About history and past and the fine line between them. I think about conflicts and peace. And about lifestyle. About happiness. It was wonderful to meet a friend I have not seen since summer. It was great to see the Active board together and in action. I also managed to write an article and prepare my lecture. I hope both the article and the lecture will give something to others. But even if not, I really enjoyed preparing them =) I got to move the parts of my brain where my psychology knowledge is stored =)

It´s been some time since I was to an Active seminar. I am thankful I got to be there with the participants, to see them coming, to see them getting know each other, to see them discussing, to see them learning from each other and taking care of each other. I really enjoyed the atmosphere. I enjoyed the place eventhough the first encounter was very cold – the building was not heated up. The people made it warm and unforgettable. It was not easy to leave. I would like to be there till the end of the seminar, to see how the application I had once written have changed into a real event, with real activities and real people.

It was not easy to leave, but it was nice to come home. To get some sleep finally. To spent time with Dante and to do nothing for a change =)

Young people are curious…

There is a statement resonating in my mind since the conference in Kuching. It´s not a revolutionary statement but I started reflecting it for the first time just recently in Malaysia. “Young people start drinking alcohol and use other drugs because they are curiuos” – named as one of the reasons and not the only one of course. So the curiosity so typical for youth is the way to drugs. I doubt that!!!

I am young and I am curious (a lot) and I have never ever had a single thought to use drugs and to find out how it is to get high. Another thing is that curiosity is not typical for the age of 15 - 26 (or however you want to define youth). There are people who are curious their whole life. Children are extremely curious. Old people are curious.

If it was for curiousity, young people would read more. Would try to invent more. It is not curiousity that leads them to drugs. I do not like the argument because it is just a very nice reason that takes away part of responsibility and free choice from youth. Yeah yeah it´s hormons that cause all the troubles.  It´s puberty that makes one so unstable. I do not think so. It´s lack of self-reflection. It´s lack of patience and it´s comfortability to take short-cuts in life. Young people as all the others want to belong and alcohol and drugs became socially approved cultural tools to do that. Young people have their problems as all the others and they got socially approved tools (alcohol and other drugs) to “solve” their problems by escaping.

By socially approved I mean those statements that we maybe do not like but generally take for truth. Young people are curious – so they try. Young people like experimenting so they try. And by these statements we give them excuses to take short cuts in life. Short cuts – that in many cases really shorten lives.

Young people are curious. Forbidden fruit tastes better. Youth needs to experiment. First of all I would take away – young and youth from those statements.  There are people who are curious and want to experiment and there are people who do not. And more important is the fact where people get to express their curiousity and the need to try new things. And maybe the most important is the fact how people solve their social and other problems and how they overcome their desperate need to be entertained but their low ability to find the ways to do that.