Per

Name: Per

Age: 26

Participated in Leadership Seminar:
2006

How did you learn about work camps and MS?
I’ve known MS for quite some time, from friends.

What work camp experience do you have?
I participated in a workcamp in Western India. The project was to build a school. And I was a workcamp leader last summer at Aabenraa in Denmark. We built a bonfire hut for a Nature School that used it for outdoor activities. It was for sleeping at night in the forest.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?
It was a challenge.

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
Something beautiful happened on the camp: A love affair between an American and a Russian. Myself, I got a lot of muscles from the work. I was very athletic when I came home.

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
The usual issues that happen with intercultural groups and young people. The Koreans and Mexicans were *very* different. As well, we had an episode involving some young people drinking on a church’s premises. That caused some problems with the host.

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
Be well prepared, but don’t think you can plan for everything.

If you were going to hold a dinner party for five deities, which deities would you invite, and what kind of pasta would you serve?
Freja, definitely. She’s the Viking goddess of fertility. Odin and Poseidon. Phlegyas, who sails the river Styx. And God. Im not very good at cooking, so I would just order some pasta from somewhere.

The unique skill of Per being a leader:
I’m very good at mellowing out conflicts, and finding compromises and making them work.