Minister of Propaganda....

Our dear co-facilitator Nils Brøgger (vice chair of MS) is not really doing much preparation work these days... instead he is writing propaganda in the Danish newspapers. His contribution focusses on the Danish government's misuse of aid money (the Danish government have decided to spend money that has been promised to be spend on development assistance in poor countries to send home refugees from Iraq that have been based in a refugee camp in Denmark for the last 8-10 years).

For those interested, Nils can tell you a lot more about the subject.

We are proud of our Nils!!

Where have all the equations gone?

When I am not here at the seminar I am student of physics at the Niels Bohr Institute at University of Copenhagen. A few days before I went to Kalø I had an examination in Optics (the physics of light phenomena). To prepare for the exam me and friend "lectured" for each other. Every day for a week we would take turns in presenting some theory and we would discuss different aspects of the theory as we went along. Quite hard but very giving.

Here in Kalø we in facilitator group have had numerous of discussions, but in these discussions there is no "right" answer, at least not in same sense as in physics (and science). In these discussions there is no way of representing different theories and opinions with equations and symbols, it is all just words. And we never arrive at a simple answer (like when you are solving a physics problem, you end up with a simple expressions, or just simply a number)

So you could say, this is really a change in the intellectual environment for me. And like it....

Cheers,

Søren

PS. Bonus question: What does the above equation describes?

Thomas

Name: Thomas

Age: 29/30 (birthday the 5th of April, Red.)

Participated in Leadership Seminar:
2004 (participant), facilitator (2006).

What work camp experience do you have?
I have lead a workcamp in Tingbjerg in 2004, trying to give ethnic minority kids a positive relation to the adults. Last year I lead a camp in Iceland. It had two projects. Developing and assisting the work in a cultural festival and renovation of a public garden - in a small town of 400 people in North Iceland.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?

I find it a very effective tool of making a difference in the people’s life. Making social change on a mini scale. Personally I get a lot of feedback on my leaderships, so I learned a lot about myself and how I work with other people.

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
It’s a lot of fun. You meet people you would never meet in your everyday life, and expands your horizon. You get to appreciate the diversity of people, being forced to co-operate and appreciate people you wouldn’t choose to normally. This builds you as a person.

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
The biggest challenge is meeting people’s expectations. People have very different expectations that you need to negociate, to make a common understanding of what we are doing. Getting the skills to be able to listen to people’s motivations and to prevent conflicts. There have been challenging conflicts in both my workcamps concerning this.

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
First of all, Go for it! You’ll learn a lot from doing it. Focus a lot on what people’s expectations are. In the end you can cope with all challenges, and get through the most crazy things, I survived the two people from Ghana who left the camp overnight and never surfaced again, and the anarkistic Ameriacan woman who didn’t believe in leadership and challenged our authority.

If you could choose to be burried alive under a cross-road or had your head hacked off by a war axe, what would you choose?
To get my head cut off. Its a faster way to go. The other way would be a slow and painfull death.

Your unique skill of being a leader?
I guess I’m really good at paying attention and listening to people’s needs. On the other hand I am good at inspiring other people and motivating them for a common goal.

Søren

Name: Søren

Age: 24

Participated in Leadership Seminar: 2005

How did you learn about work camps and MS?
When my mother was young she went on a workcamp. So I know about MS and workcamps from her.

What work camp experience do you have?
Participated in workcamp in Wales 2002. We worked in a countryside park cutting down trees and clearing vegetation.
I was leading a workcamp in Denmark 2006 (together with Malthe). The project was to build the walls in a reconstruction of an iron age house.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?
Fun! But also sometimes frustrating. Fortunately, the posivite experiences outweigh the frustrations and problems. It was a very good experience.

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
The work was physically demanding so I gained muscles (but I lost them again now…). Besides that I learned a lot from leading a group of people. I also got some new friends – I am still in contact with a few of them.

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
Getting the group together as a social unit was challenging. Keeping up the motivation in the group was another challenge because at times the goal seemed far away, especially considering the phsysically hard work.
The practical issues, like ordering enough food etc. was another challenge for us. It can be hard to figure out how much 18 people eat.

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
YES!

If you could be stranded on a desert island with any type of fairy tale creature, which type would it be?
A mermaid!

Your unique skill of being a leader?
I know an awfully lot of games, especially name games…

Sanne

Name: Sanne Dahlbum

Age: 28

Participated in Leadership Seminar: 2006

What work camp experience do you have?
I was a camp leader in 2006 at Bornholm, Denmark, where we did a fair trade festival. We did all sorts of practical tasks, including building the major stage related to the annual Fair Trade Festival.

How did you experience and gain from being a work camp leader?
It was a different kind of a summer holiday.
I enjoyed meeting people from all the world and it was great to have people from different cultures working together.

I enjoyed putting the skills gained at the MS Leader Training Seminar into practice and I think I will use the skills learned in my future career in international development studies (Saving the earth and all the pandas). Being a camp leader increased my awareness of my personal strengths and limits.

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
During the hard work putting up the stage I found it difficult motivating the participants since some of them tended to consider the camp as a beach holiday.

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
I had doubts if able to lead a work camp, but by doing it I gained confidence and learned a lot from it!

How was it to have a co-leader who is deeply engaged in the national guard (Hjemmeværnet)?
It was not influencing our teamwork – put the push-ups in the morning weere a bit weird....


Things you didn’t know about Sanne:
I consider smoking an undervalued socializing skill that all leaders should adopt...

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.

Orsi

Name: Orsi (Petra Orsolya Padányi)

Age: 27

Participated in Leadership Seminar:
2005 (participant), 2006 (facilitator).

How did you learn about work camps and MS?
I studied in IPC in Elsinore in 2003 for 1 semester where I heard about MS, workcamps and the seminar from Nina.

What work camp experience do you have?
I was a leader in summer 2005 with Nils Eske, but never a participant. The camp was in a school with more than 30% immigrants (Somalis and Middle Eastern people). We had to make the school more colorful for the children with painting and decorations. The biggest issue was building a nature playground.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?
It’s great to work with people towards the same goal and it’s a success to make people enthusiastic about something you think is valuable to work for. At workcamps you meet people who share the same values and views about the needs of the world as yourself.

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
You always learn from others. I gained the experience that having a supporting co-leader is a treasure. I want to become a better co-leader.

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
The biggest challenge in my workcamp was coping with 14 girls and one guy who was afraid of them. We were sleeping in the same room all of us. The guy arrived late and said “OH! I’m going to sleep together with 15 girls! Can I sleep together with Niels Eske instead??” It was a challenge as well to do physical work with 15 girls.

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
Luck always joins the brave ones.

What kind of tree would you place in the yard of an enchanted bungalow?
An old Cherry tree

The unique skill of Orsi being a leader:
I am an example that you don’t need any unique skills to be a leader.

Nina

Name: Nina

Age: 24

Participated in Leadership Seminar: in 2004 (participant) and as facilitator in 2005-2007

How did you learn about work camps and MS?
I always travelled a lot since I was a teenager, e.g. in “language school” and a Rotary stay. I wanted to try something else and my mom told me about workcamps. After my first workcamp I met a girl in my taek-wondo club that told me about the Leader Training Seminar and that I really should try it. So I did.

What work camp experience do you have?
Partipating in a work camp in Liuthania 2000, working with kids. Particpated in a workcamp 10 days in Japan 2005, the work was to harvest organic vegetables.
Leader of a workcamp in Denmark 2006. The project was to build a picnic cottage in a recreative area.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?
Challenging! And fun! I learned a lot about myself from the “sparring” with my co-leader. I also learned a lot from taking part in the building project, “I am almost a carpenter now”. Surprising how different kind of people you meet in a work camp.

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
A great friendship with my co-leader (Per, who is also facilitator here at the ILTS07). I got experience with my own abilities as leader and how to act in different problematic situations which is useful for me since I am studying to become a schoolteacher. Besides that, it is really cool to have the power to tell other people to clean the toilets and that kind of tasks…. (laughs)

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
Normally I am a tolerant person but being together in the same place with a small group of 14 people was challenging for my tolerance. It was challenging and tough to be together with a bunch of very different people and at the same time being responsible for we finished the building project and that the social life of the group was ok.


Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
Just do it! Do not be afraid to be underqualified and have trust in your self. Remember to use your co-leader as a “sparring partner” and remember you are not alone, but also have a co-leader. And remember to have fun!

How do you like the colour green?
It is the colour of hope, (she says while she is wearing a green shirt).

Things you didn’t know about Nina:
She is faster than anybody else at eating “lakrids” shoelaces...

Nils E

Name: Nils Eske

Age: 28 (turns 29 the 9th of April!!!, Red.)

Participated in Leadership Seminar: 2005

How do you learn about work camps and MS?
A girl I know asked if I would go with her to a work camp in South Korea in 2004. The following year one of my friends told me about the Leadertraining Seminar and we both went there.

What work camp experience do you have?
I was particapating in a workcamp in South Korea in 2004, we were teaching some local children.
In 2005 I was the leader of workcamp here in Denmark, in a small town near Aalborg. The project was to build a playground at a local school together with the school children. Another part of the project was to decorate the school and make it more colourful.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?
It was a good experience! It was challenging to bring together a group of people and making them act as a team towards a common goal.

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
Personally it was satisfying that the camp went well. It showed me that I am able to cope with a task like this. Meeting and working together with the local people was also a grat experience.
Besides that I got a good friendship with my co-leader (Orsi).

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
To get the people together in a well working group, and to ensure that all participants were part of the group. To make sure that work was being done.
Also the practical tasks as taking care of visas, buying foods in the correct amounts etc. were sometimes challenging.

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
Consider it as a good experience. Leading a work camp has to be fun!
Be prepared that you will be “on stage” and involved a lot.

What do you think about the colour green?
It is good for the eyes.

The unique skill of Nils Eske being a leader:
Best farmer at salsadancing on the eastern coast of Jutland!

Brøgger

Name: Nils Brøgger Jakobsen

Age: 27½

Participated in MS Leadership Seminar: 2004

What work camp experience do you have?
Oh, let me see.... way back when I was still young, between 2nd and 3rd year in highschool... that must have been in... let me see, 1999, I participated in a work camp in Brighton, England. This work camp was about building an ecological garden for some local hippies, but most of the time was spent on digging a pond by which they could sit and meditate. It was however great fun!
I was a work camp leader for the first time during summer 2004 after having participated in the MS Leadership Seminar the same year. After that I have been a work camp leader in two more camps in Denmark. All the camps have been a great succes. Especially my last camp during summer 2006, called “The Search for the Danish Mentality”, was an unforgetable experience. The idea was to invite 13 young people from all over the world to come to Denmark to search for the Danish mentality. The method for this was to meet with Danish people in their everyday life. The participants were hitchhiking all the way around Denmark and stayed at local families who welcomed us.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?
It was a positive experience meeting young people from very different countries and it was a great feeling that the project was appreciated by the local people. The task for the work camp was to build up a play ground in a kindergarten in Silkeborg, Denmark.

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
The work camp “The Search for the Danish Mentality” gave a lot of media attention in the Danish media and it was a very big task to coordinate all the participants and keeping track of where they were going around Denmark. We were in national television 5 times and more than 40 articles were written about the camp in various newspapers. I gained a lot of organizational skills and planning skills. It was very important that the participants were able to act independendly. To be able to this they needed to have a strong sense of ownership of the project.

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
It was hard at times, but the positive experiences overshadowed the hard work. The camp also gave me an opportunity to look at my own country and the Danish people through the eyes of the participants.

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
You can lead a workcamp already established, but you can also build one up yourself or in cooperation with other people. Get into the web of youth training projects in Europe (www.salto-youth.net). Don’t be afraid to be a work camp leader, you can do it!!

From which country was the most weird participant at you work camp?
My favourite participant was the purely french speaking young guy who came to the work camp without knowing any English at all and had written his application and motivation for participating in the camp by the use of Babelfish. The only reason for going on the work camp was to meet Danish girls, but unfortunately he twisted his ankle on the 2nd day of the camp – it did not bring along any sympathy love affair.

The unique skill of Nils being a leader:
Attracting media attention with his charm and smile!

Morten

Name: Morten

Age: 28

Participated in Leader Training Seminar: 2000

How did you learn about work camps and MS?
My uncle worked a whole life for MS and my mom was at a workcamp in Belfast when she was young. And my grandmother made a memory card game for MS about Denmark and Turkey.

What workcamp experience do you have?
Japan 1999, various camps in the Balkan countries incl. travelguide in Sarajevo. And I have administrated and developed workcamps in MS and UCZ (Croatia) and World4U (Russia) for several years.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?
Infections. Funnier than it sounds....

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
Contamination, debt and friends in far off places.

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
None. I ran away from every challenge.

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
“The sanest day I’m mad/Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

What song would you sing to a winged demon who had just arrived in this dimension during a rip in the fabric of space-time?
Space Oddity, Like a Virgin and Bohemian Rhapsody – as a medley of course!

The unique skill of Morten being a leader:
He sings on the tables.

Michala

Name: Michala

Age: 30

Participated in Leadership Seminar: 2006.
The seminar gave me a lot of tools and motivation to do a workcamp. I’m using them right now, as I’m organizing a workcamp for this summer in Christiania, Denmark. And I’m very positive towards it, as I can see that you work camp people keep coming back for more.

How did you learn about work camps and MS?
A good friend of mine was leading a workcamp in Montenegro. He told me about workcamps.

What work camp experience do you have?
I don’t have any yet, that’s for this summer… So far I have been doing other kinds of volunteer work. I worked in a Maya indigenious organization in Guatemala. It’s an anti-racist organization that works for the rights of indegenous people. Some of my Mayan co-workers came to Denmark for two weeks on a cultural exchange. I’ve also worked with street children in Ecuador. We tried to get them home early so we could help them study (and give them a meal). And in the weekends we took them out of the city so they could see the countryside.

How do you imagine it would be being a work camp leader?
Well, when leading a work camp you get the responsibility of making it happen. And it’s very motivating for me to get such free limits. I’m not used to that in my volunteer work. It’s great to get a lot of free space to get the best out of the participants.
MS’ focus on democracy interests me as well. So it will be great to make an MS project in Christiania which is extremely focused on democracy.

If a tree falls in the forest and claps one hand, what colour is the sound that is produced?
Orange, for sure. I can actually see it, even though it makes absolutely no sense.

Your unique skill of of being leader?
See, hear and understand the participants...

Markus

Name: Markus Petz

Age: 32














Markus Petz has been active in the past in several sustainability organizations.

His current work priorities include:

- Peace building in troubled regions; Cyprus, Palestine, Iran, Northern Ireland, the Balkan and other regional conflicts.
- Rural Culture and particularly with the organization Global Villages.
- Inter-religious dialogue with a focus on Abrahamist and Pagan religions.
- Capacity building of NGOs and community structures.
- Altermondialization and how this can be affected in a propositional rather than an oppositional way
- Creating new spaces and enlarging border lands through House on the Borderland. House on the Borderland is a source of ideas and methods for transforming static situations into fluidity to build new common postions.

More about Markus’ thoughts: http://www.ms.lt/?thinker=Markus_Petz

Malthe

Name: Malthe

Age: 33

Participated in Leadership Seminar: 2006

How did you learn about work camps and MS?
Ann-Sofi dragged me into this, and now I can’t get out!

What work camp experience do you have?
Leader of Vingsted, summer 2006. The project was to build clay walls for an iron house. We only used iron age tools. The house was part of the Vejle iron age historical environment, which is used for research on the iron age, and for teaching.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?
It was amazing to see the group dynamics in action. And how people’s reactions to you change when you have a “leader” tag on your forehead. I was also surprised to see the huge effect of the icebreaking games.

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
The realization that a leader needs to be very patient sometimes, which is not my strong side (cough). And some good stories to tell in the cold winter nights.

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
The work was physically hard and monotonous and it was 35 degrees warm. Keeping people motivated was an issue.

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
Sleep more than 4 hours a night. And if you don’t, don’t walk through a forest alone.

If you were to be stranded on a planet inhabited by giant lobster-like beings, and could only bring one type of fruit, what type would you bring?
Bananas. I think you can live longer on them. Or coconuts, to kill the lobster and eat them instead.

The unique skill of Malthe being a leader?
Now, are you running out of questions now?

Frej

Name: Frej

Age: 28

Participated in Leadership Seminar:
2005 (participant), 2006 (facilitator).

How did you learn about work camps and MS?
Through Thomas and friends from my studies. Thomas had participated in a workcamp and convinced me to join the cause.

What work camp experience do you have?
I led a workcamp in the summer 2005. It’s the Iron Age Camp at Næsby.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?
Fun and challenging.

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
You get to learn a lot about yourself by being put into a social position out of your normal experience.

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
Plenty... There’s lots of challenges being a work camp leader. One is that you have to coordinate everything and stay on top of a situation that easily turns chaotic. Another challenge is that you have to assume a lot of responsibility. Whenever someone is in doubt about anything they will look to you.

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
Sure! Have fun and remember to set time aside after the workcamp for a four day sleep.

Would you be willing to be fed to a giant spider if it would save a populated planet of which you’ve never heard of from destruction?
I’m a consequentialist, so I’ll have to say yes!

The unique skill of being a leader?
I’m extraordinarily persistent with figuring out details. And I’m very good at telling scary stories.

Ann-Sofi

Name: Ann-Sofi

Age: 33

Participated in Leadership Seminar:
2005 (participant) and 2006 (facilitator).

How did you learn about work camps and MS?
A friend told me she was going to Kenya with MS.
I jumped in.

What work camp experience do you have?
I was leader of the camp in Tingbjerg 2005. The camp is in a poor immigrant neighborhood in Copenhagen. The camp provided entertainment for the local children during the summer holiday. The idea was to show the children that being a diverse cultural group can be an asset rather than a disadvantage. As well, I was a volunteer in Kenya for MS for 6 months. One of the projects was making bricks to build a school.

How did you experience being a work camp leader?
It was a great experience being responsible for and making a group function well. It was fun having all these different nationalities brought together around the project. Everyone was really enthusiastic playing with the children.

What did you gain from being a work camp leader?
I learned a lot on a personal level about what sort of leader I am. As well, I did this to have something to put on my resumé, in order to get a job in a humanitarian NGO ;-)

Which challenges did you face being a work camp leader?
It is always a challenge figuring out which conflicts to confront and which you should rather ignore. When is it OK for a group to split up in subgroups, and when do you need to get everyone together?

Do you have any advice for future work camp leaders?
Don’t be afraid of leading a workcamp. Y*O*U C*A*N D*O I*T!

Whats your motto for the ILC 2007?
Never say no when someone asks you for a dance.

The unique skill of Ann-Sofi being a leader?
I never reveal my secrets.