Swedish Folk Music Festival

Perhaps, it is difficult to admire and be surprised by folk music when you are from Georgia, but Swedish folk music did it.

Information about the open stage of the WORLD MUSIC MARCH 2015 held in Stallet in Stockholm was discovered by Iryna on the Internet. It is true, that I did not have great expectations, the concert hall was so modest, the majority of audience was old people. But, from the first sound I changed my attitude. Despite the fact, that we understood only few words, songs were so emotional and fabulous. Some of the songs were full of humor and we were laughing even though it was not clear for us what was it about. Especially very impressive were the women, who were 50 years old, but so energetic and emotional. They were singing and telling the history at the same time. 

As Iryna says, it was rather unusual for her, because in Belarus folk music has just started to reborn and is not very popular. Iryna: Yeah, this open stage concert was really amazing! Thus I guess, bands who were presented, were a bit novice (that is why they appeared on free entrance day), but music and voices were beautiful, and even it seemed for me so curious that only with the help of voice (using it as a musical instrument), even sometimes without any words, an emotional story can be told.

Yesterday we understood that, Swedish folk music – this is what you must listen. 

Visitors from Belarus

    On Tuesday the 3rd of March our organization hosted guests from Belarus, the President and the members of the organization of “BELAU”. This is the sending organization of Iryna. Iryna met them near the Royal Palace and brought to and from the office. She can tell us how difficult it was…

“ Iryna: Well, I can’t say that really difficult, but a stressful, due to the two main reasons. On one hand, I didn’t know the city at all, and was novice in the Stockholm transport system either. On the other hand, the visitors didn’t know the city either, so it was a challenge how to find exact understandable place for both sides to meet. Thus, with the help of Kristina, Project Manager from Framtidståget , and via contacting to BelAU group, I managed to meet the group near the Royal Palace, bring them to the office, and later to take them to the ferry. Luckily, the day before the BelAU visit me and Meko had travelled to the port and discovered the right directions to get to and from it. “

During the meeting, guests saw the office, met staff and our boss Yousef, found out more information about the work of Framtidståget. Also, they had a short presentation about their organization. Some plans for future were discussed. The meeting was introductory and informal with lunch (prepared by me and Kristina)

The guests left us a letter in our guest book.

The cooperation between Framtidståget and BELAU started a couple of years ago and is promising to be more and more successful in the future.

Iryna Azaranka's introduction:)

Hello! My name is Iryna, and I am a representative of Belarus and BelAU (UNESCO Belarus) here, in Stockholm. I am 27 and for me it's the second experience living abroad, thus, I've never lived in a country with a language, different of the official ones of my home country.

According to my education and first job experiences, I am an advertising manager, thus in 2013 I moved to Saint-Petersburg and started a project manager career, and in 2014 returned to Belarus to try to become some kind of social entrepreneur (I mean organizer of non-profit projects) and at the same time registered myself as a craftswoman and began to make accessories of beads or other materials. Abroad I recognized myself a Belarusian - representative of a certain country, nation and culture. And that inspired me to try to do something on my own to help Belarus in improving spheres of life, that are familiar to me, and where I can apply my knowledge and skills.

EVS Sweden Program became for me like a real breath of the international air, and especially I liked the sending and inviting organizations, BelAU and Föreningen Framtidståget, because I feel the views and values of these organizations very close to my own. I think, the participation in the Program will help me to improve my project management skills, especially what concerns organizing and evaluating social projects, at the same time to get acquainted with different cultures, views, really international methods. In my opinion, it's also a great chance to understand the image of Belarus in the world and to finding the ways for improving it.

So, let the journey begins. :)

Meko from Georgia ♡

Hej!

My name is Meko. I am from Georgia and I am 22 years old. I am a representative of Research-Intellectual Club "Dialogue of Generations" here, in Sweden. I am a student of the faculty of law, but now I have an academic year at the University. Social working, human rights and working with youth are most interesting point for me. So, I am glad that Framtidstaget is working about this issues. During my studies I have been working with children and students, but only in my country. For me, this is the first time to be abroad such a long time.
I think that this year will be so interesting and adventure for me. I like to meet new people, to attend different cultural events, to travel.

So, let's start my EVS  in Sweden, in Stockholm... :)