AEGEE-Kragujevac – The AEGEEan – AEGEE's online magazine – AEGEE-Europe ../../.. AEGEE's Online Magazine Mon, 01 Dec 2014 04:11:57 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.7 ../../../wp-content/uploads/cropped-The-AEGEEan_logo-FBprofile-32x32.png AEGEE-Kragujevac – The AEGEEan – AEGEE's online magazine – AEGEE-Europe ../../.. 32 32 Summer University Kragujevac, Belgrade, Tuzla, Sarajevo 2014 ../../../2014/12/03/summer-university-kragujevac-belgrade-tuzla-sarajevo-2014/ Wed, 03 Dec 2014 15:11:41 +0000 ../../../?p=24996 It’s not easy to write a summary about these two weeks. It was such a perfect holiday that I really do not know where to start. It started in Kragujevac with Milos, Tomo, Dragan, Vanja, Ivana, Danica, Nikolija, Milos, Andela, Snezana and a lot of other organizers and friends. After the four days in Kragujevac, we went to Belgrade. A… Read more →

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It’s not easy to write a summary about these two weeks. It was such a perfect holiday that I really do not know where to start.

It started in Kragujevac with Milos, Tomo, Dragan, Vanja, Ivana, Danica, Nikolija, Milos, Andela, Snezana and a lot of other organizers and friends. After the four days in Kragujevac, we went to Belgrade. A participant arrived at the hostel, Elisa Chieregato. She was late because of her exams. So everybody was in the common room of the hostel, except Elisa. I found her in a room where she was sitting on a bed, and I asked „Why don’t you come out and drink with us?”, and she said „Of course I will, but it is so strange. You look like a family, I mean, only four days passed and it seems you have known each other for years”.

I can remeber the lighter, and when we refilled it, instead of buying a new one for the half price, and the Christmas lights all over Bosnia. Then we sang a„Geburtstags” song to Sophie Consuela in Sarajevo and the police came and said „It’s not allowed to sing in the street”.  We had the best parties ever in Belgrade, on the boat and in Klub Studenata Tehnike. At the same time a taxidriver got lost with the spanish participants and they tried to give him  directions in Italian. I can remember our first treasure hunting in Kragujevac, the long walks until we finally found the memory park. After three hot days we went to Jezero lakes where we could enjoy the first thunderstorm, but everybody swam to the other side of the lake anyways.  I remember Daniel and his selfies and „bothies”as well as many group pictures everywhere. Everyone loved the serbian-bosnian „5 minutes” , which is minimum half an hour. I can remember the five-hour-long bus ride from the mountains to Sarajevo, and it was one of the best parties on the bus because we did not want to exclude any nationalites, so we had to drink rakia, wine, jägermeister, beer…while listening to  90’s music. We arrived to Sarajevo with the loud music, and met the organizers from Sarajevo. We went to a kafana every night, we broke glasses, sung about the bridge in Sarajevo and tried every single kind of rakia…I could write pages and pages full with memories.

I do not think we could have had it much better, the whole SU was so perfect thanks to the organizers. They did not just organize but they did everything from their whole heart. They were with us, ate a lot of ajvar with us, they drank a lot of rakia with us, they showed us what a kafana is, how to dance „kolo” in the middle of the night in the rain, how to love every single lonely jackey (dog), how to really relax while smoking sisha, how to make a houseparty in Sarajevo, how to visit Mostar under umbrellas, how to sing a traditional bosnian song about love and how to say volim te, hvala, ziveji.

For me, before this summer, Serbia and Bosnia were just two countries, but I met a lot of people, whom I really love. I know it is almost impossible to get the whole group together again, but some of us will meet again somewhere in this lovely Europe. Thank you guys. Thanks to Milos for making  the whole, solving all of our problems we had and for walking under the umbrella in Mostar hand in hand, thanks to Tomo for organizing everything and for the dance we had in Belgrade, thanks to Ivana for cooking hungarian meals on the European Night together. Thanks to Vanja for crazy nights in Sarajevo,thanks to Thomas for being the soul of the group, thanks to Elisa and Roxi for the long converstions we had. Thanks to Jakub for spending a lot  of time together in the bathroom and on the dancefloor. And thanks to everybody for everything. This was the best Summer University ever.

 

Written by Zsófia Anna Tóth, AEGEE-Budapest

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Improving the society through taking care of others ../../../2012/12/04/improving-the-society-through-taking-care-of-others-2/ Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:44:20 +0000 ../../../?p=14369 Two locals, AEGEE-Skopje and AEGEE-Kragujevac, celebrate different humanitarian events and help out people by teaching them, gathering basic supplies and giving them the best thing they have: their time. It can be seen how, in times of austerity, the budgets start to be reduced. As a consequence, governmental decisions, but especially daily citizens’ lives begin to shift. It is in this… Read more →

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Two locals, AEGEE-Skopje and AEGEE-Kragujevac, celebrate different humanitarian events and help out people by teaching them, gathering basic supplies and giving them the best thing they have: their time.

It can be seen how, in times of austerity, the budgets start to be reduced. As a consequence, governmental decisions, but especially daily citizens’ lives begin to shift. It is in this context of change that some people think about those with fewer opportunities. This is what led the members of AEGEE-Skopje and AEGEE-Kragujevac to dedicate their efforts to different humanitarian actions.

“Cheers for volunteers”

This is how AEGEE-Skopje called its first project, aimed at making possible different social actions, mainly focused on children with no parents. Board and active members stopped their lives for a few moments and put themselves in the shoes of the volunteers who regularly share with the youngsters their most precious tool: their time. Fatima Salifoska, president of AEGEE-Skopje, explains the whole idea.

Fatima: Everything started out with the help of Youth in Action, where we received financial support from. Board members and also active ones helped in this event. The first time, after meeting the children from the orphanage, we went with them to an amusement park. All of us brought some toys and other gifts for them. We were surrounded by sun, happy faces and joy. We could not ask for anything else.

The title of your second action, celebrated on November the 10th, with the same children as the previous time, was You came, you saw, and you learned, or ”Дојдов, видов, научив”, as you would say it in Macedonian. How was it organised?

Fatima: In this second event, we were responsible for buying all the material and bringing our own gifts. This time, each member was appointed to organise different kinds of workshops and language classes. The day was composed of Mathematics, English, French, Italian, IT, together with some workshops. We also made cookies, we all watched a movie, and at the end they all got many presents.

What motivated you to participate?

Fatima: I really like helping people, especially children without parents, which sadly is a common reality in our country. I feel amazing when I see the happy faces of the kids during our walks, when they receive their toys, or when you simply know that you have helped somebody. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing them happy and satisfied. Definitely, we will continue to have events like this one in the future, in order to help out this vulnerable category of people.

Hearts wide open

The second story comes from Serbia, from AEGEE-Kragujevac, where the members, with the help of the Red Cross, gathered some things in order to share them, creating a personal awareness of “how our little can mean a lot to someone”. Danica Savic, president of the local, told The AEGEEan some of the details of this social event.

The AEGEEan: Danica, could you please share with us the name of your action and tell us what it is about?

Danica: This action is called “Days of open Hearts” and it was celebrated during the months of October and November 2012. The whole idea emerged out of a pure desire to help the people for who this kind of help is really indispensable, like for example refugees and Roma people. Raised funds were sent to families living in very difficult conditions, sometimes so hard that they can barely feed themselves and provide clothes for their children.

Now that winter is coming, we  can always find some old piece of clothing not worn for a while. Just when you encounter such a thing, at that moment we remember that someone actually needs it more than us, so rather than throwing it away or keeping it in the closet, we choose to give it to someone else! Those who wanted to help but had no old clothing, simply set aside a little bit of money and bought sweets or long-term food and brought it to our office. With the help of the Red Cross, who put us in connection with those in need, we collected the things and we gave them away in the most humble vicinities.

Did you organise any other activity or workshop with the underprivileged?

Danica: The project also included playing and befriending the children from those families at the nursery day care center. Spending time with the youngsters was magical, creative, and of course, full of joy. A loving word and contact with other people who are willing to show them a little attention makes up their minds even more lively and helps them to teach the naive world game. Also, during the reading of fairy tales, painting and storytelling, our members gave them presents made up of collected candies.

With this project you aimed to improve for a few moments the not so comfortable lives of some people, but did you somehow desire to go further and leave a stronger impact?

Danica: The aim of our action was, in addition to the collection of things, to spread awareness of how easy that way of helping is. When we have something that we do not need, Red Cross is open during the entire year for our charitable donations for those in need. We all know how much one unexpected smile from the other person in our everyday activity and rush can make our day better.  It is very simple and the most important thing: it is a circle of sharing joy and positive energy, which is very easy to get and to share.

The actions of AEGEE-Skopje and AEGEE-Kragujevac are just two examples of what could be done and found in any place worldwide. The question now is knowing the procedures to make it possible and having the motivation to achieve it. Would you do something with your antenna this upcoming Christmas to really make it count?

Written by Ana Valiente, AEGEE-Tenerife

Pictures by AEGEE-Skopje and AEGEE-Kragujevac

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