vss 2013 herald 2

VSS Herald March 2013 1 VSS 2013 July 21st to 26th

INGA

THE VSS HERALDMarch 2013


EFILVOLUNTEERSUMMERSUMMIT

DENMARK

2013july 21st to 26th

in RANUM

! There comes a time when you have to make one decision. One decision that can change your life; that can change you. One decision that can have so many consequences. That decisions comes from one question “SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?” ! For the last 6 years many AFS volunteers have asked themselves this question regarding the Volunteer Summer Summit. For many the answer has been ”I GO”, but for those whose answer was ”I should stay” it must have been chosen with regrets. Users of facebook know what I’m talking about when they remember the moments when friends met at the VSS are being added on the social network, photos are being uploaded, people are being tagged, and the activity on the News feeds is mostly about VSS. ! Those volunteers who were not able to join the VSS in previous years might have said to themselves”Next Year I’ll go.”THIS IS THE YEAR! ! The 6th edition of the VSS will be, by far, the most prepared. The Prep Team is the most experienced that a VSS has ever had, the Support Team is well trained, and the trainers will be delivering high quality workshops. For the first time, the venue is greatly prepared to welcome the Summer Summit and its participants. The venue is a boarding school. Workshops rooms are well equipped with high technology, creative props. You’ll find some places to hang out, to talk about the content of the workshops, to talk to your old friends, and meet new friends. We have definitely some surprises for youandtherefore will keep some untill you come.So regarding this life and death question ”Should I stay or Should I go”», our advice is “YOU SHOULD GO.” You have untill April 15th to apply online, after that it will not be possible to participate in the greatest event of the AFS NETWORK

EDITOby Joshua Fitoussi

WHAT’S IN IT ?

EDITO

MEET THE SUPPORT TEAM

Page 4

THE SUPPORT TEAM MEETING

Page 17

ROADMAP TO VSSPage 18

THE VENUEPage 19

SUSTAINABILITYPage 20

INFORMATIONSPage 21

VSS CHALLENGEPage 22


MEET THE SUPPORT TEAM

You can find all the presentations on www.efilsummersummit.org


Ida Werliin Holm 21 years old

I attend the pedagogical university in Copenhagen where I study Education

Science at second semester. I have only been working with camps in AFS Denmark where

I've been a trainer and a coordinator. So this VSS will be

my first EFIL camp.

Where did you do your AFS exchange:

Indiana, United States of America

If you were to choose, from any country in the world, where would you go for

exchange now ?I am planning on taking a

semester somewhere else in the world, probably Australia or maybe Argentina or Brazil. Basically I would like to visit most countries but Australia and Argentina have always

been dreams of mine.

What is your favorite Hans Christian Adersen’s fairy tale? There are many good ones and

my parents read them to me when I was little, but my

favorite will have to be the Little Match Girl, which might

also be the saddest one of them all. It was the first story I read for myself as a child and also the first story that ever

made me cry.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself or a fun story

from AFS :I communicate really well

with sheep.


Gro Skov Larsen21 years old

I’m studying midwifery in Aalborg. I’ve been an AFS

volunteer since fall 2008. I’ve mostly worked on the hosting

chapter with exchange students in Denmark. I’ve both

been a trainer, and a coordinator at camps. And I’m

loving it!

Where did you go for exchange?

I went to Venezuela, and it was amazing!


exchange now? I would love to go to India, it is so different from the Danish culture, and so warm! Or maybe French Guiana. A little country in

South America, and I would love to learn how to speak

French. I can’t decide!

What is your favorite Hans Christian Adersen’s fairy tale?

The Tinder Box. My grandmother used to tell it to my siblings and me when we were children and since then

it’s been a favorite! Fun fact about yourself?I’m terribly afraid of

birds though my father has always had ducks, geese and hens in our

garden.


Charlotte Helene Friis Espersen20 years old

I attend University of Copenhagen, where I study

sociology. I have been a volunteer in AFS Denmark since the fall of 2009. I’ve done mostly work on the

sending program, but also on the hosting program. I’m a

part of the sending committee. I went to the VSS in Latvia in 2012 and I’m really excited to

be “behind the scene” this year!

My favorite fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen is The Tinder Box. It was the first fairytale I read myself and my parents used to read it to me, before I went to sleep,

when I was a kid.

Where did you do your AFS exchange?

Minnesota, USA.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself or a fun story from

AFS: I was born in Germany and

have double citizenship, even though I don’t speak a word

German.


exchange now?: I would like to go to Latin

America a semester. I always wanted to see Latin America

and experience the culture. I’d love to see the Igauzú Falls.


Andreas Wagner Tholl25 years old

I'm a student and a teacher of organic chemistry at the

University of Copenhagen. I have been an active volunteer

in AFS since my return to Denmark, organizing and

participating in regional and national camps and trainings as well as a member of our National Hosting Committee

Tell us a fun fact about yourself, or a fun story

from AFS: I spent 9 months of 2012 living on the

pacific island of New Caledonia as a street musician playing Irish

traditional music on my violin!


Masterton, New Zealand, 2003/2004


exchange now?: Earlier on I would have said Quebec! But after having

adjusted to the heat of the pacific I'd probably rather say

Guadeloupe, Martinique or back to my pacific islands!

My favorite fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen is The Snow

Queen. It is a sad story but most of all an interesting story of good and evil from a child's

perspective.


Some mix of unemployed, volunteering, travelling and

waiting to continue my studies with a master in sport

sciences in the Netherlands. AFS affiliation??

Chronologically: host- and sending-brother, exchange

student, local chapter volunteer, national volunteer, ,

development of National training project group, trainer

at national training events, prep team

“Uddannelsesbazar”, VSS 11 participant, Epot and now

support team VSS.

My favorite fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen is Little Claus and Big Claus and I‘d

happily read it out aloud for a bed time story if you have

trouble falling asleep


exchange now? Greenland or Canada (thou I wouldn’t give up my exchange year there!) Tricky question. I would not change my year in Canada so

for the sake of the game: Greenland

Where did you go for exchange? Thunder Bay,

Ontario, Canada

Anders Belling25 winters old

Fun fact about yourself, or a fun story from AFS? Part of

the only AFS adventure racing team in the world, as far as I know. And I managed to get a concussion and stitches from

a dancing class, so a great dancer


Studying like crazy, I want to be a doctor when medical

school ends sometime in the future. Part of the sending

committee for 3-4 years and have been on a lot of camps, including VSS 2011, my first

EFIL camp.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself or a fun story

from AFS: I spend a lot of Danish sunrises on a rooftop

after parties in the summertime – tired

from having stayed up so long time but also high on the beautiful

view and nice company.

My favorite fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen is The

Ugly Duckling perhaps, but he has written a lot of beautiful fairy tales. This one always

makes me smile and remember not to judge people

before you know them.


France <3 lovely country, lovely place, and definitely

lovely volunteers in my chapter!

If you were to choose, from any country in the world,

where would you go for exchange now?

Maybe some place in South America but probably I would

rather prefer a French speaking country

Josephine Lund Nielsen21 years old


Frederick Brinck Jensen 19 years old

I’m graduating from high school this summer, wee! In

AFS I’ve been working for the national hosting team for a

little over two years now, and done a lot of camps.


exchange now? I would give anything for a year in Jordan to experience the different culture, learn the Arabic

language, and get to know their religion better!

Where did you go for exchange? I visited the

wonderful land of samba: Brazil!

Fun fact about yourself?Learning the Portugueese

language I once confused dick with bread trying to order a

type of bread in a restaurant. My friend laughed, though the waiter got all blue and pale!

My favorite fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen is “The Sweethearts” also known as “The Top and the Ball” – it’s a splendid story which should be on

your bucket list!


Marcus Tang Merit20 years Old

I study sociology at The University of Copenhagen and have been active in AFS for 4 years now. I’ve done pretty

much everything you can do in AFS Denmark from hosting an

exchange student to coordinating camps. I have been a part of The National

Hosting Committee for 3 years now.


exchange now?My exchange year has had

such a big impact on me, and has shaped me in such a way that I could not imagine going anywhere but Italy. But if I had to choose a different country I

might choose somewhere exotic like Thailand or India


AFS: I am the proud owner of Casa

Di Marcus; the biggest air-mattress in AFS Denmark.

My favorite fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen is The Ugly Duckling - change is possible, and if you keep your priorities

straight you will overcome your problems.

Where did you do your AFS exchange?Southern Italy


Charlotte Klinting22 years old

I am currently studying Law and Development Studies at the School of Oriental and

African Studies in London. As I live abroad these days, I think of myself as being stationed in the AFS foreign service,

spreading the message of AFS in countries where it doesn’t

exist! I mostly do EFIL seminars and national

educational trainings in Denmark

Where did you go for exchange?

Tours, France - allegedly the region with the 'purest'

French..!


exchange now? Somewhere in Asia, so I could learn some of the languages my school here

is teaching..!

My favorite fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen is

The Fir Tree - it is not the most known, but it is a

wonderful story of the life cycle of a fir tree that is lucky

enough to become a Christmas tree, and the fate

that awaits it when Christmas is over. It's a sad story, but it

makes you reflect!

Fun fact about yourself? I own a time-turner, but I somehow can’t get it to

work!


Charlotte Karlsson26 years old

For the past 3 years I have been working as a social

worker. I have worked with adults with mental problems,

drug problems, handicaps and/or social problems and a

soial deroute. I went on exchange 10 years ago, and ever since my return 9 years ago, I have been on almost all

camps in AFS, although my heart beats for hosting of

youngster. Now I mostly work with the camps concerning the

volunteers. This is my first EFIL camp.

My favorite fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen is “The Sweethearts” also known as

“The Top and the Ball” because I had to perform it at

school and the story just stayed with me. I also really like Thombelina, it is one of the first stories I remember.


USA.


AFS: I LOVE red meat with at good

thick sauce, YUMMI!

If you were to choose, from any country in the world, where would you go for exchange now?:

BRAZIL


Tea Holmgård Christensen24 years old

Fun fact about yourself :Ever since I was a child I have

wanted to become a globetrotter. So far I am 24

years old and have visited 24 countries – so far so good! For my 25th year and 25th county, I hope to get the chance to visit Thailand. I

know it is silly but I love it!

My favorite Hans Christian Andersen

fairytale would be The Little Mermaid, for sure. It is just a really good

story!


I went to the Dominican Republic in 05/06


exchange now?: In this very moment I am so fortunate to be on exchange again – this time in Australia. It is a beautiful country with lovely people, and everything

has an amazing laidback atmosphere to it.

I study Global studies and Business studies at Roskilde

University. I have been volunteering for AFS since the

fall of 2006. For the first couple of years I was mainly

volunteering in my local chapter, where I coordinated an

“Activity group” for the international students. Now I am on the National Hosting Committee, of which I am

going to be the coordinator this summer. I have been on

several hosting camps, both as a coordinator and as a trainer. I went to the VSS in Portugal ’11, and to the TfT in Latvia

’12.


I’m a senior at Gefion Gymnasium (Gefion High

School) in Copenhagen where I will graduate this summer! I have now been working with the Danish national sending

committee for 1,5 year

My favorite fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen is The Tinderbox. No doubt about that. It has always been my

favorite fairytale by far because of the awesome

soldier in it. My grandmother used to read it to me when I was little, so I have a lot of good memories connected

with itIf you were to choose, from any country in the world, where would you go for

exchange now? Now I have a plan of spending some of my gap year in South Africa, so

that would be my most likely choice. Otherwise I think I

would go to one of the South American countries

Where did you go for exchange? Texas, USA

2009/10

Andreas Holm19 years old

Fun fact about yourself, or a fun story from AFS? I had the awesome chance of playing

baseball on the Texas Rangers Stadium in Arlington

during my exchange year


THE SUPPORT TEAM MEETINGby the Support Team

Saturday the 23rd we had the first support team (ST) meeting in the AFS office. Except for two globetrotters the whole ST was gathered for an introduction, expectation, and brainstorm meeting to start off the planning of the support for the Summer Summit 2013.

One thing came up more than others at the meeting and that was the wish to be part of the best VSS ever! So with that as a clear goal we discussed what priorities we will need in order to reach this it. Among others the wish to create a great relationship between the participants and the ST, ensure good communications between each other and have a good team spirit among the different teams.

Some of our responsibilities will be an interesting “Danish night”, some well-planned leisure activities, the international market, a

fantastic goodbye party, the community project, etc. We brainstormed about most of our tasks and talked about how we can bring this year’s theme into our work. Therefore we will use our imagination and all of the sport facilities provided by the school to build some solid bridges. We feel that we already came up with some great ideas for you, so we can’t wait to continue our work with them and in the end welcome you to have fun with us this summer in Ranum.

In the end all we want to say is that we take responsibility for creating a fairytale like Summer Summit in Ranum.

See you!

The Support team


THE ROADMAP TO VSS

APPLY Go to www.efilsummersummit.org

MY SUMMIT

REGISTER Choose your accomodation, tell usabout your dietary needs and book

a seat on the VSS Bus

GET CONFIRMED Wait until you receive an email from Tinna telling you that your national AFS office has confirmed

you as a participant for the VSS

PAY Transfer the registration fee via

your bank or PayPal

BOOK TRAVELS If you didn’t book a seat on the VSS BUS book your travels now (we encourage you to come by

train, bus, boat or car - with the Hungarians) WORKSHOPS Choose the tracks you want to follow and

workshops that interest you

FINAL CONFIRMATION

Wait until you get an email telling you that you have done everything you should and that you are ready to go

to the VSS

WELCOME TO DENMARK

Pack your bags

BUS if you take the bus, no need to book

http://www.efilsummersummit.org

http://www.efilsummersummit.org


TAKE A LOOK AT THE VENUE

by Tinna Sveinsdottir

This year the Volunteers Summer Summit will take place in Ranum, a small village in the north of Denmark. Participants and teams will be accommodated at Ranum Efterskole, a spacious boarding school on the edge of the village. The school has worked with AFS before - they have previously hosted students from AFS Thailand for short-term exchanges.

The theme of the school, Sports and Imagination, has greatly influenced the theme of this year’s VSS (Building bridges through imagination and sports to tackle global issues). The school offers space and equipment which stimulates the imagination and is suitable for diverse sports activities. While visiting the school in January the prep team asked many questions which began with “Would it be possible to….” To our immense delight the default answer was “We can make everything possible as long as you can imagine it.” To give you a hint of the great facilities the venue offers we can mention special rooms for art, music, woodwork, theater, cooking and debate. The school also offers sports equipment and facilities for mountain biking, sailing, all kind of team sports and dace to name a few. The support team and the trainers will use as much of these facilities as possible during leisure activities and workshops and we hope to provide participants with interesting methods for work and play.

As this is a boarding school students live in the school during the winter but it is empty during the summer. The rooms are spacious and accommodate between 1-6 people. Usually students can rearrange their rooms the way they like and should make it their home. That is also why participants and team will need to bring duvet, pillow, linen and sheets or mattress cover, sleeping bag and pillow.

For more information about Ranum Efterskole go to http://www.ranumefterskole.dk/

http://www.ranumefterskole.dk/





To foster the idea of a sustainable VSS that was elaborated in a workshop last year (known as the ‘sauna-workshop’) we are now trying to focus on sustainability already in the planning process. The ‘take a bus to the VSS’-idea is one of our ideas to make this Summer Summit more sustainable than ever (see the article on the busses). We are planning to also keep that in mind e.g. for the use of materials but also for the use of workshop outcomes and the community project. If you also have ideas for a sustainable VSS you are more than invited to communicate them or bring them directly to Denmark in summer! It is a matter of shared ideas & responsibility, common creativity & action to reach that goal together! Looking forward to a great sustainable VSS!

SUSTAINABILITYby Annika Menke

Train a workshop and get feedbacksby Annika Menke

You have never done a training in an international frame but you would like to try and have an idea?For participants of the Summer Summit in Denmark there is the possibility to offer a short workshop during the long lunch break. You will have an experienced trainer on your side who can support you in the design of the session if needed and who will also be in the workshop and give you feedback afterwards. If you are interested to take this opportunity please contact Annika ([email protected]) for more details.

If you come to the Summer Summit as participant but feel like you could and would like to offer a workshop because you have a special background to a certain topic that fits very well to the overall theme or a specific track you are also very welcome to contact Annika!

mailto:[email protected]



THE BUS TRIP TO VSSby Annika Menke

As some of you already know we are trying to arrange a busride from Lisbon and Istanbul to Ranum. We are amazed by the amount of people who already have expressed their interest in this initiative. By now about half of the registered participants have declared their interest. But to make sure that everybody knows about this idea we wanted to write an article about the idea.

The idea about arranging a busride surfaced in a workshop last year in Latvia. In the sustainability workshop (also known as the sauna workshop) a question was raised asking how sustainable our way of gathering volunteers is. We liked this idea so much that we decided to work more with it. So after we discussed it further we felt like it was possible.

So the plan is a follows:

Two busses, two starting points, several pickup points and one destination. One western route going from Lisbon through countries like Spain, France, Belgium and Germany. One Eastern route going from Turkey, Bulgaria,Serbia, Czech Republic, and Poland. The two busses will then meet up in Hamburg and join in the reminder of the trip through Jutland and meet up with everybody else in Ranum.

So now you only need to ask yourself if you want to spend some extra days with some AFS’ers in a sustainable way and along the way have a cheaper trip to Denmark.

Official homepage:

http://efilsummersummit.org/2013/

EFIL Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/vss2013?ref=ts&fref=ts

VSS Sunflower Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/vss.sunflower?fref=ts

Videos:

http://vimeo.com/groups/174421

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/vssdenmark

Questions can also be referred to [email protected]

How to quench your information thirstby Tinna Sveinsdottir


















THE VSS CHALLENGESTake on the challenge

This year the prep-team has proposed a challenge for volunteers around the world. The winner of the challenge will be presented with a special price during the welcome evening of the Summer Summit. In order to win you must be the person who invites the most people to the VSS. This means that the people you invite write your name in the comments box in the registration form and when they are approved by their national agency they will count as one point for you. The person with the most points will be the winner. Are you up for the challenge?

Photo competition: Capture the VSS spirit

Have you been to previous editions of the VSS? Did you take any pictures? Did you take a picture that captures the VSS spirit? If you did go ahead and e-mail it to [email protected] and you might be the lucky winner of an awesome price which will be presented at the welcome evening of the VSS in Ranum.

The picture can be from a workshop, from the travel to or from the VSS, from a leisure activity, a community project or anything that YOU feel captures the spirit of the VSS. We look forward to many great pictures.




Text : Tinna Sveinsdottir - The Support Team - Annika Menke - Joshua Fitoussi

Design : Joshua FitoussiPictures : Joshua Fitoussi - Inga Menke - Support Team

March 2013 - Efil Summer SummitDenmark - VSS HERALD

www.efilsummersummit.org/2013

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