This decade has been dedicated to creating a Culture of Peace, an initiative launched by UNESCO. At the same time, this year became the International Year of Volunteers, also declared by the UN.

Under the aegis of these two slogans, the Hungarian and Slovakian IRFF chapters organised an international volunteer camp called "Culture of Peace 2001: Volunteers for International Friendship".

Young people came from Slovakia, Rumania, France, Austria, Albania and Hungary. We arrived on 3rd August at Esztergom, and began with two days of orientation. Each morning we started with a motto for the day, each time given by a different person and after the groups had been created, given by the different groups. We occasionally had stimulating exercises, at other times deep meditations. On Saturday we tried to get to know each other by expressing ourselves with a drawing, then we visited the town of Esztergom, which had been the capital of Hungary until 1256, and later had received archbishopric title.

In the afternoon we talked about the goals of the orientation and Susanne gave us an interesting lecture about communication, character development and with reasons why, the stages of development a team needs to go through. Then we created the groups and tried to put into practice everything that we had learnt.

In the evening, Roman Fruehauf (IRFF Austria) gave a lecture about the Power of Forgiveness. The next day, Alain Raulot (IRFF France) spoke about the origin and beginning of IRFF and the IRFF representatives from Slovakia, Austria, Rumania each gave a short report about their activities.

What can we do with a shoelace? Many interesting ideas came during this brainstorming group game. There was enough time before lunch to get to know each other's interaction style, by the game: fox, lion and St Bernard. We can always learn about the others and ourselves as well. In the afternoon, Maja Mina, the leader of Women's Federation for World Peace of Hungary (WFWP) gave a lecture about the UN's activities, perspectives and goals.

After dinner we could enjoy a beautiful slide presentation of two nature photographers' work. (One is from Esztergom and the other is from Pécs). They have won a lot of prizes in national and international competitions. At the end of the day we created teams and chose teams names: the Strumfies, the Green Frogs and the Heroes of Peace.

On Monday we started to prepare for planting, digging the holes for the twelve trees and for the twelve stones on which famous peacemakers' names were engraved. Sometimes it was difficult and we had to use pick-axes as well as spades and shovels. Using and asking for these tools (because we did not always know the English words) we realised that we have so many words in common: Slovakians, Hungarians, Romanians.

In the afternoon we received a Hungarian philosopher and literary man who is the Director of Ipoly-Euro region, which contributes much to the development of the economy, nature conservation, and eco-tourism on both sides of the Danube. He spoke very poetically about the Northern Genius type of people, awareness of their life and also with a practical point of view about the situation of this region and their goals.

The next day we painted the metal and wooden parts of the school playground . After lunch the trees arrived and we had to plant the 4-metre-tall saplings quickly. In the evening we visited one quarter of the town and local show dance groups gave us a very well choreographed performance. The man who is responsible for popular education arranged this event for our camp but also local people came for the show. Then a German chamber music orchestra who had come by chance played for us.

The next day we did some more work for the school, grass cutting, sweeping, painting, and window cleaning. In the afternoon we did the final cleaning of the park and handed it over to the mayor in the presence of some teachers. Then we said goodbye to the school where we had been given accommodation. The kitchen staff constantly watched our plates and our faces during the meals with anxiety. They simply wanted to offer the best.

We crossed the Danube by ferry and arrived in Sturovo. The school headmaster welcomed us. After dinner we listened to Tibor's lecture about the consequences of the sexual revolution concerning family values and current morality. On Thursday we started again to prepare the places for the trees and for the stones with names. This time we received more help from the Mayor's Office and in the afternoon we could plant the twelve trees. During the digging we found a coin from the 1800s. We also set up a big board with biographies of the peacemakers (as we had done on the other side). In the evening, the Slovakian language teaching primary school's students gave us a pretty folk dance presentation.

On Friday we started with painting the gates, cleaning a sports track and weeding the rose garden. In the afternoon we went to Vadas baths and had a nice time swimming and relaxing. In the evening we received a Slovakian lady who spoke about human rights in a very professional way.

On the last day we finished our work around the school and at 5.30 p.m. we handed over the park to the mayor, the vice-mayor and the two schools (the Slovakian language teaching and the Hungarian language teaching primary schools). Also some teachers came from the other side's school.

Then Alain summarised the programmes of the week and we wrote down our reflections. In the evening we had a cultural gathering: presenting songs, and sketches for each other's amusement. A funny clown co-ordinated the event. Each participant received a certificate for their active participation in the project and also a T-shirt with the title of the camp, the symbol of IRFF and the symbol of the International Year of Volunteers.

On Sunday we crossed the Danube together and then said goodbye to each other. In addition to the Mayors' Offices and the schools of the cities, the Hungarian Youth and Sports Ministry also supported this project.

Copyright (c) 2003 IRFF Europe
Luxembourg@irff-europe.org