One Social Europe: Discovering Europe in a van (part 3)

Posted on October 22, 2015October 22, 2015 by Viktoria Hautkappe & Felix Junker

Taking a break from studies and work: Viktoria and Felix travelled through Europe (copyright by Viktoria Hautkappe & Felix Junker)

Here is the last part of our mini series on Viktoria’s and Felix’ initiative “One Social Europe”. In their van, they crossed 21 European countries and visited social projects. In part three of their exclusive interview for Spotlight Europe, the two young Germans speak about surprises, challenges and lessons learnt in six months.

What surprised you most during your trip?
Felix: The hospitality we received nearly everywhere! Let me give you an example: On our first day of the trip we’ve been invited to the house of our first host. She went to sleep on the couch and somehow “forced” us to go and sleep in her bed. And the next day she invited us to a family dinner at her aunt’s house. It was the most fantastic start you could have imagined for our trip.
Viktoria: I think it was myself, who surprised me the most. At the beginning of the tour I’ve been extremely nervous, but after a while I realized, this was simply not necessary. I learned to face challenges and keep calm in difficult situations.

What were the biggest challenges you had to face?
Viktoria: Well, the car….
Felix: Yes! We’ve been to the garage a few times. I think it was five times during six months.
Viktoria: Everything just turned out so well, that there were not really big problems we had to face. Of course there were some learnings about living the moment and take it as it is. But we never had the feeling of being absolutely overwhelmed by a situation.

If you had to pick one particular social project to present, which one would you choose?

Discovering Europe's people, landscapes and social projects (copyright by Viktoria Hautkappe & Felix Junker) — Discovering Europe’s people, landscapes and social projects (copyright by Viktoria Hautkappe & Felix Junker)

Viktoria: This is one of the most difficult questions you could ask! It’s the same with “Which was your favourite country?” Because there is not only one answer. I have been deeply touched by the animal welfare projects, because this is something which is very close to my heart. And of those I think it would be either the Donkey Sanctuary in Ireland or the Fundacja “Pod Psia Gwiazda” in Poland.
Felix: I think there is not one to point out. They all have a very important reason to be there. All their work is necessary for the community they are set in.

What is the most important lesson you have learned about Europe?
Felix: Freedom is not only a word! Freedom is something that is lived within Europe. Here you find humanity and you can realize how important it is to get involved in campaigning for each other.
Viktoria: Europe is simply a wonderful continent. A place of interesting cultures, unbelievable socially engaged people and there is no other place in the world, where I would have loved to spent these six months, than Europe!

What would you say to other young Europeans who are planning a similar adventure?
Viktoria: Just do it! And that’s it.

Thanks for the interview, Viktoria and Felix! It’s been a pleasure to follow you on your adventures.

About the interview partners:

Viktoria (25) and Felix (26) are inspired by the idea of Europe: peaceful coexistence of different countries and cultures, the cooperation of the European countries, the freedom to travel – to experience Europe as a social continent.

With the project ‘One Social Europe’, their goal was to inform how Europeans are involved in social or non-profit projects and how they bring their country, their society or Europe further – on the way to become one social europe.

One Social Europe: the donkey sanctuary (part 2)

Posted on October 8, 2015October 14, 2015 by Viktoria Hautkappe & Felix Junker

Donkey Maureen is being looked after at the Donkey Sanctuary in Ireland (copyright by Viktoria Hautkappe and Felix Junker)

Viktoria (25) and Felix (26) take you on a trip to a social project in Ireland – the Donkey Sanctuary. With their initiative ‘One Social Europe‘, they travelled Europe in their van for six months and presented charitable initiatives on their website. The two young adults drove 17,212 kilometres in 172 days and visited 21 countries. Among the projects they discovered are fair trade campaigns, activities for elderly people, youth organisations and volunteer opportunities in rural areas. Spotlight Europe had a tough job to pick just one project, but in the end we decided to take you the place where donkeys find a new home in County Cork, Ireland.

Maureen takes a look through the fence with her big brown eyes. Cautiously her flour-white muzzle comes closer and she touches us gently, calls for attention and cuddles. Maureen is small, brown and has quite long ears. She is one of over 100 donkeys in the Donkey Sanctuary in Liscarroll and we like her immediately.

Here in the sanctuary old, sick, neglected or simply not wanted donkeys find a new home – or a transition home until they can move into a permanent new one. Overall, more than 4,000 donkeys were rescued from bad posture, nursed and brought to a new home by the establishment.

Maureen can surely expect a new donkey-friendly home, which she will share with at least one other donkey. The animals are herd animals, an exchange of individual animals is not possible. If new donkeys come into the system, they often bring their “partner-animals”, such as cats, sheep or horses with them. Donkeys have a high need for social contacts to other animal partners.

But not all residents of the large, beautiful area will leave the farm one day. Some donkeys remain all their life on the farm – partly because they have experienced so much that it would not be possible of sending them into a new home, partly because they were raised by the employees of the farm with the bottle and you do not want these animals to be forced leaving their home, if it is not absolutely necessary.

One of these donkeys is Richie. Richie is large, brown-spotted white and has beautiful black-brown eyes, which look friendly at everyone in the area. His mother died of blood poisoning, when he was 10 days old. Since that day, he has been living at the station, first as a bottle-fed baby, now as a fully integrated member of a group of quieter animals.

If you want to learn more about the Donkey Sanctuary there is a lot of interesting information on the website of the sanctuary.

About the authors:

One Social Europe: an extraordinary journey of discovery (part 1)

Posted on October 8, 2015October 8, 2015 by Viktoria Hautkappe & Felix Junker

Road trip through Europe in search of social projects — Discovery of Europe and its people through social projects (copyright by Viktoria Hautkappe & Felix Junker)

Having finished their studies, Viktoria and Felix decided to start an adventure: In a 6-month trip they wanted to visit all 26 navigable countries of the European Union with their van. During this period, they presented different social or charitable projects on their website and via their facebook page. Spotlight Europe is happy to present an exclusive interview with Viktoria and Felix about their project ‘One Social Europe’, and congratulates them on their adventurous and social spirit.

Tell us a little bit about yourselves please.
Felix: Hi, I’m Felix. I’m 26 and for the past years I’ve been living in Cologne. I studied Eventmanagement and I am working on different projects round the world.
Viktoria: I’m Viktoria, 25, and I came to Cologne for my studies, as well. I’m a freelance cultural educator and last year, Felix and me both finished our studies . We decided not to start working directly, but to do a big trip through Europe. We started the project “one social europe” and are very proud to present it to Spotlight Europe today!

Can you briefly describe your project One Social Europe?
Felix: The idea was quite easy: in a 6-month trip, we wanted to visit all 26 navigable countries of the European Union. During these 6 months, we wanted to present different social and charitable projects all around europe.
Viktoria: We wrote a blog on our website and got in contact with our followers via Facebook, as well. In the end, not everything turned out, as we planned it, but still we are happy how the project developed.

One Social Europe brought Viktoria and Felix from the seaside to the Alps (copyright by Viktoria Hautkappe and Felix Junker) — ‘One Social Europe’ took Viktoria and Felix from the seaside to the Alps (copyright by Viktoria Hautkappe and Felix Junker)

How was the idea of One Social Europe born?
Viktoria: The very first idea was to have a time-out after our studies. But soon we realized that we wished to have some more value in this time. We did not only want to travel, but get in contact with the locals.
Felix: As the idea of Europe was inspiring us, we mixed this inspiration with our joy for travelling and our long-term social commitment in a Catholic Youth Organization: and one social europe was born.
Viktoria: Our goal was to inform, how Europeans are involved in several social projects. We wanted to find out, what motivates them and what kind of projects are spread throughout europe to form one social continent, which means to form one social europe.

What was your motivation to drive through Europe in a van?
Felix: Freedom and being indepent.
Viktoria: Yes, and to be able to get as close to the locals as possible.
Felix: The van we used, was often the first thing we talked about with other people, because most people connect these old cars with freedom – and we did so, too.

How much preparation did you need in advance?
Felix: Not much.
Viktoria: In fact we didn’t have the time for a long-term preparation. We decided around February to do the trip and started at the 2nd of August. And Felix went to Brasil for three months in this time.
Felix: So we needed a good schedule and a lot of help from friends and family.What about logistics?

Was your trip prearranged or rather spontaneous?
Viktoria: Rather spontaneous!
Felix: We had an idea about the route and we prebooked some ferrys. But we had to change these bookings after the first problems with the van.
Viktoria: And in the end, we didn’t take any of the pre-booked ferrys.
Felix: Even the route changed. For example we didn’t make it to Greece and some other countries.

Thanks for the interview, Viktoria and Felix! We will present one of your projects in more details next week, and the interview will be continued as well! If you cannot wait, you can already have a look at their website: www.one-social-europe.com.

About the interview partners:

Religious Desire

Posted on September 18, 2015September 23, 2015 by Shinouk Ettema

Alexander Smarius is a teacher at Vossius Gymnasium Amsterdam. He teaches Greek and Latin and is a Jehovah Witness. He has always had a religious desire, even though his parents were Catholic. After he got in touch with a Jehovah witness and becoming a father he knew he found the right way to fill it in.

Do you have any struggles living your religion in your country?
In Holland and other Western European countries Jehovah’s Witnesses enjoy their freedom of religion. We have meetings in our Kingdom Halls twice per week. Also, we are at liberty to approach other people with our offer of a Bible course free of charge. In my country and its neighbouring countries, most people appear not to be interested in communicating with us. Many tend to be prejudiced towards both the Bible and organized religion. Although we sometimes encounter some form of enmity, most of the time people are polite. Even if only a minority actually accepts our open invitation to benefit from biblical education, it is clear there is a great spiritual need. Every year new members in Holland join our global brotherhood.

Have you ever got excluded from anywhere or got problems because of your religion?
No. Sometimes I choose not to participate in social events myself and, when requested to do so, politely explain why.

Are you satisfied by your government’s religious tolerance activities?
Apart from our constitutional right to freely enjoy our religion, I have no specific knowledge of government involvement in promoting tolerance towards religion in general or my religion in particular. I feel very fortunate about our circumstances here and in most other European countries, for members of our brotherhood in several other countries around the world experience real difficulties or downright persecution.

Do you have any rights for minority religions in your country? (e.g. Non-Governmental organizations)
The global organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses is called the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. It is a non-profit organization and as such is legally exonerated from taxation of donations in Holland and other countries.

What does EU integration mean for you and your community? How does it affect you?
As a religious group that makes an active use of the right of freedom of speech, we have benefitted from the existence of the European Court of Human Rights. For instance, some countries have tried to impose restrictions on our religious practices. Appeals were made to this European Court, which has repeatedly ruled in our favour, so that we can continue practicing our faith freely. We are very grateful for this. Apart from that, I think the EU is not a ‘union’ in the full sense of the word. People are still divided by cultural, political and religious views and of course by language. The key to true unification of a diversity of peoples is not to be found in the EU.

How do you (as a person and as member of a community) see the rest of society and other religious groups?
All mankind, whether in prosperous or poor countries, suffers from problems of which the most serious are as yet unsolvable: dysfunctional food distribution resulting in both over- and undernourishment, incurable diseases, violent armed conflicts, environmental degradation. I admire people, both individual and organized, who do not accept this and strive to deal with at least one of these problems. Sadly, most initiatives in the end come to nothing due to inefficient means, political inadequacy, discouragement or corruption. Furthermore, the greatest of all unsolvable problems, uncontrollable health loss due to ageing and inescapable death. The Bible clearly promises a universal Government that will solve all these problems. It will turn the entire earth into an ideal environment in which man can live for ever in peace and perfect health – no discord, no ageing, no death. It is both an enormous privilege to know this and a great responsibility to pass on this knowledge of the future to others. So I regard my fellow man, regardless of his or her ethnical, social or religious background, as someone who needs to know he or she can benefit from this. As for other religions, all of these are in some way or other involved in politics and warfare. By contrast, Jehovah’s Witnesses are politically neutral and never participate in War. This allows us to freely speak to people of all persuasions. Since we avoid political divisions, we are united as an international brotherhood, a true and growing union that already enjoys the practical biblical advice that helps us facing the many problems we have while we await the New World.

What is your opinion about religious education in the Netherlands and what do you think about the principle ‘’Teaching, not preaching’’?
To start with the latter question, when religion is the subject, teaching and preaching both amount to sharing knowledge about the teachings of a specific religion. The difference in my opinion is that teaching is merely explaining what persons of this or that religion believe, whereas someone who preaches is himself a believer who wishes those to whom he preaches will embrace his beliefs also. Preaching should be done in a situation that is different from the class room. The one who is listening should consent to the fact that he is preached to, and this implies an equal standing between both parties. In the class room, a teacher has power over his pupils, a power that must not be used to preach rather than teach when there is no way the pupils can consent to it. So, I agree with the principle. Of course it is useful when young people learn about religion as long as their teacher teaches without preaching.

Interview by Shinouk Ettema

May 2015, Amsterdam

About the author:

Shinouk Ettema (16) took part in the Dutch edition of “My Europe” in 2014. When coming home from Vossius Gymnasium in Amsterdam, she loves to go horse riding, play the guitar and do fun things with her friends. Shinouk is not quite sure yet what her profession should be, but it should involve making contact with other cultures, lots of travelling and writing.

For me, My Europe is…

…a place where everyone can interact with each other to achieve more together than they would have on their own.

Mother nature in danger

Posted on September 8, 2015September 9, 2015 by Nadia El-Rafei

Climate change and Energy have always been the EU’s top priority to make a better and healthier world. The two subjects are extremely coherent with one another in addition to being vital in mankind’s survival. Overwhelming scientific consensus and real life impacts tell us that Global warming is real, is caused by human activity, and is a significant threat to our health, economy and environment. Shall we ever neglect the importance of either factors, humanity shall face its greatest threat, extinction.

However, when the situation is under the mighty of EU’s handle, the world may rest assured that the problem will definitely be solved. Who knows what sophisticated technological advancements we shall unravel in pursuit of saving energy and rescuing our climate?

It was a warm Sunday morning; Frank was enjoying a cup of coffee on the terrace enjoying the rays of beautiful sunlight with the garden nourishing in his backyard. Happy that the EU has made so much progress in the past 15 years, after the world was on the edge of a catastrophic climate back in 2015. Back then, Frank could not imagine a world where problems would decrease gradually. From global warming, to excessive energy consumption, such problems caused extreme controversy on whether humanity will survive in the upcoming years. It was an era where you’d look up to the sky and see nothing but depressing foggy clouds, where seeing sunlight was a bliss few people had the privilege to.

The world was facing so many problems in every aspect. All seemed to have a solution, but this problem needed work, work that only the European Countries combined together with their resources could handle.

When asked about our current climate issue, Kofi Annan, former secretary general of UN, clearly stated that the world is reaching the tipping point beyond which climate change may become irreversible. If this happens, we risk denying present and future generations the right to a healthy and sustainable planet- the whole of humanity stands to lose.

“We risk denying present and future generations the right to a healthy and sustainable planet- the whole of humanity stands to lose.”

Some people were frustrated after hearing the statement from Annan, it seemed the world have had its full share of disasters. Right then, the adaptations to decrease the damage in the climate began to seem irrelevant and pointless, people lost faith in saving their own lives and some gave up and continued abusing the atmosphere through highly chemical toxic products. However, the European Union is still determined to fix this issue, hence it putting goals to reach by the year 2030, such as cutting in greenhouse gas emissions compared with 1990 by 40%, and increase energy efficiency to 27%. Alas, even governments need the help of the people, such plans include using less water, building flood defenses…etc.

“Nature’s love has been integrated within us from the moment we were born. She is our caring mother, our guardian, our very oxygen that we breathe and shivers down our lungs.”

Nature’s love has been integrated within us from the moment we were born. She is our caring mother, our guardian, our very oxygen that we breathe and shivers down our lungs. She has never been hostile towards her children who unfortunately are taking advantage of our sweet heart and abusing all the resources she has to offer. In the end it is nature that defines us and our culture. “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”- Albert Einstein

About the author:

Nadia El-Rafei is a 19-year old student at Ernst-Litfaß-Schule in Berlin. She participated in the “My Europe” Workshop in Germany in 2015. In her free time, Nadia enjoys reading, writing and drawing.

“For me, Europe means freedom and success.”

European values – charade or heartfelt reality?

Posted on September 4, 2015September 4, 2015 by Manfred Pohl

The picture of three-year old Aylan from Kobanî (Syria) haunted people all over the world this week. The image of a little, innocent boy rejected by a European super power struck everyone. Full of hope, probably with horrible war memories from back home, Aylan was escaping his past in the hope of a better future.

We all know how the story ended. There is no more hope for Aylan having a better life. His dead little body was found at the shores of Turkey.

Has now the time come that we Europeans finally wake up? A time when we realize that we have to act in solidarity? A time when action counts more than words?

“We cannot ignore the boats that sink in the Mediterranean Sea almost every day, drowning with them the lives, stories, potential and dreams of hundreds or even thousands of migrants.”

A certain hypocrisy has been prevailing in Europe. A mood that we have to help refugees is certainly present, however, concrete action, particularly by individual states is still lacking. We cannot ignore the boats that sink in the Mediterranean Sea almost every day, drowning with them the lives, stories, potential and dreams of hundreds or even thousands of migrants.

Isn’t it hypocritical of the world’s leaders to ask for solidarity from their citizens but not providing for enough initial reception centres for asylum applicants, or making sure that the applications for asylum are being processed more quickly?

Just as an example: Pope Francis has been urging for international action on migrants for months. However, how many refugees are sheltered in Vatican City? Shouldn’t a surface of 44 hectres offer enough space to accommodate a certain amount of people in need? Is Christian preaching just valid for others? Shouldn’t the clergy know what escape and oppression means?

Nonetheless, it is overwhelming to witness the solidarity and help by the people. More and more initiatives are growing, more and more people are volunteering throughout Europe. Pensioners accompany refugees to the authorities. Young adults give language classes. Families arrange play dates with migrant families. Children donate their toys. The civil society is trying to stand up for what politics do not manage so far: trying to welcome refugees and making their lives a little bit brighter.

Thank you to all those who believe and act in accordance with humanity. May their voices and action always be louder and more visible than of those who ignorantly promote hate and discord.

About the author:

Prof. Dr. Manfred Pohl is the Founder and Chairman of Frankfurter Zukunftsrat, the think tank that organises “My Europe”. more…