Najprej je bila slaba šala. In ko se takšna šala ne prime, se izgovorimo na idejo. Ideja pa brez razglabljanja sploh ne bi obstajala. Ko pa o njej razglabljajo odločni ljudje, pogosto pride do njene uresničitve. Tako se je zgodil. Oh in sploh nepozabni mednarodni mladinski tabor Mladi proti homofobiji. Ki je k sebi, poleg mladih iz države gostiteljice Slovenije, privabil še mlade iz Poljske, Nizozemske in Romunije. Odziv je bil več kot zadovoljiv, zato smo se med med 31. avgustom in 7. septembrom zbrali v hostlu Nika.
Začetek tabora je potekal povsem pričakovano. Brezglavo dirjanje Slovencev in Slovenk, ki so na hitro urejali še zadnje detajle, in ležerno kapljanje gostov. Vsakega posebej so sprejeli v recepciji, ga pozdravili, zaslišali in poslali v sobo, kjer so se začele plesti prve vezi med udeleženci.
Seveda tudi na začetku ne gre povsem brez težav. Idejo o "mednarodnih sobah", s katerimi naj bi se vezi med državami še okrepile, so pokvarili raznorazni parčki, ki so želeli bivati v istem prostoru. In ker je bilo tam tudi veliko milostnih src, se je prošnjam ugodilo.
Nekako tako je minil prvi dan. Pakiranje, plaho pogledovanje k sosedom in sosedam, grupiranje po materinščini.
Tole ni navaden internetni dnevnik. Zatorej tudi ne bo sledil opis po dnevih. A ker ima vsaka zgodba rep in glavo, tako bo predstavljena vsaka aktivnost tabora posebej, od jutra do večera.
Vstajanje:
Vsako jutro nas je naša predraga Romana zbudila nekje med pol osmo in osmo uro zjutraj. Saj ne, da smo njen klic upoštevali, a treba ji je priznati vztrajnost. In ko smo končno pokazali malo usmiljenja do njenega utopičnega dela, smo odracali na zajtrk, kavo, morda samo jutranjo cigareto. Potem (ali pred tem) pa seveda še skrajno previdno izbiranje oblačil in modnih dodatkov.
Delavnice:
Tabor brez delavnic ne obstaja. In ta ni bil prav nikakršna izjema. Kljub veliki meri stokanja o nečloveški uri delavnic (nekje med deseto in enajsto uro dopoldan), sta nas Maja in Romana prisilili s pomočjo srednjeveških mučilnih naprav, da smo na delavnicah tudi sodelovali. Kar sploh ni bilo tako slabo. Kajti priča smo bili dvema zelo poučnima predavanjema o lobiranju ter homofobiji in heteronormativnosti na delovnem mestu.
Prvo delavnico je vodil Blaž, ki je razložil, kaj lobiranje sploh je, v kolikšni meri je prisotno v medijih in politiki, kako se ga izvaja, kdo ga izvaja, zakaj ga izvaja,... Skratka vse, kar more novopečeni lobist ali lobistka vedeti. Po delavnici je potekala še prostovoljna delavnica, kjer so najbolj zagreti pisali apele na razne institucije ter se tako urili v klepanju besed.
Drugo delavnico je vodila Tatjana Greif. V dobri urici je predstavila situacijo LGBTQ oseb na delovnem mestu, kako se vsakodnevno soočajo s homofobijo in heteronormativnostjo. Razložila je, kako se razne organizacije borijo proti temu pojavu, kakšni so uspehi in kakšne uspehe lahko pričakujemo v bodoče. V razmislek nam je razdelila še publikacijo, ki se s to problematiko sreča še podrobneje.
Delovne skupine:
Za sodelujoče tabor ni bil ravno kraj počitka. Proti koncu tabora je potekala akcija Homofobija: prekinimo molk, katero smo pripravili vsi "taborniki" in "tabornice". Ker takšna akcija ni ravno mačji kašelj je bilo potrebno pošteno pljuniti v roke. Zato smo se razdelili v štiri skupine:
- Filmska skupina; snemali so dokumentarec o taboru in mnenju okolice o LGBTQ situaciji.
- Skupna za pisanje apelov; "izumljali" so različne slogane za akcijo ter vrteli besede na sto in en način.
- Oblikovna skupina; poskrbeli so za lep izgled prizorišča akcije.
- Skupina za druženje; utrjevali vezi med prisotnimi z različnimi družabnimi igrami.
Kuhanje:
Poskrbeti, da štirideset ljudi ni lačnih, je težka naloga. In to zvaliti na pleča dveh kuharjev je neprijazno. Zatorej smo se bistroumno razporedili v skupine in vsak dan je ena skupina kuharjem pomagala rezati paradižnik, bučke, čebulo, skratka raznorazno zelenjavo. Mesa ni bilo. Bila pa je soja. In dolga vrsta pred WC školjko, saj vsi niso navajeni take prehrane.
Šport:
Večurno sedenje ni prijazno telesu. Zato smo vsako prosto urico izrabili za igre z žogo na bližnjem šolskem igrišču. Nogomet, košarka, odbojka in morda še kaj so bili stalnica našega vsakdana. Zdrav duh v zdravem telesu.
Večerne zabave:
Ne pozabimo, da je bil to mladinski tabor. Brez zabave med mladimi? To ne gre. Skupina za druženje je vsak večer pripravila kratkočasno družabno igrico, po njej pa smo se mnogi odpravili v najbližji juke box bar, in pili... Khem... Coca-colo. ;) Tudi tam ni šlo brez igric, ki pa so postale malo bolj predrzne. Resnica ali izziv, Zavrti steklenico in podobne gostilniške igre so bile stalno na repertoarju.
Torej, tole je bil kratek opis tabora, malo v spomin, malo v informacijo vsem, ki so se želeli prijaviti, pa si niso upali. Tako, da jim bo sedaj žal.
Eng.
First it was a bad joke that grew to become an idea. And ideas are worth nothing in theory, thus we decided to realize it. That's how this incredible, unforgottable etc. week (Youth against Homophobia Camp) even came to be. From 31st August to 7th September active and enthusiastic participants from Slovenia, Romania, Poland and the Netherlands gathered in Kranjska Gora's youth hostel Nika.
The camp started according to our expectations. The Slovene organizers running to and fro, dealing with the final details, the foreigns participants dropping in throughout the day. Each newly arrived hero was greeted by our receptionists, given a welcome pack and sent to the room (where first ties of friendship began to tie).
The first day went by quickly – unpacking, some shy gazes aimed at your neighbours, hanging out in smaller groups (consisting solely of one nationality). This, of course, changed already the next day, when people started opening up and socializing.
Presenting some formalities:
Morning pleasures (getting out of bed):
Each morning we were gently awoken by Romana (the camp organizer) around 7.30. It took some time before her efforts finally paid off; despite her persistancy some people came down just in time to miss breakfast.
Workshops:
No camp without workshops! Despite the moaning and groaning due to the early hours in which the workshops took place (around 10 a.m.), Maja and Romana used the medieval torturing devices to persuade us into cooperating. Which (as it turned out) wasn't at all bad, since we also witnessed two delightful workshops, one on lobbying and one on homophobia and heteronormativity at work.
Blaž Kovač of AI was the man of the first workshop, explaining what lobbying actually is, how it is present in the media and politics, how things work, who, how, why, where … and all the important things. To make a long story short – he introduced us into the basics of lobbying, then offered us an extra workshop where we practiced appeal writing.
The woman of the second workshop was Ms. Tatjana Greif of Škuc LL. She presented the situation of LGBTQ at work, where most of them has to face homophobia and heteronormativity on a daily basis. She explained the mechanisms which several organizations use in order to fight discrimination, how succesfull those organizations are and what difficulties they are facing. She also handed out a publication that deals with the topic even more detailed, shedding a light on the subject matter from several angles.
Working groups:
The camp wasn't designed to be a leisure oasis. On the last day, we planned a public action called Homophobia: Break the silence, which all of the participants helped prepare. Since preparing a public action in 6 days is not exactly a piece of cake, we had to do some hard work. To be more efficient, we formed 4 groups:
- The film group: filming a documentary on the camp, gathering statements on the LGBTQ situation (asking the people from the surroundings).
- Text-writing group; Brainstorming on different slogans for the actions, playing with words.
- Designers group: Thanks to them, the place of the action looked marvellous;
- Socialising group: Builing up the team spirit by organizing games, ice-breakers …
Cooking:
Keeping 40 people sated is a hell of a task, especially if there are only two cooks to do the job. Noble as we were, we formed a group of kitchen helpers to help them prepare each meal (actually, the organizers made us do it). There was not meat but plenty of soy and an abundance of complaints but the carnivorous camp participants.
Sports and recreation:
Sitting still for hours on end doesn’t do your body any good. Thus we used every possible time unit we could find to do some sports. Football, basketball, volleyball, running … Anima sana in corpore sano!
Pleasures of the evening:
Let’s not forget – this was a youth camp. So many youths and no party? Impossible! The socialising group prepared some fun games every evening. And afterwards we all gathered in the local juke-box bar and drank … coke and orange juice! With each … juice we had we were wilder and wilder … soon we were entwined in crazy drinking games – “Truth or dare” “I have never” “Spin the bottle” … We were playing with such devotion, drinking so quickly, that the bartender could hardly keep up with our tempo.
Well … just a short description of the camp, to let you know what you’ve missed. In case you wanted to apply but didn’t – shame on you! We hope you feel sorry now ;).
