The social day

What is the ideal age at which one should be taught humanity and solidarity? If you ask me, the sooner we let our youth know that they have the capacity to improve the society in which they live and to help the disadvantaged and underprivileged, the sooner they will become active and responsible citizens in the community. In Macedonia, this topic does not receive the attention it deserves. Instead, our youths are taught to compare their lives to those of others and to quantify life’s success in terms of materials which they possess.

The developed countries of the world have taken initiatives to raise this kind of awareness a long time ago. Since 1998, an organization has developed ways to stimulate their youth throughout Germany. This has improved the educational opportunities for their peers across Europe, including our very own Shuto Orizari, through a “permaculture” garden at the Centre for Social Initiatives Nadez in Skopje. Thus they have helped to develop a sense of community in the hearts of Roma children.

The Social Day is an initiative of the Schuler Helfen Leben (SHL) organization which has inspired many German students to collect funds to support underprivileged children and youth across Europe. Specifically, each year, during one day course, German students have the opportunity to work for a few hours. The work can be as basic as washing the dishes and delivering newspapers. The money which is collected is donated to the SHL foundation. Once the funds are gathered, the foundation makes an announcement calling for project proposal submissions. Having carefully considered the NGO’s project submissions through their student representatives, the SHL foundation chooses suitable projects to support.

Eager to know more about the Social Day which SHL organizes each year, I talked to Jani, Johannes and Marcel, who are young activists working for SHL in Hamburg and Berlin. I was not surprised to find out that they were impressive high school students; cultured and educated young people who were facing the same issues that all teenagers are. Assuming that they had already planned out their careers, I was surprised to find out that like many teenagers, they were feeling uncertain about making career plans at this age. What was not uncertain, however, was that they wanted to help youth with less opportunities and fewer privileges than themselves. For them, the situation regarding Roma children in Macedonia was deeply upsetting.

Marcel joined SHL’s Social Day when he was seven years old. He contributed to the Social Day by mowing his father’s lawn. When I asked them how they collected the money which they invested in the Permaculture garden at Nadez, Johannes and Janny casually informed me that they organized a music concert, fundraised events and lobbied in their communities.

Startled to what I had learned from speaking to them, my mind flooded with certain questions; questions which Jani, Johannes and Marcel may not have been able to answer. Firstly, I wondered what amount of effort and energy would need to be expounded to convince Macedonian parents that humanity and solidarity are important values to support by their children. Secondly, I asked myself who should sensitize the young brains of Macedonia to invest in the initiative such as SHL’s Social Day. Thirdly, who should be in charge of this initiative? Finally, I asked myself how many light years away are we from these ideals in Macedonia and most importantly, will we ever be able to accept them as a society. I hope to find the answers to these questions soon.

Slave Angelov

 

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