BEROVO, DELCEVO & MAKEDONSKA KAMENICA
On 15th April, on the peak of the mountain Golak, in a neighbouring atmosphere, more than 60 young people participated in their local Mass Mess. This Mass Mess gathered representatives from 3 neighbouring
Blue Sky local clubs: Berovo, Delcevo and Makedonska Kamenica. The participants were divided into 6 groups and played various games, such as basketball, football, best voice and the knot game. The participants actively participated in the activities, and more importantly constantly developed friendships among them.
Furthermore, the Mass Mess didn’t consist only of games, but also of sightseeing, as the participants together with the organizers visited the church on the mountain peak where they sang songs and played different games. Afterwards, they went to a pub in the city where the fun continued.
However, not only participants from these 3 local clubs were present at this Mass Mess. Guests from
Blue Sky local club in Probistip were also present. They contributed to this event by joining in some of the games, the excellent jokes that they told, and the most important, had gathered experience to organise such an event for the members of their local club.
The event overall, by the participants was rated with 4.5 out of 5, which is an excellent score.
KAVADARCIAlthough they faced problems at the very beginning, as the participants form the
Blue Sky local club from Negotino didn’t show up due to some problems, the
Blue Sky local club Kavadarci organised a wonderful Mass Mess.
The Mass Mess happened on the sport fields of the sport centre Jasmin on 21th April, and got 15 exceptional individuals involved into different activities. As the participants from
Blue Sky local club Negotino didn’t come, only one group was formed, which did the following activities: Massage, Name and Gesture, Pass the ball, Flintstones, Two truths and a lie, Gordian Knot, Drunken Bottle, and The Race.
All of the activities were made with exceptional results, as a proof of which it can be mentioned that the activities that involved competitive spirit were measured 3 times for more accurate results.
VELESAt the place where the original and national Mass Mess was organised by the Values Quest Core Team, another, not much smaller, Mass Mess took place… this time, at local level only. This event gathered 27 participants, coordinators and group leaders.
The participants were divided in 3 groups. The groups were called Kids Next Door, Power Puff Girls & the Edds. They played games similar to the national Mass Mess’ ones and few that were made up by the coordinators and were given a name ‘knots.’
The winners at this local Mass Mess were the Edds, so they received small awards. The Mass Mess ended in the coffee bar nearby, where all the participants enjoyed a small party.
GOSTIVARIn the park near the economic high school in Gostivar, on 26 April, for one and a half hour, the Mass Mess local activity took place. The park proved as a perfect spot for the 15 young people and the 4 coordinators from the
Blue Sky local club Gostivar to create wonderful and interesting Mass Mess.
The Mass Mess started with group introduction games and name games as Massage, Name and Gesture, Two Truths and a Lie. It was followed by activities that emphasised the teamwork and the improvement of communication within the team.
At the end of the day, competition games were played during which the group named Pink Panter won.
OHRIDApril 22nd was a special day for all the members of the
Blue Sky local club Ohrid. That was the day when they organised their local Mass Mess activity. Their meeting point was Buffalo Beach and they gathered there at 13:00. They split in two groups, 12 participants in each, and the names of the groups were ‘Snoopy’ and ‘Garfield.’ They played many interesting teambuilding and competing games like balloon shaving and jumping with their legs fasten, but they also did some intellectually challenging exercises. The members found them really interesting to play.
Between the games, they had a break, at which refreshments were provided. During the whole activity they were full of energy and motivation. At the end, the ‘Garfield’ group won and they had the pleasure to throw some lake water to the other group. The fun didn’t end until all the participants got wet, as a real water fight started :) It is interesting to mention that at the Mass Mess local activity in Ohrid the
Blue Sky members brought their friends and they really had fun together.
STIPIn the afternoon on April 22nd, the
Blue Sky members from Stip gathered in the yard of the primary school ‘Dimitar Vlahov’ in Stip to make their local Mass Mess. There were 12 members of the
Blue Sky local club Stip. They played different name games and team-building games, such as: Poseidon and the Sea, Two Truths and a Lie, and other interesting games.
All the members of the
Blue Sky local club Stip were informed about the activity on time. At the beginning of the activity, the agenda of the event was read and the participants were explained the games. Then they were divided in two groups named after the famous TV series ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Charmed’. First, they played games within the groups, and later the two groups had a competion between each other. At the and, amazingly, the two groups had equal number of points.
Their digital camera didn’t work, which is why we can not show you some photos of their Mass Mess. However, the most important thing is that everything went well and all the participants were satisfied with the completed activity.
They didn’t have any guests at their local Mass Mess, beside the children who were playing in the school yard. But, the interesting thing about this is that few days after the activity, they saw the same children playing the same games that they played. Interesting, huh? :)
SKOPJEOn 27th of April, on the sport ground of the high school Josip Broz Tito, for more than two hours a real mass mess was happing. 20 young people from the capital were participating in various activities and games that improved the teamwork and built up the competitive spirit in these young people.
The participants were doing two types of activities, in large group and small groups. The activities in large group involved games such as Massage and the activities in the small group were: Name and gesture Pass the ball, Flintstones, Gordian (Human) knot, Pass the pulse, Stand Up, Drunken bottle. And in order for it to be a real mass mess, competing games took place, as the well-known - Race.
An interesting fact was that this Mass Mess was the first
Blue Sky event for some of the participants. It was pleasing that some of them showed up on the next meeting of the
Blue Sky local club Skopje and we hope that we will see them more often at the activities of the
Blue Sky Youth Network.
KUMANOVO
For nearly 5 hours, on April 28th in the city of Kumanovo, a massive Mass Mess happened. The organisers gathered more than 28 young people, led by 4 group leaders, in the park nearby, and played various games and activities. The activities were run by no other but the special guests at the event,
our dearly beloved Elena Nikolova and Milica Arsovska from Values Quest Core Team, and Ljubica Manasievska from Kocani (who was there ’to borrow’ ideas ).
The participants were divided in two groups - Sandacinja and Cizmicinja, and played games such as Find you friend, Pass the pulse, Stand Up, Drunken bottle and many many more…After the rather relaxing and fun games, everybody received refreshments and food. At the end, the winners were given certificates, and everybody left happy and full of positive energy.
KOCANI & VINICAIn Kocani’s spots dome, the Mass Mess local activity, organised by the
Blue Sky local clubs of Kocani and Vinica, took place. The event, which happened on 29th April, gathered 29 young people from these two clubs, for various activities and interesting games.
The participants first gathered into a big group, and then they were divided into four groups: Fruits, Animals, Flowers and Insects. Afterwards, the activities and the games started. Some of the activities included well know games, such as Name and Gesture, Group Massage, Flintstones, Two Truths and a Lie, Pass the Pulse, Human Knot, Stand Up, Tied Up, Bowling and many more.
But, it wouldn’t have been a real mass mess without a competition. In the competition, the first place was awarded to the Fruits, second to the Animals, and third – the Flowers. The winners received cream bananas, as an award.
As a representative of the Values Quest Core Team, Daniela was present at the event, who shared the wonderful experience with the rest of the team.
The results from the evaluation showed an overall rate of 4, so it was really a great Sunday afternoon in Kocani.
PRILEPThe Mass Mess local activity in Prilep took place on April 29th, 2007. It was organised in the Park of the Revolution, and it started at 11:00. It was visited by 18 participants, all members of the Blue Sky local club Prilep. There were three groups, whose names were ‘Scramble,’ ‘Tooth’ and ‘Thorn.’ Of course, the winner was the group that won the biggest number of points in the activities. They played eight games, those being: Pass and Tell, Steve's Invention,
Spider's Web, Water Balloons, All on One, Through All of Our Hands, Pass Me and Body Words. The winner of the Mass Mess local activity was the group named ‘Thorn.’ The event lasted for two hours. It is also important to mention that the participants attracted a lot of attention, and they had a lot of fun!
KRIVA PALANKAOn April 29th, 18 members of the
Blue Sky local club Kriva Palanka gathered at the town playground in order to have their Mass Mess local activity. They played the following games: Massage, Name and Gesture, Two Truths and a Lie, Pass the Pulse, Stand Up, Mafia, Football and other ball games. They decided to play all the games in one group. At the playground, there were also some peers that they knew, so they invited them to join. They had fun for more than 2 hours.
Everything went well and they were happy, satisfied and a bit tired when they got home. It was a really good experience and they hoped that it would happen again in near future.
Written by: Igor Izotov and Ivana Trajanovska
The final, and probably the most exciting for the Macedonian team, stage of the Values Quest project was the exchange visit of the team to the United Kingdom. They were visiting their partners from Sefton Youth Service in Southport in the period between 25 August and 1 September 2007. The Macedonian group had been looking forward to this trip from the very start of the project and the programme provided for them by the UK team, as well as the surprisingly good weather, justified this - it was a memorable experience.
to Southport late in the evening, tired and luggageless, but nevertheless pleased at the sight of their smiling English friends welcoming them. The three-course tea at the hotel and the rooms rounded up the excitements of the day. What followed in the morning were preparations for the Cultural Day, a big event for Southport, where the Values Quest team had their own stall, presented the project and Macedonia as best they could, met the Mayor of Southport and had a great time meeting new friends and doing different activities, such as graffiti drawing, playing golf, strolling along the green grass and looking at the blue sky, unusually sunny for England.
The morning of the next day was dedicated to getting to know Southport. During this Town Rally the team was divided in groups which went on an exploring expedition, doing different tasks and seeing many beautiful places. Afterwards: lunch in the park and playing ‘hide and seek’. In the evening, Tony, one of the UK team leaders, managed to embarrass a large percentage of the group by means of his ‘notorious’ Karaoke - Bob Marley show.
Tuesday was Water Sports Day, a very new and different experience for the Macedonians which included canoeing, raft building and being in a boat that turned over in the middle of a lake, which means being drenched and cold, and, strangely enough, still having great fun. The day ended with bowling and barbeque and luggage arriving :)
the concluding conference of the Youth, Sport, Action! project, working together in a relaxed and interesting atmosphere on designing the Values Quest stall. In the afternoon, they went together to a recording studio, where they recorded their Values Quest rap, a soon-to-be number-one hit :) The big gathering of all the projects within the Youth, Sport, Action! project took place in Manchester on August 30th. There the team presented their project, saw what the other teams had done, met up with old friends and danced during the party in the evening – an excellent conclusion of the whole project.
for having being part of this wonderful experience. However, they all realised that this end is just the beginning of future successful cooperation between Sefton Youth Service and the Blue Sky Youth Network, the beginning of friendships to last.
