The Values Quest Adventure in Southport

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.


The day-long trip from Skopje to Southport on the 25th brought them 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 group spent the following day in preparations for the Manchester event, 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.

A visit to Liverpool, Anfield Stadium, dragon boat races and cheering, a Chinese meal, shopping, museums, galleries, Gala Dinner and dressing up, awards, dancing, laughing, no sleep - this was the last day in Southport. And an evaluation talk, during which everyone was sad that the end of the project had come, but also expressed their pleasure that the two teams got along so well and became one and their gratitude 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.

Written by: Daniela Atanasova

Values Quest Exchange Visit in Macedonia, 21st - 27th July, 2007

As you have experienced, this summer has really been the hottest ever! It was hot because of the weather conditions, but also because of the atmosphere made by twenty young people from Macedonia and the UK.

As part of Values Quest project, a UK-Macedonia project promoting human values and active citizenship among youth, in the period of 21-27 July, an exchange visit happened in Macedonia. Ten young people from the Meops Cup Youth Centre, within the Sefton Youth Service from the UK came to Macedonia. Their hosts were the members of the Macedonian VQ team, members of the Blue Sky Youth Network. Together, they had a chance to visit some historical and tourist sights in Macedonia and to learn more about the local culture and tradition. They had a small tour around Skopje and saw the City Fortress, the Old Bazaar and some old churches, and later had dinner in a traditional Macedonian restaurant. However, they also saw the new, i.e. the modern part of the city, went to a café and danced on a dance machine, and had a first-hand experience of the life of the young people in Skopje, and in Macedonia.

The Values Quest team visited the Monastery St.Jovan Bigorski, situated in the mountains in Western Macedonia. The English group had an opportunity to learn more about the history of the place, and feel the spirituality and the calmness of the monks living there. Because of the heat, the young people were in search of cooler place, so they visited three lakes: Mavrovo Lake, Matka Lake and Dojran Lake.

The day at Matka (natural resort near Skopje), July 23rd, was reserved for Snap the Nature, an all-day event at national level, promoting creativity in using natural resources. The Macedonian VQ team was responsible for the organisation of the event, while the members of the English VQ team joined one of the two workshops: crafts or photography.

The following days, the group stayed at Hotel Sirius in Strumica, the venue of the Blue Sky Summer School ’07. There they discovered the “heaven on Earth”, the swimming pool :) They had a really good time, splashing each other and refreshing themselves, but also doing water teambuilding games, which were a lot of fun. They also visited the beautiful Smolare Waterfalls and spent some time in the nature, working together on preparing their presentation. They also had an opportunity to get involved in the creative workshops of the Blue Sky Summer School. At the end, they made a very amusing project presentation for the Summer School participants.

Both, the members of the Macedonian and the English VQ team, enjoyed the exchange visit in Macedonia, had time to get to know each other better, start functioning better as a team, learn more about the others’ culture and, most importantly, have fun together! :)

Written by: Ivana Trajanovska

Mass Mess Summer Jam

We are pretty sure that you have already heard about one of the activities of the Values Quest project, called Mass Mess, whose aim was to promote team spirit among the high-school students.

Well, the members of the Blue Sky local club Kumanovo were inspired by this activity, and beside their Mass Mess local activity that they organised after the Mass Mess activity in Veles, they took an initiative by themselves, and decided to make a second Mass Mess local activity.

They called it Mass Mess Summer Jam and it took place on July 2nd, near the swimming pool at the hotel Lav, Kumanovo. About 30 members of the local club participated in it, and it was a big show for the numerous audience.

You can read more about this event at the Blue Sky web site and see the photos there.

Snap the Nature

Dear Blue Sky people,

if you feel a need for artistic expression, want to show your talent and ideas or learn something new in an interesting way, just read on.

We hereby present you the third activity of the National project Values Quest of the Blue Sky Youth Network and British Council, Snap the Nature, a one-day event wholly devoted to creativity and forming bonds with nature through art, which will take place on 23th July 2007, by the beautiful Matka Lake, near Skopje.

Two parallel activities will be taking place as part of this event:
- a Photography workshop, which will invlove 10 participants (the participants will have to bring their own cameras), and
- an Art&Environment workshop involving 20 participants.
The workshops will be led by professional trainers.

In order to participate you just have to be a Blue Sky member and fill out the application form and send it to valuesquest@gmail.com before 21rst June. The applicants will be contacted and notified about the outcome of the selection no later than 27th June.

All travel expenses of the selected participants will be covered, and lunch and refreshments will be provided.

So what are you waiting for? Send your application and come, we'll create amazing and unusual things.

Yours
Values Quest Core Team