This is a blog about a youth organisation called Juvente Finland. It's an organisation for young people who don't drink. No, it's not about being against alcohol. It's more about promoting a sober lifestyle. I will probably write more about our goals and so on later.
Juvente Finland is a very new organisation. We have existed for about a month now. It took many years to fight the bureaucracy and to gather enough people to get started. We still need a lot more people though. We have less than 5 active members. None of us live in the same town or even region. That's my challenge. Why do I feel it's mine? There are several reasons for that. First off, I'm the only one living in a bigger city and actually having the possibility to gather a lot of people. And then, I'm also probably the only one really willing to fight for this. I'm not saying the others don't care. For them it's just more important that we exist, at least on a paper. I want to have activities, too. I'm greatly inspired by similar organisations from other countries, such as Juvente Germany. I want to have something like that here. It's just not very easy.
So, the real challenge is: We don't have money. We don't have a place we could use for our activities. Most importantly, we don't have members living closer than 500km from each other. I somehow need to get someone I could do this with. Someone I could start the activities with. I mean, I can't really start any activities until I get more people. I don't really want to have picnics or game evenings alone hoping that someone else would come. The thing is, the easiest way to get new members is to organise activities and then inviting people to those activities. It's kinda like with the chicken and the egg: what to do first when both of these things kinda require each other.
The idea is basically to organise something to do without alcohol and also to gather non-drinking young people together. It's a lot easier when you know you're not alone. Those people could also participate in the activities (e.g. camps, seminars) of ACTIVE which is our "umbrella organisation" in Europe. Juvente Finland is not a member organisation yet but we will be once we manage to apply (which will happen when I get our official papers and a little help with the application).
I don't really have a plan how I'm going to start all this. All ideas and suggestions are welcome. I'm writing this blog because 1) then I will most likely get more things done and 2) people from other organisations can follow what is happening in our organisation.
Let's hope for the best.
Juvente Finland is a very new organisation. We have existed for about a month now. It took many years to fight the bureaucracy and to gather enough people to get started. We still need a lot more people though. We have less than 5 active members. None of us live in the same town or even region. That's my challenge. Why do I feel it's mine? There are several reasons for that. First off, I'm the only one living in a bigger city and actually having the possibility to gather a lot of people. And then, I'm also probably the only one really willing to fight for this. I'm not saying the others don't care. For them it's just more important that we exist, at least on a paper. I want to have activities, too. I'm greatly inspired by similar organisations from other countries, such as Juvente Germany. I want to have something like that here. It's just not very easy.
So, the real challenge is: We don't have money. We don't have a place we could use for our activities. Most importantly, we don't have members living closer than 500km from each other. I somehow need to get someone I could do this with. Someone I could start the activities with. I mean, I can't really start any activities until I get more people. I don't really want to have picnics or game evenings alone hoping that someone else would come. The thing is, the easiest way to get new members is to organise activities and then inviting people to those activities. It's kinda like with the chicken and the egg: what to do first when both of these things kinda require each other.
The idea is basically to organise something to do without alcohol and also to gather non-drinking young people together. It's a lot easier when you know you're not alone. Those people could also participate in the activities (e.g. camps, seminars) of ACTIVE which is our "umbrella organisation" in Europe. Juvente Finland is not a member organisation yet but we will be once we manage to apply (which will happen when I get our official papers and a little help with the application).
I don't really have a plan how I'm going to start all this. All ideas and suggestions are welcome. I'm writing this blog because 1) then I will most likely get more things done and 2) people from other organisations can follow what is happening in our organisation.
