Connect Conference - Ligaçãojovem - TRISKEL - and then?
In April 2009 Mailen De La Maria and Tobias Bonfiglio from Argentina came to the Connect Conference in Dornach along with 500 other young people from all over the world. From this cultural youth event they took home the wish to do something in their hometown, to bring the spirit of Connect to the people back home and to carry on working for this movement of young active people that had become important to them.
In November 2009 a team from the Brazilian Youthsection put on the youthgathering Ligaçãojovem in Sao Paulo. This brought another impulse to Mailen and Tobias, who joined the Brasilian youth for those days, and left after having agreed upon working together from now on in South America, across Brasilian and Argentinian borders. Mailen made the decision there to organize a youth conference in her school as her end of school project. She asked Tobias for help, he gladly joined in, and Triskel - Crecimiento y Evolucion (growth and development) was born.
From April 15th to 18th around 90 young people from Argentina, Brasil, Switzerland, Belgium and the United States came together at the Colegio Clara de Asis, a beautiful little Waldorf school in development in Ingeniero Maschwitz, just some 40 km outside of the city of Buenos Aires, set below huge eucalyptus trees on clay earth and surrounded by high reeds and green grass. The design of the conference showed that the organizers tried to make space for all needs: deepening thoughts in the opening lecture help by the local Christian community Priest, conversation groups and artisitc workshops held by a young artist from Buenos Aires on the first day, typical activities for South America such as Macrame, the crafting of wristbands and necklaces by tying tiny knots into strings and creating patterns this way, or drawing classes, movement or bio-dynamc agriculture. Themes of conversation groups included: „how to change the world,“ „the Maya Calendar“ and more. What struck me most here was the local importance of the chosen topics. „How to change the world“ is a question that is asked on bigger scales but more importantly should be worked on with local examples. The discussion revolved a lot around the history of Argentina, political events and figures such as Che Guevara.
On Action Day, the second day, the conference turned to the local community and offered help. The school farmer needed help with the bio-dynamic preparations, the local church needed a new confirmation school building, there was rubbish on the road that needed collecting, and the school toilet building needed to be painted (with graffiti we got to design).
The days were framed by rhythmical work, movement and singing in the morning and by time to play music and dance in the night. The food was offered by the school caterer and his team from the first high school class (class 9 and 10). This chef managed to cook delicious nutritious meals in what we would call a very basic kitchen. The gas stove was put up in a class room, the preps were done by the helpers all day long, with joy and music and one could see that the helpers understood that their task was very important! The menu was simple but good. Soups from local vergetables, tortillas (we know them also as frittatas, or quiche, without the base), vegetarian fried rice, delicious. And they always offered a great amount of fresh salads, enough for everyone, but never too much. In the morning Argentina eats Media Lunas, small Croissants, very sweet and lovely. All of this food had so much love in it, I did not see anyone who didn‘t like it. It was a thoroughly pleasureful experience.
I am glad I was invited to this conference, to this interesting country Argentina and its wonderful and inspiring people. I went to there curious to find out what it is like at the other end of our world, and what I found were very young people who are passionately interested in changing this world through social and artistic processes, who show a lot of will to do so against all odds and who will inspire others to join in and become active too! I was allowed to reflect on the process I went through personally since the Connect Conference 2009, and with a little help from a friend I found my way back into the Connect Organizer shoes. At Triskel, with a few ex-Connectees around me, I could see how important it is that Connect has happened and will happen again and I made the decision to be part of that!
I am deeply grateful that the people I once gave something to by organizing Connect have now given this something back to me! I am convinced this something will be handed back and forth in our network of people who are getting inspired in our youth meetings and go home to organize their own! I expect there to be more Triskels and Ligaçãojovems in South America, more Connect Conferences in all different forms and with new names, and hopefully in all parts of the world.