Red Cross Youth Camp

 I was there

 With my friends Jonas and Edward, and upcoming delegate Ida

And my Red Cross Youth accomplice Dasha

Inbetween homecoming seminars and going back to Tromsø to attend weddings and the youth camp, I managed to hold on to my head cold a full four weeks, and they sent me home from the camp after I'd been there one day. Anyway, it was nice to be back in Norway, working with "my" Red Cross and seeing all the other delegates again.

The latest photos I took with my Nikon

 are over one month old (here: Maria, Stephania and Linda)

 and from the Global Forum of Resilience here in Cali

 with participants from 78 different Red Cross National Societies

talking about how to create resilient communities in face of disaster

And then... I don't really use my own camera much, since we have a "work" camera from the Red Cross, and I'm already carrying around too much stuff to add an extra weight to my backpack every day. It feels odd, because even while working in completely unrelated jobs in Norway, I usually used my camera more, at least to photograph my family and friends, but here I really don't use it. It might be some of the same reason that I am totally neglecting the blog - there is too much blogging, computer work and photography in my day-to-day work already, and when I'm at home I just feel like doing other things to unwind. I'll have to see what I can do about this.

My weeks through phones

 I present to you: Team Colombia! Johanne, me, Franco and Silvia (photo: Franco)

 Team Colombia working very hard on solving some task or other (photo: Silvia)

 One Maja-visit at the hostel (photo: Maja)

And one tea-in-a-bowl at the cafè where my friend Ingrid works

These past two weeks have been so ridiculously packed that I don't even know where to begin. In daytime, there's been Organisational Development, First Aid, Security, Photography, Signing of contracts and so much more, and inbetween these courses we've had long lunches, rushed lunches, energizers, stretches, and getting to know one another. This has also continued on in the evenings, since I've been staying in a hostel with the international youth delegates and two of the Norwegians, and we've been making food from Nepal, Colombia, Lesotho and Norway, and often a bit of a mix. I've met other Oslo friends (including Maja) in the weekends and evenings, but also stayed in or gone out with the other delegates and getting new friends.

Next week is the last week together, where we will be trying to cram as much information into our heads as possible, and at the same time having as much fun as possible with people we will meet again in nine months.

YOUTH DELEGATES TO COLOMBIA

 Sunniva and Johanne, take one

Sunniva and Johanne, take fourteen or thereabouts

So, this is us. We are going to stay in Colombia nine months, from September 2014 till May 2015. We are going to work together, live together, eat together, and be together about ninety percent of the time from the departure brief in August until we return to Norway next May. We met for the first time last Saturday.

This was after almost three weeks of Facebook messaging and feeling like we were preparing for a first date. Only even scarier than that, since we already knew we'd be spending all this time together, and there was no real turning back. I worried about my hair, what to wear, what to say, and so on. And then I spotted her in the food hall on the Red Cross Youth Summer Camp and I ran over and hugged her and everything was normal and easy.

I'm looking forward to this year.

Youth delegates

 Not this one, this is Dasha getting ready to photograph the delegates

 These ones though, taking photos for their blog

 June and Samantha going to stay in Norway, Mari and Sigbjørn going to Zimbabwe, guess who's who

Now, let's take some more photos of each other

Monday and Tuesday last week (man, time flies), Dasha and I were at Sørmarka near Oslo to meet the new delegates. This week, the Norwegians have left for their respective countries, while the rest have travelled to Tromsø to participate in Street Mediation in the Red Cross. As said, we will have two Colombians here in Tromsø until Christmas. They seem to be the only ones I haven't captured in a photo yet, but I'll have lots more time with them.

As of now, Samantha from Zimbabwe is staying with my family for one week, and we are discussing the Norwegians' fondness for bread, the meaning of names, and the differences in the Red Cross and Red Cross Youth organizations from country to country.

Talk

By Lukas Moodysson, I managed to find one with English subtitles

One of the big Red Cross Youth campaigns this year is against loneliness - since the numbers of lonely youth are constantly increasing. The Norwegian Red Cross Christmas campaign is called Loneliness doesn't go on holiday (implied Christmas holiday). Through this I was reminded of this incredibly strong film. It just makes me remember that I should talk to the random odd people some times, because maybe all they need is someone to talk to. I just make sure not to enter their houses (seriously, watch the film) or stay alone with them.

 First photo, perfect focus, subjects busy

Second photo, slightly out of focus, subjects perfect

From left to right: Jens Johan Hjort, Mayor of Tromsø, and Åsne Havnelid, Secretary General of the Norwegian Red Cross. The Secretary General has been visiting all districts in Norway, and was now in Troms and Tromsø. We had a big breakfast meeting this morning, where the local politicians and the local organisations were invited to the Red Cross house. I was up at 6am to finish the preparations, together with a lot of other tired faces.

Those two are persons who have really got the right job. Both their jobs require them to represent, a lot, to travel around (Åsne) or stay in town (Jens Johan), but always be smiling and happy, be good with the press, but still get their strong opinions through. And they are perfect for their jobs, as they are both wonderfully charismatic people.