Youth Seminar in Liepāja

Your Lifestyle: Your Choice!

For the fifth time in parallel with UBC General Conference the youth event was organized by the Commission on Youth Issues. On 4-7 October 2011 60 active participants from 18 cities were discussing lifestyle and other youth issues in Liepāja. The main topic of the Seminar - "Your Lifestyle: Your Choice for Happy Life in Our World..." - was first of all meant to open minds for many differences and changes faced in everyday life.

A practical part of making Loesje posters: brain storming about the messages on them, creating the plan for each city how to exhibit them - was the culmination of the seminar.

Different workshops in format of games, brain storming and discussions touched upon topics of values, lifestyles and subcultures. New knowledge was gained and hopefully also tolerant attitudes. In the last part of the seminar the posters with different messages on the main topics were made by using Loesje method. The posters can be further used: printed out by participants and exhibited.

Is ecological lifestyle connected to the values you cherish? What to do when people around you or your family, do not share the same values? Is social media as form of communication a threat or rather the possibility these days? How to organize an interesting and educational multicultural event? These and many other questions were discussed. The feedback was positive, new knowledge and new contacts and ideas were appreciated by all the participants.

More traditional solutions, like exhibiting posters at schools, youth centres, city halls, bus stops, parks, web-pages were presented. At the same time there were many very innovative ideas, e.g. using messages from posters on big ear rings, condom packages, T-shirts, underwear, on the walls of restaurant toilets or ferries.

Now all those interesting and thoughtful messages from the youth, such as "Motivation under construction" or "Run - for your life" or "Throw smile on me and I will throw one right back to you!" can be expected at least in 18 UBC cities.

Join the Commission on Youth Issues at its next meeting in Kemi, Finland, in February 2012.