Mid term training

Last week the waiting was finally over and it was time for our Mid Term Training.
On Tuesday the 27.February we traveled to Vilnius to the national agency where we met the other volunteers. We had time to talk until everybody came. All together we were around 20 volunteers and the training took place in a wonderful house in Moletai. It was our new home for five days and I think everybody felt very welcoming in this lovely place. When we arrived there with the bus the sun was shining and the atmosphere was full of energy and happiness. 

During the training we talked about our projects, feelings and experiences. Moreover we were „climbing“ and played other games to trust each other blindly. For some of us it was really difficult to be not able to control everything and give „your life in other hands“. 
It was sometimes a challenge but we all enjoyed it I think.

On the first evening we had to go together in groups to create our own More. Our trainers brought a lot of second hand clothes, straw, balloons, tape, and other things with them and we could be really creative. Finally we burned our More and said goodbye not only to the winter but also to all the negative things whose stress us. From bad experiences with some people, over to bad thoughts in the daily life, up to few different problems in different projects– we burned everything what came to our mind. For me this exercise was really nice because I could say goodbye to some feelings I had, to some mistakes I made, and I got the chance to clean my head and start from new.  

My personal highlight of the training was the international dinner on the last evening. We all should cook one of our traditional foods of our country. 20 volunteers together in a small kitchen, trying to cook 8 different dishes was a mess but at the same time so funny and enjoyable. Everybody tried to help the other nation when he had nothing to do or had to wait for place to cook his dish. 

Finally we had German Potatoes salad and Wiener Schnitzel, Rumanian Chicken Rolls, Hungarian paprika soup, Serbian spicy sauce, Spanish Potatoes Tortilla, and as dessert Austrian Kaiserschmarren and French Apple Pie.
Everything smelled so tasty and delicious that we ate all even when it was far too much.

Everybody of us lived this training differently. In this training we were free to choose between different topics and activities. For me both trainings (on arrival and mid term training) were really nice. Nevertheless I enjoyed the first training a bit more because it was a bit more adventure to meet all new people and places.
Also Liudvikas associate more positive things with the on arrival training, but this maybe also because he was not 100 % healthy and had a hard week before (he had his exams in London and therefore a lot of stress).
However for some others this training was the best until now. For example Annesophie had so many nice experiences in this training about which she can tell:

Annesophie: 

"I would like to speak about two events which happened during the training. Two events which touched me because of their human dimension.

First one, it was when we walked through the lake to join our meeting with an old couple.  Actually, during one of the first on-arrival training (I was not there), a group of volunteers had a task which was to walk in the forest and find a house where people could welcome them for a tea or a coffee. An old couple welcomed them so, and they had a great moment. These nice persons asked the volunteers to send by post the group picture they took, but the volunteer who was in charge to do it lost the address…

So, our mission during this training was, with one of this volunteer, to find the couple and ask once more their address. After some adventures on the lake and a great moment to walk in the frozen forest, we met the couple. They were so happy to meet the volunteers! It was really amazing! They remembered Maxime, the French volunteer they met the first time, and they were really glad to meet others German, Hungarian and French volunteers. We had really a good time with these persons, who, in few minutes, proposed us tea, coffee, chocolate, cookies,…

The man even proposed us a concert of harmonica! During one hour, this old couple shared with us their home, their food and their hobbies. A very nice and memorable moment. 

The second moment was much crazier. We decided, with Liudvikas and Maxime, a French volunteer, to go for an evening walk on the frozen lake. After we went across the lake, it was really too dark, too windy and too sliding to continue to walk on the lake. And in additional, we were lost.

So, we decided finally to join the forest, where we found near the border of the lake, a private propriety. We decided to knock on the door, and the woman, when she saw us by the windows, was a little bit afraid. Finally, she opened her door, spoke in Lithuanian with our trainers, proposed us some cookies and drive us back on the main road with a car to clean the snow,…. This woman was a really good person… And I think, if it was an adventure for us, it was the same for her ! I think it’s not so often when she has to help three foreigners volunteers, lost on the lake, during the night…

Really, these two adventures, more or less crazy, reinforce my opinion about Lithuanian people. When I heard some volunteers who were saying that Lithuanian people are stupid, I think it’s just because these persons are not really open-minded. Because, maybe they don’t smile so much in the street, but when you need them, they always have a big heart to help you, even in the craziest situation. Of course, I didn’t wait to see that Lithuanian people are really helpful, but during this training, I really had the opportunity to confirm what I think, and especially, to show to some others volunteers that they should be more tolerant and open-minded."

fur farming

When I was 10 years old I had to make a presentation about Fur Factory Farms. I was very sensible with it and so it was very horrible. Therefore I have to say that writing this article was again a very hard experience for me and especially to watch the horrible videos.
In Austria there are not a lot of people who wear fur obviously but here in Lithuania I am confronted with it every day. Recently I had a long discussion and I was told that I cannot change the world. Of course not and it is not my goal but I think people should be informed and then they can decide on their own. I want to work on myself and I hope that some of you take the time to think about it.

Facts:

To talk about numbers is very difficult and I tried to research all used numbers as good as possible. 

• The European Union is the world’s largest producer of factory farmed fur. I found numbers between 6000 and 7200 fur farms in the EU. The EU accounts for about 63% of global mink production and about 70% of fox production.  
• Denmark is the leading mink-producing country, accounting for approximately 28% of world production. Other major producers include China, the Netherlands, the U.S. and especially for new Member States such as Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia it is a key industry. 
• Denmark: every year between 15 and 17 million minks are killed – three times more than the number of inhabitants!! 
• Lithuania: I found numbers between 12 and 17 fur farms in this small country and every year Lithuania produces about 550000 mink skins.  
• article from "Tušti narvai" about fur farms in Lithuania

• The largest producers of mink skins are very close: Denmark, Poland, Holland and Finland. In this 4 countries together 27 450 000 minks are killed every year!!!! 
• In addition to mink, the EU is leading with fox skins with about 70% of the production. 2 million fox, 130.000 raccoon dogs and 80.000 chinchilla are killed each year in EU fur factory farms. 
• Just between 80 and 85 % of the fur industry’s skins come from animals on fur factory farms the rest is caught in the wild. So you can image how many animals are dying for fur. 

Skinned alive!

Because fur farmers care only about preserving the quality of the fur, they use slaughter methods that keep the pelts intact but that can result in extreme suffering for the animals. Some animals even wake up while they are being skinned and so tortured to death.

Minks usually have their necks broken or poison gassed. Chinchillas, which are small animals, are mostly killed by having their necks broken or electrocuted by having a metal clamp to the ear and the genitalia.

In the internet you can find thousands of videos which shows such horror. One I watched shows many animals were still alive and struggling desperately when workers flipped them onto their backs or hang them up by their legs or tails to skin them.

Then the workers begin to cut the skin and fur from an animal's leg and all free limbs kick and writhe.

When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals' heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them. Some are seen still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly.

The meat from most fur-bearers is of course not eaten by humans. The carcasses become various products such as pet food, animal feed, organic compost, fertilizer, paint, and even tires.

Who is working in such places?

I was always wondering how many and who is working in such farms. Because of that I started to search some information about it. Just in Europe the fur sector creates up to 60,000 full-time jobs. The value of EU farmed fur amounts to €1.5 billion. I even found a website where they promote to work in fur farms. “We are fur” or and of course several websites like “We love fur”, where they show for example chinchilla coats. These people forget that in order to make one of this coat about it takes up to 100 chinchillas to be killed. Can you imagine? 100 of these cute small animals for one coat?

Dog and cats

Not even “man’s best friend” is safe from the fur trade. Millions of dogs and cats in China are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, and strangled with wire nooses so that their fur can be turned into trim and trinkets.

You would never wear a dog?
No? But maybe you do, because  often cat and dog fur is mislabeled and then sold in other countries.
Moreover the globalization of the fur trade has made it impossible to know where fur products come from. Skins move through international auction houses and are purchased and distributed to manufacturers around the world, and finished goods are often exported. Even if a fur garment’s label says that it was made in a European country, the animals were likely raised and slaughtered elsewhere—possibly on a Chinese fur farm, where there are no penalties for abusing animals.

Because fur’s country of origin can’t be traced, everyone who wears fur shares the blame for the horrific conditions on such fur farms. The only way to prevent such unimaginable cruelty is never to wear any fur.

How to avoid?

There are a lot of places where you can inform yourself to avoid such cruelty.
The easiest way is not to buy fur, check the labels and what is written on the cloths.

http://www.peta.org/living/fashion/cruelty-free-clothing-guide/

http://features.peta.org/how-to-wear-vegan/