How was it?

People. North. Heat.

In early November, in Inari (Finland) was held a youth forum Barents Roots. It was organised by Barents Regional Youth Council, which conducts such events every year. The forum topic sounded like "Traditions and roots." This event brought together young people from Sweden, Norway, Finland and northern regions of Russia. As each country has its own tradition, forum gave all the participants a great opportunity to understand the mentality of each other and to find out what are the existing stereotypes about the inhabitants of the Barents region.

The forum took place not in the village of Inari, but a few kilometres away, in the camp Vasatokka. It is located away from the noise on the lake that occupied the mountains and dense forests. Here everything is kept in silence, peace and quiet. Each day we spent was different. And each unique. The first was warm, soothing with lush pink sunset, the second - cool with a gentle sun, and the third - frosty and grey. People living in the North aren't afraid of cold, because we have warmth in our hearts. That makes us so unique and at the same time so close to each other.

On the shore of discoveries

Forum program had five different workshops: media, music, handicrafts, change makers and comedy theatre. I participated in a media workshop. Our group included directors and photographers, but we all had one goal - to convey the atmosphere of the forum with the help of videos and photos , to express our attitude to it.

"No matter what kind of camera you have, you do not need to have advanced techniques for shooting. The main thing is to convey feelings, to catch the right moment. This is real art "- taught us the leader in our studio, Swedish photographer Rickard Trombati. In addition to the main task, we also exercised in macro outlook.

During the three days of intense work we achieved good results.The guys worked non-stop for hours, honing acting and stage work. Shared her impressions with other workshop participants Anastasia Solovyova:

«Impressions are great! A huge number of incredibly nice people around, emotions, clock movement. We have done a great job: the daily hours of practical lessons and preparation for the final show. We learned to fall correctly, beat each other, and pull hair. Our team had a girl from Finland, so we were much surprised that they consider Russian women as extremely well kept, beautiful, and always good-looking».

Friendship canvas

What does the connection between the residents of the Barents Region? Mittens, snow, aurora, snowdrops are, that’s the answer of participants in a handicraft workshop. Together, the guys created the fabric of friendship, which depicts the common roots of the region.

«First we sewed traditional Sami bag buckskin. Then we were asked to draw something related to our roots. At the end, it turned out that the Barents region has a lot of similarities. The main thing is nature, of course. By the way, this year, forum I liked a lot more than previous. Here are very friendly and open guys. We couldn’t stop talking after the event, about last year participation and everything»- said Svetlana Guseva, the workshop participant.

Everyone was pleased with the idea to share and to present the results of work. The participants of our media workshop presented a video and best pictures slide show, comedy theatre participants showed scenes about cultural stereotypes and the whole step-by-step guide to a better life in the Barents Region. Musicians positively charged the crowd with songs of their own composition, handicraft workshop participants presented the website of friendship which has become an excellent background for selfie.

Despite the fact that forum was intended to obtain knowledge and practical training, it was important for all as part of communication. For three days we have become friends, the forum really united us. Both with compatriots, and people from other countries. We talked as if we know each other for many years. It was incredibly simple to find common ground. The game "Crocodile", talking and singing until early morning gave us no time to get bored. Saying goodbye was sad. Nobody said the traditional "Goodbye", but only "Until we meet again" in the hope to see each other again and again in the open spaces of the world.

Author: Elena SMUROVA