EMES Youthgroup gathering in Walberberg - 3 reports
Daniela Kazyaran from the Tbilisi Worship Group, Margareta Ernst from German Yearly Meeting and Naomi Roberts from France Yearly Meeting tell us about their experiences at the EMES Youthgroup gathering in Walberberg, Germany in September 2024:
I want to thank the organisers of EMES youthgroup gathering! These were unforgettable days in a small town near Bonn, Germany. I was happy to see old friends, and also to meet new people. We had an international team, because at this meeting there were people from Germany, France, United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Estonia and me from Georgia. We were lucky that there was a Border meeting going on in parallel with our meeting and accordingly we sometimes had general sessions, because we were united by the topic “How to live”. We all spent time together, discussed the main topic and also the topic of “Use of language” and had fun in the evenings. Besides this, the youthgroup had their own sessions and games. I didn’t know these games before, I really liked them, because it is thanks to such games that people improve their communication and ability to work in a team. I especially remember the climbing wall, It was fun to watch my friends tried to climb this wall (I didn’t dare to climb it, but I helped and supported my friends in every way!). Of course our meeting was not without craft activities! We made cards for each other as a keepsake and of course we didn’t forget to make some for friends who couldn’t come. Unfortunately, since I am already 18 years old, this was my last meeting in youthgroup… I am very glad that I spent 3 years with you, I will always remember you and I hope we will meet again more than once!
Daniela Kazyaran
As every year the EMES youth group met on the first weekend of September for the 3rd time in person. This year we gathered in a small village near Bonn and Cologne and the theme was „How to live as a Quaker“. We were 16 Young Friends from the UK, Germany, Estonia, Georgia, France and Czech Republic. After a full week of school and a long journey we all arrived rather exhausted but excited to see everyone. After getting know each other and the introduction for the weekend we had a first meeting for worship alongside the Boarder Meeting.
On Saturday morning we joined the border meeting for the session „Use of language“ and reflected on it in our youth group afterwards. In the aftetroon we had a climbing wall session, which was a lot of fun and a great group building exercise. In the following we prepared the Social Evening. After dinner we had a short session about QCEA, which I found very interesting! Afterwards we had the amazing Social Evening with quite a few funny and moving contributions! On Sunday, the final day, we did a crafting session in which we wrote each other the usual „Cosy Glows“ – Goodbye Cards to read on the way home. Before we all left we came together for a last meeting for worship. After lunch everyone had to leave but hopefully had a cosy glow while reading their card and reflecting on the encounters with so many different friends.
Margareta Ernst
The 2024 youth group gathering started on the evening of the 6th of September and lasted three days. Our venue, Jugendakademie, was situated in a remote village a long 20 minutes walk up hill from the tram station in Walberberg, that is about 20 stops from the big train station.
The attendees arrived at various times in the afternoon or evening depending on their train delays. At 7.30 we started introducing ourselves and the weekend, still waiting for some of the young people. We then briefly said hello to the adult meeting by awkwardly saying our names and nationalities. We retreated to our room at the bottom of three flights of stairs and carried on our introductions. By the end of evening, we were at last the full group of 19 (3 adults and 16 young people). At 9.30, the youth group read out a poem in front of the whole Quaker gathering for the epilogue. We firstly recited an extract from the poem in all the languages spoken in the group (Estonian, German, Georgian, French and Czech) and then the whole text in its original language, English. The epilogue was a moving moment for us all. We then did some socialising and went to bed at varying times.
Some of us, by that I mean one of us, woke up early in the morning to do the proposed “Odehtics” and short Quaker meeting whilst the less adventurous of us woke up later for breakfast that was starting at 8.30. Our morning sessions were more oriented around thinking. Firstly we joined a session on the use of language alongside the adults for around thirty minutes. We then went back to our room to discuss our take on the subject in three groups. After we finished, we refreshed ourselves with drinks and biscuits during our break because the temperature was going up every hour. Our next session was about the theme of the weekend: “How to live”. We were encouraged to draw a Venn diagram intersecting the different groups that we belong to. We then had a conversation with another member of the group about our drawings. It was then already lunch time.
The afternoon on the other hand was more physical: the venue had a climbing wall so we took advantage of it. Our instructor in the beginning had us play group bonding games in the hot sun. For example “the sun shines on” and one where we had to get to the other side of the grass by only stepping on plastic mats. The young people who wanted to could then, after listening to complex instructions, start climbing. Delicious cake was delivered to give us energy for the last game where we had to balance on a wooden board that was precariously positioned on a stone rectangle. We felt that these activities were a great bonding moment and brought us closer as a group, as some of us had just met the day before. We freshened up to quickly plan the social evening that we were organising. After eating we started the social evening which was a success. We then played games in smaller groups until even later than the day before.
After having breakfast, we made each other cards that we could only read on the train back. We said our goodbyes, before or after lunch, depending on when we were leaving. We are looking forward to our next gatherings, on zoom or in person.
Naomi Roberts
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