Tamam organized educational camp for junior volunteers..

On 27-28th of November Tamam organized educational camp for the 12 new junior volunteers at Looma. The idea of the camp was to recruit volunteers among the young participants, so that they could organize activities for newly arrived immigrants and refugee kids themselves. Together with "old" juniors Afnan, Hind, Jessy and others Tamam lund group planned the program and made efforts to recruit new members.

Participants of the camp had real fun, and they couldn't stop surprising us with their ideas and creativity. The programm was a good combination of education and fun team building activities. First day consisted of introduction part with "get to know each other" games, and some theoretical part.
At the beginning juniors got introduced by drawing  each other without looking and presenting a partner before the audience. Then they have filled out "christmas" wishing tree with their expectations and wishes for the tree.



Participants wrote their wishes on the "Christmas tree" for the camp,but our Santa Claus name was Christoffer!



Volunteers of Tamam held a mini lecture on how to be a volunteer and what are the benefits for being a volunteer. It was interesting for us to see how young participants eagerly were discussing the topic.
The second part of the day was devoted to teambuilding games which were organized by Johanna. I could observe how new juniour volunteers started being a good team, trying to help each other. I think the funniest game was the task on building highest tower with newspapers...

And the evening was successfully concluded by "MAFIA" game and a good movie-pop-corn time...

We won!!! Hurrrraaaa!!!!

3 teams are planning activities...

After working in teams everyone was to listen to each others presentation

Second day of the camp was not less important. Morning started with boys shouting and making noise deliberatly to waken the girls... After a good breakfast I together with Josefine, Christoffer held a workshop on planning junior volunteers activity...
While we were gathering things and cleaning the rooms, we could hear participants sitting and discussing the issues that Hind had prepared about transit house kids. It was so amazing how these children took very serious all the given tasks. so hopefully, junior volunteers will start a good job. Good luck!

Hei, its snowing and raining outside... Don't want to take even my nose out.. hihi

Halloween with English Cafe...

Yesterday Seda and I organized a Halloween Party within an English Cafe for immigrant children and adults. The idea of the event was to introduce Halloween, it's origin, and ways of celebrating in different countries. First of all it needs to be appointed that international volunteers were very active. We came earlier than usual and started decorating the place with ghosts and bats everywhere. Pumpkin was of a special attention this day. candles with spiders added more horror atmosphere to the place.


Lundagård Conditori and ICA shop supported us with fika and fruits. There were more than usuall participants. What is more pleasing that,many of them wore some costume, which shows they were getting prepared for the event. The event started with an opening presentation of American volunteer Erica. She together with her friend told about the origin of the Halloween, and what they usually do in America on this day. Later, participants played several funny games. Other part of the party was dedicated for dances. 

A journey to Sweden: Tamam Membership recruiting day!

A journey to Sweden: Tamam Membership recruiting day!: "We organized membership recruiting day for Tamam in 30th of October. Thanks to God, the weather was excellent, in comparison to other rainy ..."

Tamam Membership recruiting day!

We organized membership recruiting day for Tamam in 30th of October. Thanks to God, the weather was excellent, in comparison to other rainy and dull days. Lund group members gathered children in the main squire in Lund and organized TAmam informational corner. CHildren were playing different games with volunteers. And other volunteers were busy with distributing and attracting people to become a member of an organization.
We are recruiting Tamam members to support activities with children. There are different options to support us:
1) To become a support member, with 100 SEK fee per a year,
2) To buy a T-shirt for 100 SEK for a member (120 SEK for a non member), or Hoody for 200 SEK (250 SEK for a non members).
In general we did a good job that day. We could recruit more than 60 members for Tamam!

Week 44th

Hello everyone!
This week, called week 44,is a holiday for schoolchildren. Which means Tamam organizes many extra activities for migrant children, so that they don't just sit at home.
Here is the schedule for this week:
1st of November- we go to Gymnasium to play Handball, volleyball etc.
2nd of November- Halloween Party with English Cafe
3rd of November- we go Ice Skating
4th of November- we go to the excursion to Skryllagården,where we can enjoy the nature and animals.
5th of November- we go to Circus!

Great plans, but it also means we have to work hard!!!

International party in TAMAM

Tamam celebrated an international party. The best thing I like in Swedish parties that, if the costumes are needed, all take it serious, and disguise in different costumes. In the party everyone had to represent one country. I represented Kyrgyzstan of course. Others were from India, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Greece, Germany, Sweden, China, Saudi Arabia, and others. The atmosphere was really great. We could play games on guessing the stereotypes of each country, taking place on the floor according to the world map placement.
Thank you for the organizators, Alice and Caroline in particular.
Photos will be later...

moi grustnie vechera

Vot i nastupili te dni, kogda neznaesh kuda devat sebya ot grusti i toski po domu... ochen grustno, slezi nakativayut prosto tak, i govorish sebe, net, pochemu, ti je zarubejom, ti je tak sama etogo hotela... da, no inogda daje v samih razviitih stranah, daje s samimi drujelyubnimi lyudmi, mojet bit tak odinoko, chto hochetsya vit' ot toski.
da, no ya znayu chto eto proidet i zavtra ya nachnu eshe odin ponedelnik, s eshe odnogo rabochego sobraniya...
hochu uvidet rodnih, hochu pogovorit s druzyami, hochu uvidet lyubimogo, i poluchit noviy zaryad energiyi dlya togo chtobi projit god v etoi holodnoi strane.hot zdes i zdorovayutsya s rasprostertimi obyatiyami, eto vsego lish vejlivie znaki vnimaniya i nichego bolee...
hotya eto toje opit... znayu, chto cherez god budu smeyatsya vspominaya eti dni, i navernyaka budu pomnit tolko luchshee. no hochetsya chtobi zapomnilsya i etot den.
proshel mesyac s lishnim s teh por kak ya zdes. mesyac proletel, no v toje vremya takoe chuvstvo budto ya uje zdes davno. ya ochen otkritaya, legko idu na kontakt s drugimi lyudmi. ved zdes bez etogo kachestva nikak. rasskazivayu pro svoyu stranu, obichai, tradiciyi, neredko udivlayaya ih. Nadeyus, ya ostavlyu horoshee vpechatlenie o svoei strane... i nashih lyudyah...
nu vot, vrode viskazalas
mojno idti spat.

kyrgyz plov in Sweden!

Each monday Tamam members have Monday lunch together in the Tamam kitchen. And every monday different volunteers cook something for all of the members. This monday was my turn. Of course, you guessed what I cooked! I am a southern girl and first thing we represent from our cuisine is Plov. It seems very simple to cook, but the whole process was very hectic. Because I had no idea if Swedish people would like it, or would it be the same plov that I cook in Kyrgyzstan. I bought yellow carrots, which I found in only one place in the market. I used beef, and the Uzgen rice that my future mother in law gave me in Osh.
To be honest the idea of making boorsoks and tokoch in the shared apartment was not the best. Imagine, me making dough, and frying it in lots of oil. The smell of oil was within all the apartment in the Sunday evening, when i was getting prepared for Monday. Thanks to God, Ceit has a good sense of humour. So, she wasn't angry at all, but instead she laughed and made a joke of my mass in the kitchen and moreover took pictures of it.

so, my menu was the following:
-plov as a main dish
- `shakarap´ salad from tomatoes and cucumber
- boorsok, and tokoch, instead of bread
-apple pie, for the dessert

I started with kyrgyz folklore music, so that everyone could feel the atmosphere of kyrgyz culture and food. then we discussed it for a while, and after presentation of plov, everyone enjoyed it very much.

Tamaginar tatuu bolsun!

Nostalgie...

It started raining. Sad music on my computer... Missing home...

Girls introducing themselves to each other... Johanna firs girl from the right is a leader of the girls group.

yes, when females gather I can admit we are the POWER!

Our girls group was really diverse...

Scones, an English bread. Easy to make, but reallyyy delicious

Master class from Sophie

no comments...

Tamam started a new group where only girls can come! on 11the of October Tamam invited girls to participate in a new group. The idea of initiating it came to Tamam because there are certain category of girls who can not or don't want to go to activities for both boys and girls. Here in tjeigruppen they will have an opportunity to do what they want, including sports, dancing, cooking and other things for encouraging girls to be involved in the society. The first meeting was really nice, with lots of participants in it, and scones with tea, that girls baked themselves. So nice.. I am looking forward to the next meeting!

It is time to staaart! Group leaders meeting in Lund...

drawed very strategic structure of Tamam workers :)

Alice dividing participants into 2 groups

Group leaders meeting in Tamam house

A journey to Sweden: Group leaders meeting at Tamam house.

A journey to Sweden: Group leaders meeting at Tamam house.: "On 14th of November there was a meeting held in Tamam's house for a group leaders. The meeting aimed to introduce them to basic rules of bei..."

Group leaders meeting at Tamam house.

On 14th of November there was a meeting held in Tamam's house for a group leaders. The meeting aimed to introduce them to basic rules of being a group leader and to discuss different situations that might happen to everyone.

A group leader in Tamam is a person who is responsible for the different activities running weekly. In other words a group leader is a person who work with target group indeed.
There are such groups as: English cafe (for teenager immigrants to learn English), Sprakstäd (for adult participants to learn Swedish language), English Sunday (for school children to learn English), Activity group (my favourite one, here children are introduced to different places in Lund to have a leisure time), homework support in several schools (it is a pity I can't help children to do math), etc.

So, we have discussed the responsibilities of a group leader, the misbehaviour of some trouble children, some other positive things. Leaders came to conclusion that it is necessary to make some basic rules for disciplining children, and maybe in future to get a consultation from a pedagog teacher how to handle different situations.

I think the meeting was efficient for giving the leaders encouragement and motivation to work harder and know that they are not alone!

A journey to Sweden: European Volunteer Service On Arrival training in ...

A journey to Sweden: European Volunteer Service On Arrival training in ...: "Today I came back from an on arrival training for the European Volunteer Service which was held in Stockholm. There were 20 participants tak..."

European Volunteer Service On Arrival training in Stockholm!

Today I came back from an on arrival training for the European Volunteer Service which was held in Stockholm. There were 20 participants taking part from the whole Europe starting with Great Britain, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Russia, Lutviane,Paraguay, Serbia, France and of course only me from Kyrgyzstan.
We had 4 days of nice teambuilding games and valuable practical information about Sweden, and EVS program overall.
Day First
On the first day we had to do mostly introduction part, getting to know each other, presenting ourselves. Moreover we had several games on teambuilding, that seemed to be very simple but good for communication and understanding of team members with each other.  The day was full of joy and everyone had a nice fika and delicious food at the hotels restaurant.

Day second

The second day was held by a nice woman, whose name is Lotta. We had sessions related to Sweden, Swedes and our expectations of our Volunteer year. There we could talk about how we were prepared to come to Sweden. Later on we went to the National Board for Youth Affairs. Anna, a coordinator of EVS made a presentation on our program, and reminded of important practical information.

Day Third or To BE ABLE To Fly

That was the most exciting day of the training for me. All 20 participants went outside the hotel reluctantly partly because it was cold in the morning, partly because everyone was full after the breakfast. The Instructor told that this exercise was for everyone who wants to challenge oneself and get out of the comfort zone, and try to overcome the fears. We splitted into pairs and started coaching each other while the partner had to climb up to the tree on the 8 meter height. There were 4 different stages and each was more difficult from the previous. Well, I want to admit, I turned out to be a pretty coward!

YEs I did it. But I can't forget my legs shaking and hands uncontrolable at first. I was really scared. All my life seemed to recollect in my head, and thanks to professional instructors and my coachs, Eliina and Marlen, I safely landed on the ground.

The second part of the day we had session devoted to the Swedes. This work was done in groups, where we had to discuss about different peculiarities of Swedish people.
Here are few of them which I found true to life and helpful:
1) Swedes drink a lot of strong coffee
2) Fika is one of the useful inventions of Swedish people (Fika is a swedish coffee break)
3) No shops and stores work on sundays.
4) Swedes have parties on Wednesday and Friday nights and there is always a long quee to the alcohol shop

Day Four
The last day we spoke about how is it to be a Volunteer. We set our goals for the year, chose the strategies to reach them and defined indicators. Most important that everyone could think and write more precise steps for taking during the whole year!

All in all , we had great time spent in Lidingo hotel. What I liked most, that I met 19 other people who were in the same situation as me, and we became good friends during this 4 exciting days!

A journey to Sweden: My Friday morning!

A journey to Sweden: My Friday morning!: "Hilda is Ceit's dog, and she is very friendly and good dog. It was the first time I saw the dog snoring as a human being while sleeping......"

My Friday morning!

Hilda is Ceit's dog, and she is very friendly and good dog. It was the first time I saw the dog snoring as a human being while sleeping...hahaha

somebody was throwing a bomb to me and my family, I felt how hard it was to run away. I see my mom was also crawling... the alarm clock rang and rescued me and my family from my nightmare. ufff... that was just a bad dream. my morning started as usually from breakfast and cheking my emails and answering the letters. Then I decided to call my mom in Kyrgyzstan to check how were they and just to hear her usual enthusiastic voice. I missed them so much.... Even my naughty sisters, whom I sweared I wouldn't miss anymore every time I got angry with them when I was at home in KG. My mom said, she missed me as well. It is good that everything is ok with them, and she had many events to visit. My dad turned out to be on business vacation in Poland, Warsaw. He travels a lot . So, I hope today the day will be as fruitfull and good as it is usually!

Morning photosession with Hilda!

A journey to Sweden: This monday children had a chance to see the swimm...

A journey to Sweden: This monday children had a chance to see the swimm...: "This monday children had a chance to see the swimming pool! TAmam children enjoyed swimming! Well done activity group! Christoffer and..."

This monday children had a chance to see the swimming pool!

TAmam children enjoyed swimming! Well done activity group!

Christoffer and other boys competing on who can be longer under the water!

Every monday Tamam's activity group organizes visits to different associates in Lund, so that immigrant children know where they can spend their leisure time. This week we went to the swimming pool, and children from all the age levels enjoyed the water. Eventhough it was pretty cold outside, the water in the swimming pool was warm, and nobody wanted to leave at the end!

A journey to Sweden: photos from the Looma camp!

A journey to Sweden: photos from the Looma camp!: "No comments! Children can eat an icecream even with closed eyes... We will face all difficulties together! Who will eat the goodies ..."

photos from the Looma camp!

No comments!

Children can eat an icecream even with closed eyes...

We will face all difficulties together!

Who will eat the goodies first?

No comments!

it was a teambuilding game, and this team was the best!

Philip is explaining the rules of the next game!

We are the champions!!!

Camping is the best place for integration!

Volunteers and children are dancing

boys love brottning (wrestling)

On Saturday, 25th of September, Tamam organized one day camp in Looma, Lund.
On saturday in the afternoon I went to the meeting place at the train station, where all participants and volunteers had to gather. I recognized Tamam children with their shining smiles and happy faces. After all had come we took a bus to Looma, which is 20 min far place from the town. There we stayed at the scouters camp. Everyone was highly inspired...
At the beginning Philip Sandberg, ex president of Tamam, introduced volunteers to children and announced the rules for staying in the camp. Here I met a girl whose name is also Zarina, and who is also from Kyrgyzstan. She and her brother Isaak are ethnic uzbeks, but they have been living in Sweden for almost 5 years. They could hardly speak russian, and even don't speak uzbek at all.
After introduction part kids had plenty of free time before the dinner. They played different outdoor games prepared by volunteers and just had fun.
Later some of young cooks joined to the dinner cooking process. Pizza was for the evening menu.
Dancing is the source for joy and energy. Kids and volunteers could dance Makarena, and Arabic music the whole evening. as for me I joined to a nice kids from Taiwan and Iraq in the kitchen. Although I am not good at swedish, we could interact somehow in half swedish - half english language.
Everybody felt tired in that evening, except for some boys, who couldn't stop gigling and making noise. Indeed, children were excited of being together.
The morning started with a loud music of Eminem and boys shouting. When I entered to the kitchen it was full of children having sandwiches and yogurt for the breakfast.
After participants gathered outside of the camp and played funny games prepared by Philip. Children were divided into 4 teams. Each of them had goodies, different kinds of sweets, as a prize at the end.

two Zarinas

Little cooks

The concluding part of the camp was eating pasta.