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Pia is displaying the almost priceless dress...When we started the conference at 10.20 on Saturday morning I don’t think it was many people that thought we would have time to…
…Finish every countries presentation
…Discuss and come up with some sort of action plan what AA:s should do in future
…Have six different fundraising activities
…Have international food event
…Have evaluation
…Have closing ceremony

…Until we hade to end at 15.00. I know I didn’t thought so anyway. But everyone showed some great adaptation. At 12.05 every national presentation was done and we gathered outside the conference room for writing on posters what we are/plan to do. That started many different questions, answers and discussions. Among other things maybe we saw the baby steps of a European SWYAA. Together with Brazilian snacks, Japanese octopus and Swedish västerbottensost Vasilis was calling for closing time at 13.42. The music from Zorba was played and everyone was called upon to get his or her diploma.

EvaluationAfter that the fundraising activities was launched. There were many different things going on. The prizes had been collected since Thursday and it was a great line-up:

Raffle – Each ticket was 1€ and if you bought five you got one for free.
The one-euro box – You paid one euro, put in your hand in and won the one item that your hand came out with.
Silent auction – The things was displayed and then you wrote your name and how much you were willing to pay on a note beside the item. The organizers getting well earned diplomasThe highest bidder won.
Selling stand – Fixed prizes on many cool things. The stuff was displayed since morning.
Live auction – Classic one, the highest bidder take the thing home.

After a slow start when Swedish hard bread was more popular than the one-euro box things really started looking better. Green stones from New Zealand, cup noodles from Japan, a pack of cigarettes, a towel from Australia with kangaroo motive and polish vodka was among the great stuff that was auctioned out. Pia also displayed a handmade dress directly from The swedish food was very popularHebron, Palestine. That one was going for 70€. A plastic bag went for 4€. In the raffle, among many things, Stella won 30 minutes of massage from Jenny. BO NightclubAll in all we managed to raise 845,04€. After the fundraising activity I went to great SWY10 lunch and coffee at the harbour. And the conference really closed at nightclub Bo sometime early in the morning – before extended reunion started. But that’s a completely different story.

Akiko SaitoName: Akiko Saito
Country: Japan
SWY-connection: ExPY SWY 16

What is your best SWY memory?
– On Nippon Maru I was so busy many times because the administration was paging me many times. I was the general producer for the national presentation of Japan so that´s why I was always in a hurry and no time for sleeping and taking it easy. I also had many gift from sponsors. It was 400 Japanese chips, 300 tissues, 300 badges, 100 boxes of chocolates and 500 postcards that I had to deliver in person. I also formed a group for watching stars. Three times we were watching stars on top of the ship. One time the captain made the ship go round in 360 degrees so we could just lie down at the deck and watch the stars as like in a planetarium. I think this is my best memory.
How can we foster the SWY-spirit in the future – what should the AA:s do?
– In Japan we have 47 different prefectures. Many prefectures are doing things connected to IYEO but not everyone. In the future I hope every prefecture is active in taking foreigners in their homes and arrange home stay. I also think it’s important that JPY´s (Japanese SWY-participants) and OPY`s (Overseas SWY-participants) communicate more in the future. It was interesting to hear what’s happening in other AA:s of OPY´s during the conference.
How could we make the world a better place for everybody?
– I think education is very important and that we give our children the best start possible in life.

Ashraf El SammanName: Ashraf El Samman
Country: Egypt
SWY-connection: ExPY SWY 16

What is your best SWY memory?
– The icebreaking games. We had an Egyptian game called: “Don’t say ahhh”. You make a circle and catch each other’s hands. And when it’s your turn you should hit the other one in their hand as hard as you can. If the person being hit say “Ahhh” he or she loose. The administration called the game “Egyptian bloody game”. Two Japanese PY`s went to the clinic after this game.
How can we foster the SWY-spirit in the future – what should the AA:s do?
– We should strengthen the system with reunions and home stays. In Egypt we want to make a reunion. But we need permission from ministry and that could take time. If we will not make a reunion we will make home stay and open our homes.
How could we make the world a better place for everybody?
– We must love each other and don’t think about the background like colour of your skin, religion or country. Okay, you cannot love everyone but we have to accept one and each other. We should look at similarities instead of things that keep us apart. Maybe it’s a dream – but it could happen.

Look at more photos from saturday here.