MAY issue of VOICES magazine

voices MAY

2013

MAGAZINE FOR ALL YOUNG PEOPLE OF SKOPJE

MAY

MAY

MAY All new

MAY Free

EDITORIAL 1 Dear readers and respected volunteers,

Драги читатели и почитувани волонтери,

For the May edition of the VOICES magazine I will be very short with the editorial. I love to enjoy May and the lovely weather, so I also suggest you to spend as much as time possible outside, somewhere in the close nature. The month of May started in a lazy way: We connected the 1st of May with the Easter holidays, so in deed we had 6 days of resting and filling up the batteries. Now it’s time to be more active and spend that energy in a positive way. As it started, the month of May is full with holidays. On 9th of May we celebrated the Day of Europe and on the 24th of May was the day of St. Cyril and Methodius. On 13th of May was the birthday of my favorite singer, who just turned 60. I will not tell you his name; it’s up to you to find out.

За мајското издание на нашиот магазин ВОИСЕС ќе бидам краток. Уживам кога уживам во времето во месецот мај, така да и на вам ви препорачувам да поминете што е можно повеќе време во блиската природа. Овој месец започна на мрзелив начин: Го споивме празнувањето на 1 Мај со Велигденските празници, така што имавме 6 дена за уживање и полнење на батериите. Сега е време да се активираме и да ги потрошиме тие батерии на позитивен начин. Како што започна, така и цел месец мај беше исполнет со празници. На 9 Мај го прославивме Денот на Европа, а на 24 Мај беше Денот на Свети Кирил и Методиј. На 13 Мај беше и роденденот на мојот омилен пејач, кој штотуку наполни 60 години. Неговото име нема да ви го откријам, оставам на вас да пронајдете кој е тој.

P.S.: Do not forget to read us this month also.

П.С.: Немојте да заборавите да не читате и овој пат.

Gjoko Vukanovski

Ѓоко Вукановски

Training Course Creative Leadership, p.27.

VOICES TEAM: Dino Djula Dinu Vangeli Eliška Vrbková Emir Slezovikj Eva Michálková Gjoko Vukanovski Ilona Olehlova Jānis Segliņš

Katerina Stojanova Pavel Daněk Ramona Sanigová Sanne Keulen Sanja Paunovska Tanja Zlateva Vesna Kiradjieva

Production & Coordination: Nikola Stankoski Gjoko Vukanovski

Contact:

Volunteers Centre Skopje Emil Zola 3-2/3, 1000 Skopje Tel./Fax. +389 22 772 095 vcs_contact@yahoo.com www.vcs.org.mk

InDEX 2

31 17 29

” and some are students from Macedonia. to do here their “European Voluntary Serem come from different European couning in “Volunteers Centre Skopje”. Some participants of this project are volunteers teresting.

Finnish to Who French,we it‘s always authentic and inare? other Balkan countries, simple life philosophies... experiences of foreigners in Macedonia and movie, book and concert reviews, strange hview, involvement. every few days, usually with different points of formal education programs and active To start the volunteervolunteerism, blog is updated azine, as with, well as to promote , to learn about creating and designing Say what? m, to get to know other countries and culrience of working in an international at htttp://voiceskopje.wordpress.com ortunities for the young people: to gain al VOICES oncreated their inner outermore travelings re Skopje”.staff It was toand provide exciting world of- new media of and join internationuages - VOICES is a project “Volunteers comeinaMacedonian, bit obsolete, don‘t you think?

Dive in the shed Albanian and English The oldfor paper-and-pen thingy from has really azine all young people Skopje, be-

13 3

AnD WhAT ELSE CAn I DO WITh ThE TRASh? - Ramona Sanigová 5 hOME WITh A nEW nATIOnAL RECORD! - Vesna Kiradjieva 8 ThE STEREOTYPICAL PERCEPTIOn OF ThE POPULATIOn OF EASTERn EUROPE - Eliška Vrbková 9 hITChhIKInG: ThE WAY OF LIFE? - Janis Seglins 11 TOO LITTLE TIME In TIMELESS MACEDOnIA - Dino Djula 13 POPULAR CULTURE - Dinu Vangeli 17 BETWEEn MARRIAGE AnD DIVORCE - Gjoko Vukanovski 19 An InTERVIEW WITh MR. IVICA PIGULOVSKI - Gjoko Vukanovski

23 DIVORCE FROM LEGAL POInT OF VIEW - Gjoko Vukanovski 26 nOKIA. hELLO OR GOOD BYE? - Janis Seglins 27 “I CAn CREATE MY OWn PROJECT nOW,

BY MYSELF” - Emir Slezovikj 29 ThE TOXIC WASTE In IVORY COAST - Eva Michálková PhOTO EXhIBITIOn „MY EVS LIFE“ 31 - Pavel Daněk

EnVIROnMEnT 3

and wHat else can i do witH tHe trasH?

By Ramona SanigovĂĄ

S

ince I was a little girl I decided to save the planet so I decided to sort trash whole my life. I’ve learnt that once you throw a paper to a normal trash it gets lost in the tons of garbage and it can never be used anymore. I couldn’t stand that idea so I am sorting whole the time. In Czech Republic it was actually easy because we have the containers recycling in front of my house, the same happened when I lived in Spain but the problem started when I came to Macedonia. Since the first day I prepared bags for paper, plastic bottles etc. but my surprise came when I wanted to throw them away. There were three containers, all the same and there was even more trash around than inside! It hurt a lot to see that disaster and to throw everything in the general garbage one. My mind was full of all the poor things that could have been used in another way but they will be not anymore.

What to do in this situation? There are many ways of how can we save at least something. We can try to avoid taking a plastic bag from the super market; we can bring our own bag and put the things inside.

The few bags we get we can reuse like a trash bags so we don’t have to bother with buying -new ones!

The same with paper -if we use only one side of paper, we can use the other one later for our personal notes or drawings. As volunteers we are working with kids and making for them creative workshops which are the best place where to use our creativity to make something nice from the leftovers of our house. The toilet paper rolls are the best. After months we get a lot of them and we can make flowers, animal, decorations, anything you can imagine and nobody would guess that those nice things were made from this a toilet paper roll!

As another example how can we help the environment, I would love to tell you about the youth exchange “F.O.C.U.S: Globe!” in Skopje which aimed to bring young people from different countries and give them the opportunity to discuss and report about sustainable urban ecosystem issues, raise their awareness among global challenges, as environment. One of the activities of this exchange was a “Clean Up Day” when about 30 people went to the Vodno mountain and made it tidy.

There are many ways how to be nice to the environment. Most of them are easy and can be even creative or at least they give you a good feeling that you did something good for your planet.

SPORT 5

Home with a new

national record!

O

n Sunday (07 April) was held the 33rd Berlin half marathon. There were 30.114 contestants from around the world on the start line. Three Macedonian were among them - the members of the Athletic Club Bezbednost - Skopje: I, along with Alexander Kiradziev and Tome Popchevaliev. This is one of the most massive races worldwide.

The weather was on our side - blue and spring sun woke us up that morning and had followed us during the entire race. The temperature was ideal 4 degrees (I know, this «ideal» sounds crazy, but with 21km ahead of you, this temperature followed by sunlight is a contender for the record you wish). I was preparing for this race all winter and I sincerely hope for a new record, but satisfaction is at the finish line, when I saw the official time on the clock above the finish. It was saying 1:28:50, which also means a new Macedonian record in half marathon. With this, I am officially the first Macedonian to pass the famous line of 1hour and 30 minutes.

Alexander Kiradziev, although just get out from the recovery of an injury, did an excellent result, Tome Popchevaliev was racing just as my «pace maker», joining me up to the seventh kilometer, then pulled out of the race.

However, I have more races in front of me, and I hope more of these super results which will raise the value of the Macedonian athletics worldwide!!!

Until next occasion, sports greeting to all of you dearies

By Vesna Kiradjieva

Дома со нов Национален Рекорд

И

зминатиов викенд, поточно во неделата (07 април) се одржа 33от Берлински Полумаратон. На стартната линија се наредија 30,114 натпреварувачи од целиот свет. Меѓу нив бевме и ние – тројца Македонски претставници, членовите на Атлетскиот Клуб Безбедност од Скопје: јас, заедно со Александар Кираџиев и Томе Попчевалиев. Oва е една од најмасовните трки во светски рамки. Временските услови беа на наша страна – ведро небо и пролетно сонце не разбуди тоа утро, а не следеше и во текот на целата трка. Температурата беше идеални 4 степени (знам, ова “идеални“ ви звучи лудо, но кога пред вас претстојат 21км, оваа температура проследена со сончеви зраци е се што еден претендент за рекорд може да посака). За оваа трка се подготвував цела зима и искрено се надевав на нов рекорд, но сепак задоволството е на финиш линијата, кога и официјално го видов времето на часовникот над самиот финиш. Тој отчукуваше 1:28:50, што воедно значи и нов Македонски рекорд во полумаратон. Со ова, јас и официјално сум првата Македонка која ја има поминато фамозната граница од 1час и 30 минути. Александар Кираџиев, иако тукушто се поврати од повредата на тетивата, сепак се избори за одличен резултат, а Томе Попчевалиев настапи само како мој “pace maker“, па ме дружеше до седмиот километар, по што се повлече од трката. Сепак, ми претстојат уште трки и се надевам на уште вакви супер резултати кои ќе ја кренат вредноста на Македонската атлетика во светски рамки! До следната прилика, спортски поздрав до сите читатели на Voices Весна Кираџиева

Весна Кираџиева

CULTURE 8

The stereotypical perception of the population of Eastern Europe

By Eliška Vrbková

tern Europe is usually associated with poverty, alcoholism, criminality and communism. Many people in the Czech Republic don´t want be a part of Eastern Europe. We would like to be individualists or be a part of West. We like to say that we are the heart of Europe. Imagination that we are so individualistic and different gives us a persuasion of greater importance probably.

I have heard so many argue about what it means to be a Czech. People are able to fight over this issue to the blood.

The most typical stereotypes about the Eastern Europe are generally for example that there is a huge level of corruption, lowest educational level, bigger criminality, many alcoholics or much more religious people who are against marriage separation. Stereotypes connected with qualities of people generally involve conviction that people prom East are less hard-working, less precise, controversial, xenophobic or very nationalist.

S

o many people are affected by the stereotypical thinking even today. We have answers for everything without any experience. It´s not easy to say where we take our stereotypes and what we obtain. They give us a sense of security and the illusion.

I am from a small European country, Czech Republic, and I observe the stereotypical opinions in our society. We still can´t decide which side we belong – Eastern or Western Europe. Western Europe is for us synonymous of the economic luxury, happiness and a healthy lifestyle. Eas-

On the other hand there is a conviction about the eastern friendliness, cheery temperament or about the beauty of women. Stereotype about the language is that the all eastern languages are almost the same.

These are definitely not all stereotypes that I hear sometimes. Stereotype can be maybe helpful sometimes but usually builds a useless border among all people. We shouldn’t just receive media or what the other tells us until we obtain some experience. We should make our own attitude to the issues and don´t build the wall among us. We should rather open our heart and risk because that is how we can get so much.

TRAVEL 9

HitcHHiking: tHe way of life?

By Janis Seglins

Hitchhiking has never been only the way to save money for me. At least I tend to think so. And here in Balkans I experience positive side-effects of it more than ever before in my life.

F

irst I have to admit that with this article I’m not trying to convince somebody or to promote hitchhiking. That would be too big responsibility as it’s still at some level a dangerous thing to do. However I’d like to make you think more about this as a lifestyle and stop thinking about hitchhikers as a completely weird people from another planet. Especially for the drivers and those who still can’t resist to show middle finger when passing „the poor guys” on the side of the road.

Though I don’t say that money is completely not a determinable factor for choosing this way of travelling I still like to think that one of the best things of it is getting to know the culture.

Very recently I was in Sofia for the weekend and both ways I travelled by hitchhiking. This was not only a unique chance to practice language (even if I consider Macedonian not that similar to Bulgarian it was possible to communicate) but also to get to know the culture better.

During the stay in the capital I didn’t get in touch with locals a lot so without hitchhiking I would leave the country without even reminding myself about Bulgarian reverse tradition of nodding and shaking the head.

But now after practically experiencing it by talking to one of the drivers this fact will never get out of my head again. It’s also an excellent way to learn geography and get advices for next travelling destinations as you remember this experience way better.

Of course hitchhiking is not that easy as it at some point might seem. The ones doing it should be ready for long time on the road, lack of water and other complications. Many times I’ve felt like giving up this activity and never doing it again but somehow the positive impressions are always the strongest. And this passion, this play with the luck is something really unique. One can compare it to fishing, another can compare it to sports. Or some can say that it’s shameless waste of time or too reckless play with the destiny. But anyway – for me this seems to be far from the worst addictions a man can have.

Youth in Action 11

Too little time in timeless Macedonia

By Dino Djula

C

oming from a country that is considered to be part of the great european peninsula, named after the mountain chain, I have never fancied a trip to the Balkan. I thought of it as too primitive, too poor and uninteresting for my taste. But man, was I wrong.

It was all thanks to my good friend Rami. Being a traveler herself, she decided to move to Skopje last year to do her EVS there.

She was telling me the stories about the timeless beauty of Macedonia, and then the opportunity arose that would allow me to go and visit the small country in the heart of Balkan and explore what lies 17h by bus, from Zagreb to the south.

Struga made a quite impression on me as it hosts the international cultural manifestation „Struga’s poetry nights“ that gathered renown poets like Pablo Neruda and Joseph Brodsky. Apart for that, Struga is called that either by the sheeps that were brought for shearing (striženje) from the countryside or by the eels that inhabit/ed the Ohrid lake, if you look at the Greek origin - Enchalon.

But apart from being a great city, it hosted one of the best projects I have ever attended. PBA „Out of target“ was supposed to be… well a PBA („Partnership building activitiy“) where people from different NGO’s and different countries come together to establish new partnerships and networks and possibly start new projects thus spreading the word about YiA programme and its possibilities. I would love to say that for me it was so much more, but it was just that – and I didn’t need anything more. We learned through plays and games, we were motivated to work, show our creativness by coming up with new ideas for other international projects which I’m interested in trying to write in the near future.

Maybe it was my low expectations – but this PBA gave me everything I needed at the moment: great friend/s, creative atmosphere for something new and working environment. I can only hope next project will be as succesfull as this one.

CULTURE 13

Popular culture

I

By Dinu Vangeli

n the last few decades a new interesting cultural phenomena has aroused and spread around the world, gained a lot of supporters and is well sold. It doesn’t pay attention on it’s content or any artistic values, but it has a great facade covered with make up, light and on moments banal lyrics, provocative titles and sexy performers. All that just for fun. It founds a big support among the mass media, teenager’s facebook profiles, the sound systems in the cars of the insane drivers rushing trough the streets with wide open windows and closed minds. This phenomena doesn’t recognize any borders or languages and doesn’t have any established rules, except the one that the final goal is to make profit.

No mater the latitude and longitude, national and ethnic variations, with no differences in the urban and rural places, everywhere you can find people with the same qualitative values which are in accordance to the latest trend.Thanks to the development of technology and the discovery of the advanced communication gadgets, there is a possibility for spreading audio-visual messages around the world.However, just a certain type of messages with a specific meaning can reach the top position and will have the ability to maintain the topposition and will satisfy the taste of the masses. That must be

something common for all humans, a primitive characteristic conditioned by the genetic structure and natural impulses of the homo sapiens.

The most usual key words in the music compositions under the umbrella of the popular culture are F*ck, Ass, Shake That Ass and F*ck. The performers look perfect, especially after the medical interventions on their physical entities, the extra elements added under their skin tissue and the meds and all that chemistry substances they swallowed, just like they did with the producer’s semen juice. They are perfect and they know how to act on the scene. They are manipulating with their tits which are always the opposite proportion than the size of their brains. They also move with their hips and they usualy do it in the rhytham of the music. Flawless ingenuity.

If it’s a male performer, he is clearly the man. Just like that.

He has a motor vehicle, some jewel and a couple of females in his property.

By the way, significant psychological issues are created among the audience. They copy the behaviour of their idols, they act like them and they try to look like them. They are actually creating their attitudes and views on the world in accordance of what they’ve seen on the screen. Especially about the material world.These processes are occuring spontaneously while they are having fun, dancing on the parties, blowing off the sunshine. But the brainwashing part is not funny at all. So, trough the process of identification with the famous people they aim and strive to achive that kind offame and success. The desire is so big that they are wasting almost all of their time in watching and reading about the celebrities, their life stories, events that are happening to them and actions they take, stuff they like and clothes they wear. Then, they go shopping. This is how the commercial system in the consumer’s society is being greatly stimulated. This is how capitalism works. Everyone wins: makeup artists, fashion designers, host presenters, paparazzi, reporters, casting managers, office managers, fashion agents, secret agents.

It is clear that the financial income in the show business is big and material goods are accumulating more and more in this golden sphere. That’s why I now decided to write something aboutthe real show time, the substantial and essential values that are provided by the popular culture. We will now see the moral and ethical norms that the celebrities and the messengers of the popular culture are possessing and expressing.

So, we will be able to continue the discussion about the believe systemthey’ve made, whichhelped us to strengthen our consciousness and contributed in our spiritual development.

Популарна култура

В

Дину Вангели

о последните неколку децении се појави еден интересен културолошки феномен кој се рашири низ целиот свет, придоби голем број на следбеници и одлично се продава. Не посветува големо внимание на содржината и уметничките вредности кои ги застапува, но има добро нашминкана форма и лесна, на моменти и банална лирика, провокативни наслови и секси изведувачи, нуди нудизам и служи за забава. Наоѓа голема поддршка во медиумите, особено жолтата штампа, фејсбук профилите на тинејџерите, озвучувањето на намрштените шофери во своите аута со отворени прозори и замрсени шофершајбни. Не познава граници и јазици, нема утврдено никакви правила, освен тоа дека конечната цел е остварување на профит. Без разлиа на географската ширина и должина, националните и етнички варијации, без разлика на тоа дали се работи за урбана или рурална средина, секаде може да се најдат луѓе со препознатливите квалитативни антивредности, диктирани од последниот тренд. Со технолошкиот развој и напредокот на комуникациските средства стана возможно да се дистрибуираат аудио-визуелни пораки кои се популаризираат до степен на општоприфатливост. Но, само одреден вид на пораки со специфична содржина и безгранична допадливост можат да го добијат приматот и неприкосновената конзумација од широките народни маси. Се работи за нешто што е заедничко за сите луѓе, карактеристика условена од генетската структура и природни нагони на homo sapiens-от. Не е случајно што во музичките композиции најчесто употребуваните зборови, односно key words се F*ck, Ass, Shake That Ass и F*ck. Изведувачите изгледаат совршено, особено по извршените интервенции врз телесниот интегритет, додадените компоненти во подкожното ткиво и фармаколошките пилули и хемиски супстанции проголтани како горчлива семена течност ејакулирана од продуцентската палка. Тие се совршени, а имаат и добра сценска кореографија. Знаат да манипулираат со градите кои се секогаш со големина обратно пропорционална од нивните мозоци, а мрдаат и со карличниот појас и тоа во ритамот на музиката. Беспрекорна генијалност. Доколку се работи за изведувач кој е припадник на посилниот пол, многу јасно и недвосмислено го изразува тоа, најчесто преку поседот на моторно возило, метални и неметални ланци, драги и полудраги камења и секако две – три припаднички на понежниот пол.

Импликациите од горенаведените пораки се комплексни во однос на психолошките особини на поширокиот аудиториум. Угледувајќи се на своите идоли, слушателите на забавната музика покрај тоа што се забавуваат, ги градат своите вредносни ставови за светот, особено за неговата материјална природа. Така, преку процесот на идентификација, тие сакаат да изгледаат исто како славните личности и да бидат успешни како нив. Желбата за остварување на оваа цел е голема кај публиката, тие ги гледаат, слушаат, читаат за нив и се образуваат за животот, пикантериите и сите детали од животот на славните личности. Потоа одат во shopping. Ова е победничкиот момент за капитализмот и стимулацијата на комерцијалниот систем во ова наше конзумеристичко друштво. Сите добиваат. Шминкери, модни креатори, светло мајстори, папараци, новинари, водители, кастинг менаџери, канцелариски менаџери, модни агенти, тајни агенти. Несомнено е дека се големи финансиските приливи во шоу бизнисот и дека капиталните акумулации бележат постојан раст во оваа сфера. Затоа, во продолжение на овој текст во следното издание на ВОИСЕС ќе се осврнеме на нематеријалните придобивки кои ги нуди популарната култура, забавната музика и видео, трач рубриките и реалните шоуа. Во тоа продолжение ќе ги видите сите моралните вредности и етичките норми кои ги поседуваат славните личности, нивните ликови и дела, што пак ќе ни овозможи да изградиме еден кохерентен систем на норми кој ќе придонесе за зајакнување на нашата свест и духовни вредности.

SEX & THE CITY

17

By Gjoko Vukanovski

I

Between marriage and divorce

n the dictionary, you can find a lot of definitions about what is marriage, like the following one “Marriage is a civil, social and legal institution under which two consenting adults establish their lifelong relationship based on love and commitment”…If the marriage should “lifelong” relationship, then why do divorces happen? According to some psychologist, there are eight main reasons why the marriage ends up in divorce: Lack of commitment, too much arguing, infidelity, marrying too young, unrealistic expectations, lack of equality, lack of preparation, physical and mental abuse…

Macedonia, in the beginning of the 90’s of the 20th century was on the bottom of the list of the European level, based on the percentage of marriages which end up in divorces. Twenty years after, in 2012 the number of divorces in Macedonia was 1720, compared with the number of divorces in 1994, which was 612, we can see that the number multiplied almost by 3 times…What has happened in this period of 20 years? What changes so much in our society which influenced the enlargement of the number of divorces? Is the divorce becoming postmodern activity among the Macedonians? I will let you to try to find the answer to those questions… My honest opinion is that today’s young people just quit so easily. It doesn’t matter if it’s about marriage, finding a job, finishing school…

My impression is that people quit before they use all other means, usually quitting is their first and easiest choice.

A small tip: If you are thinking of getting married, or you are already married, and you are facing some problem or dilemma, first of all try speak with your partner directly and try to find solution… If that does not work out, there is pre-marriage and marriage counseling, organized by our ministry for labor and it is free of charge: www.mtsp.gov.mk At least use all the sources that are on your convenience, before you make the final decision of quitting and getting a divorce…

One more thing, there is no “right” or “wrong” age to jump the rocky boat.

ПомеЃу БРакот и РазвоДот Ѓоко Вукановски

В

о речникот сигурно ќе најдете многу дефиниции за тоа што е брак, како на пример следнава “Бракот е цивилна, социјална и легална институција во чии што рамки два возрасни субјекта доброволно пристапуваат кон цело животна врска, базирана на љубов и обврзување...”. Ако бракот треба да е “доживотен”, тогаш зошто постои разводот? Според некои психолози, постојат осум главни причини за распад на еден брак и завршеток со развод: Недостиг на обврзување, премногу караници, брак склучен во премлади години, нереални очекувања, недостаток на еднаквост помеѓу партнерите, недостиг на подготовка, физичко и психичко насилство... Македонија, на почетокот на 90-те години на минатиот век беше позиционирана на дното на листата на Европско ниво, по бројот и процентот на бракови кои завршуваат со развод. Дваесетина години подоцна, во 2012-та година, бројот на разводи изнесува 1720 и ако тоа се спореди со бројот на разводи во 1994-та година, од само 612, ќе забележиме дека бројот се зголемил за речиси три пати... Што се случило во овој период од речиси дваесет години? Што се смени толку многу во нашето општетсво, па со тоа се зголеми и бројот на разводи? Дали разводот станува помодарство помеѓу Македонците? Јас, сепак, ќе оставам

на вам да самите си најдете одговор на поставените прашања... Моето искрено мислење е дека денешните млади луѓе едноставно се откажуваат и креваат раце многу лесно, без разлика дали станува збор за брак, наоѓање на работа, завршување на образование... Мојата импресија е дека луѓето се откажуваат многу рано пред да ги искористат сите други можности, како откажувањето да станува нивен прв и најлесен избор. Мал совет: Ако размислувате да стапите во брак, или ако сте веќе во брак и се соочувате со некакви проблеми или дилеми, најпрво пробајте да разговарате околу работите што ве мачат со вашиот партнер... Доколку тоа не успее, постои пред-брачно и брачно советување, кое го овозможува министерството за труд и социјална политика, и е бесплатно: http://www.mtsp.gov.mk Барем искористете ги сите можности и средства што ги имате на располагање, пред да ја донесете последната одлука за откажување и добивање на развод... Уште една важна работа: Не постои “права” или “погрешна возраст” за да се рипне во тавче.

INTERVIEW 19

An interview with Mr. Ivica Pigulovski

In the period from 6-12 of May 2013, in Skopje was organized the first fair for restaurants. For that occasion, we organized interview with Mr. Ivica Pigulovski, one of the responsible people from “restorani. com.mk”.

By Gjoko Vukanovski

Where did you get the idea for crea- us the idea for such an event, saying that ting a web-site for restaurants from? a similar event hasn’t taken place in MaceWe got the idea back in 2005, when there weren’t a lot of specialized web-pages in the Macedonian web area and thus an idea for a restaurant guide was born.

donia so far. Namely, the concept for this happening is based on similar events in the metropolis around the world. The idea is this event to take place the first week after Easter.

How did it occur to you to organize this kind of festival for restaurants How many restaurants have and why does it take place exactly in confirmed their attendance so far or could you name several?

May?

We have worked with restaurants via our There are around 50 restaurants which web-page restorani.mk for 7 years now and have decided to participate in the festival. the ones working in these restaurants gave

Are there any other big cities where such events are held and if yes, what are those?

We got the concept for this festival exactly from the big metropolis. This kind of event took place in New York last year and it celebrated its 20-years old tradition. But it also takes place in London, Tokyo, Boston, Hong Kong e.t.c. When it comes to the neighboring countries, it has existed in Croatia, Zagreb for 4 years and last year Belgrade got its own festival for restaurants.

What should the people in Macedonia expect during the festival?

“The Week of Restaurants� is planned to be an event where the citizens and visitors in Skopje can enjoy the best specialties prepared by kitchens ranging from local inns to highly respected restaurants. What is unusual about this event is the fact that it will take place on several locations instead of one and it will comprise numerous restaurants from the capital which will offer menus with previously established price of 333 denars. The aim of all this is to attract as many visitors as possible and to demonstrate the authenticity of each restaurant and its manner of cooking.

What do you expect from this festival?

We expect that the visitors will turn out in a great number that week , visit the restaurants and comment on the cousine of each one of them.

Are you planning to develop this event into a tradition, that is, to organize it every year, starting from now?

Of course that our aim is to make the festival a tradition, and what is more, for next year, we are planning an even richer programme.

интеРвЈу со ивица Пигуловски Ѓоко Вукановски

Во периодот помеѓу 6-12 мај 2013 година се одржа првиот фестивал на ресторани во Македонија. За таа прилика, направивме интервју со Ивица Пигуловски, еден од одговорните лица на “restorani.com.mk”.

Од каде ви дојде идејата за креирање на интернет страница наменета за ресторани?

Идејата ја добивме уште во 2005 година, тогаш во македонскиот веб простор немаше многу специјализирани веб страници и се роди идејата да креираме водич за ресторани.

Од каде ви дојде идејата за организирање на ваков вид на фестивали за ресторани и зошто баш во Мај?

Ние веќе 7 години соработуваме со рестораните преку нашата веб страница www.restorani.mk. До идејата дојдовме во разговор со угостителите бидејќи во Македонија немало ваков или сличен настан. Идејата ни е да се одржува првата недела после Велигден.

Колку ресторани до сега го потврдија учеството и дали можете да наброите некои од нив? Околу педесетина ресторани од сите одлучија да бидат дел од фестивалот. Дали во други светски метрополи се одржуваат вакви настани и во кои?

Концептот на овој настан е по примерот на светските метрополи. Овој настан лани во Њујорк имаше јубилеј

од 20 години. Се одржува во Лондон, Токио, Бостон, Хонг Конг итн. Од соседството во Загреб се одржува 4 години а лани стартуваше и во Белград.

на посетители и да ја демонстрираат автентичноста на секој ресторан и стилот на готвење.

Што можат граѓаните да очекуваат Какви се вашите очекувања за за време на фестивалот? фестивалот? „Недела на ресторани“ е замислен како настан на кој граѓаните и посетителите на Скопје ќе можат да уживаат во најдобрите специјалитети приготвени од локални гостилници па сè до врвни ресторани. Настанот има нетипичен концепт со тоа што се предвидува да не се одржува на само едно место туку да вклучува различни ресторани од главниот град кои ќе нудат менија по претходно утврдена цена од 333 денари. Целта е менијата со атрактивни цени да привлечат што поголем број

Нашите очекувања се граѓаните и посетителите на Скопје таа недела масовно да се пруклучат на настанов. Да ги посетуваат рестораните, коментираат, раскажат кој каква кујна има.

Дали планирате овој настан да стане традиција, односно да го одржувате секоја година од сега па натаму?

Да, целта ни е да стане традиција, а за наредната година планираме збогатена програма.

InTERVIEW 23

divorce from legal point of view

By Gjoko Vukanovski

I

n order to obtain some interesting information regarding the divorce as social phenomenon, we interviewed Mrs. Violeta Naumovska, lawyer from Skopje. She agreed to answer some basic questions, which were containing information in our interest: Since when are you working as lawyer?

V.N: I am lawyer officially since 2004 and the major number of cases I had till now are from the area of civil law, to be more clear law connected with family, working relations, owner and obligation relations, and similar.

How many cases of divorces you had till now in your practice and which are the most practices reasons for divorce according to your experience and from what you hear from your colleagues?

V.N: Till now I had around twenty divorce cases.

The major reasons for getting a divorce are the disputes between the husband and wife, and if those disputes cannot be overcome, than the divorce set his place. From other hand, the major reasons for creating disputes in one marriage are the finances and who is running the finances in the family and too much difference in the salaries between the husband and the wife. Also, the influence from the closest family (father and mother of the husband or the wife) is also a reason for making disputes in one marriage, al do in many of my cases, the husband and the wife do not live with them, but still the influences are big. I can mention that I had cases where the partners simply realize that the love between them is gone and they file for divorce, because there is no more reason for the marriage and their relationship to be active.

In case of divorce in a marriage where the husband and the wife have children, how the decision is made who will have the custody over the children?

V.N: In these kinds of cases, the court is making the decision of the custody. The court bases his decision on the opinion of a specialized team, made by one psychologist, one expert in pedagogy and one social worker, from the Inter-municipal center for social work, in jurisdiction of the Ministry of labor and social policy. The practice has shown that in a large scale of cases, the children are given custody to their mother, but the father still has financial obligations toward the children. Only in very small number of cases, the custody for the children goes in the hands of their father and this happens only in cases where the mother refuses the custody or when her health condition is very bad, so whe is not able to take care of the children.

Do you have some divorce story that had a happy end, in which the partners managed to solve their differences in the duration of the process?

V.N: The process of divorce is also providing to the couples the opportunity to reconsolidate their differences and the carriers of that opportunity are the Inter-municipal center for social work and the judge assigned to the case. This reconciliation between the partners in the process of divorce happens very rear. I had one case where the couple, after they got divorced, they reconsolidated their differences and started to live together again, but this time they did not established civil marriage, but there are living in a non-law community.

Разводот од правна гледна точка Ѓоко Вукановски

С

о цел да обезбедиме интересни информации околу разводот како појава, ја контактиравме Виолета Наумовска, адвокат од Скопје, која се согласи да ни одговори на неколку основни прашања, кои нас не интересираа. Колку време се занимавате со ѓраѓанско право како адвокат? В.Н: Адвокат сум од 2004 година, и поголемиот дел од моите предмети се од областа на граѓанското право, односно семејно право, работни односи, сопственички, облигациони односи и сл. Колку случаи на развод сте имале до сега и кои се најчестите причини за развод кај нас според вашето искуство и тоа што го слушате од колегите? В.Н: Сум имала околу дваесетина бракоразводни парници. Како најчести причини за развод на брак, вообичаено се несогласувањата помеѓу брачните партнери, односно неможноста истите да се надминат, да најдат компромис за да продолжи да фунционира брачната заедница. Како конкретни несогласувања би ги навела несогласувањата во поглед на финансиите и раководење, а посебно кога брачните примања на едниот брачен партнер се многу поголеми од оние на другиот брачен партнер. Исто така како причина би го навела влијанието на родителите на брачните партнери, кое очигледно е доста големо и постои без разлика што не живеат во семејна заедница, барем во случаите што сум ги водела јас. Некогаш едноставно кога љубовта исчезнува, брачните партнери решаваат да ја раскинат брачната заедница, бидејки не гледаат потреба веќе да бидат заедно, односно да опстојува истата. Во случај на развод во брак со деца, по кој основ децата се доделуваат на едниот или другиот родител? В.Н: Во ваков случај, одлуката судот за доделување на родителство на едниот брачен другар ја темели на мислење кое го изготвува тим од психолог, педагог и социјален работник од ЈУ меѓуопштински центар за социјална работа на град скопје, при Министерството за труд и социјална политика. Праксата покажува дека во голем број случеви децата се доделуваат на чување, воспитување и делумно издржување кај мајката. Многу ретки се случаевите каде детето се доделува кај таткото, само во случај да мајката одбие да и биде доделено детето или кога нејзината здравствена состојба е до таа мера нарушена да не е способна да се грижи за детето. Дали имате некоја бракоразводна приказна која завршила со хепи енд, односно партнерите се помириле во текот на процесот за развод? В.Н: Самата постапка за развод на брак предвидува мирење кое се обидува да го направи меѓуопштинскиот центар за социјална работа или судијата на кој му е доделен предметот и истото е многу ретко успешно. Имав случај кога по завршување на разводот, поранешните брачни партнери се смирија, односно повторно се заедно до ден денешен, но не засноваа граѓански брак, односно живеат во вонбрачна заедница.

SCIEnCE & TEChnOLOGY 26

nokia. Hello or good Bye?

By Janis Seglins

Do you remember what was your first mobile phone device? I’m sure for many of you answer will be Nokia.

But how does it go with „connecting people” now?

T

o illustrate the situation and basically prove my impression about Nokia I made a small survey on Facebook. I picked ten young people from totally different countries and asked them about their first and present mobile phone devices. For no big surprise dominant was Nokia which has been the first mobile for four of these people out of ten. Besides four more people of these have had Nokia in past or still have it. So basically only two people out of ten have nothing to do with Nokia which shows even brighter popularity of this brand than I have imagined and expected.

However now when talking about modern mobile technologies Nokia ‘s positions are not even close as high as they used to be. I’d say that rapid change in mobile technology market started after the year 2007 when first Iphone was released by Apple company.

Now following this Iphone cult the newest version Iphone 5 is held by many people but the next version is already rumoured and desired by even more. Also Samsung has a large popularity as it provides good specifications for usually lower price.

But Nokia? After pretty silent period or we could even say crisis in their business now Nokia is putting big expectations in Lumia serie phone models. But although it’s getting more and more popularity (especially with last year released model Lumia 920), the question whether it will help the company to fully recover is still actual.

Apple fans with their Android operating system are not so easy to convince for Nokia even with Microsoft Windows Phone 8 operating system provided in it’s devices. Who knows, maybe next model of Lumia serie will show some new tendencies. Information about the rumoured model Lumia 928 by the beginning of April is still poor but it’s expected to be announced next months already. how many differences will it have from Lumia 920 and whether it will attract enough smartphone users for Nokia to continue comeback on the market, we will see. But meanwhile many people around the globe (including me) keep using Nokia mobile phones which were made before the great era of smartphones. And I believe that this image of resistant and simple Nokia mobile phone models will remain as the brightest for many more years.

Youth in Action 27

“I can create my own project now, BY MYSELF”

C

reative Leadership was the name of the training course I participated in April in Norway. The country of fjords and maybe the highest standard (over expensive prices) in the world was as interesting as the training course itself. The people from the Balkan countries such as Bosnia&Herzegovina, Macedonia, Croatia and Serbia gathered with the people from Portugal, Norway, Poland and New Zealand on Norwegian island in a small town named Judabergto discover more about leading with creativity.

The activities started with team-building activities where we had to learn more about the interesting local facts of the town of Judaberg. After, we took part in brainstorming about characteristics of a good leader, intercultural learning activities and a game called Dignityland, where we needed to make a sustainable social policy for our imaginary society with a name ofDignityland. On our free afternoon day we use the opportunity to discover one of the natural places that Norway is remarkable for, Preikestolen fjord. To get there we had to hike on rocks, snow and ice for about two

By Emir Slezovikj hours. After exhausting two hours I hadthe beautiful view of the fjord that transformed the feeling of exhausting into overexcitement. This will stay in my memory for life.

It was totally worth it investing every moment to get there.

After visiting the fjord, we finally get to do a real job on the training course sessions.

It was the project development activities.

People were divided in groups in order to create their own project. At the end,five different potential projects were created were the topic is unemployment, sports, health.

Here I learned more about planning and organizing a project. The most important thing I learned on this training course is the new believe I gained: “I can create my own project now, BY MYSELF”. The activities related to developing and finishing the potential project didn’t finish with the end of the training course in Norway. After that our group continued and finished writing the project when we came home. We are applying for a grant soon, wish us luck to get approved.

Емир Слезовиќ

„Јас можам да креирам свој проект сега, САМ“

К

реативно лидерство беше името на тренинг курсот во кој учествував во Април во Норвешка. Земјата на фјордови и можеби највисокиот стандард (најскапи цени) во светот беше интересна како и самиот тренинг курс. Луѓето од балканските земји како Босна и Херцеговина, Македонија, Хрватска и Србија се собраа со луѓето од Португалија, Норвешка, Полска и Нов Зеланд на норвешки истров во мало гратче со име Јудаберг за да откријат повеќе околу креативно лидерство.

Активностите започнаа со тим билдинг кадешто ние моравме да дознаеме повеќе за интересните локални факти за градот Јудаберг. Потоа, учествувавме во бреинсторминг активност за карактеристики на добар лидер, активности за интеркултурно учење и игра наречена Dignityland, кадешто требаше да направиме одржлива општествена политика за имагинарната заедница наречена Dignityland. Го искористивме денот со слободно попладне за посета на едно од најзначајните места во Норвешка, фјордот Приекестолен. За да стигнеме таму требаше да се качуваме два саати по карпи, снег и лед. По исцрпувачки два саати искусив прекрасна глетка на фјорд, при што чувството на умор се претвори во воздишки. Ова ќе остане во мојата меморија за цел живот. Целосно вредеше инвестиција на секој момент за да се стигне до таму. По посетата на фјордот, ние конечно почнавме со вистинска работа на тренинг обуката. Беше време за активностите за развивање на проект. Луѓето се поделија по групи со цел да креираат нивен заеднички проект. На крај, пет различни проекти

беа креирани кадешто темата невработеност, спорт, здравје.

беше

Тука научив повеќе околу планирање и ораганизирање проекти. Најважната работа која ја научив на оваа тренинг обука е новото верување со кое се здобив „Јас можам да креирам свој проект сега, САМ“. Активностите во врска со развој и завршување на потенцијални проекти не заврши со крајот на тренинг обуката во Норвеша. Нашата група продолжи и го заврши пишувањето на проектот по доаѓањето дома. Наскоро ќе аплицираме за грант, затоа посакајте ни среќа за да ни го одобрат.

ENvironment 29

The toxic waste in Ivory Coast

By Eva Michรกlkovรก

I

s the case of toxic waste dumping in the Ivory Coast only fault of individuals, or one of many sad examples of how rich countries exploit developing countries?

Could something similar happen in Europe, or we, who are from developed countries just do not matter about the ones in developing countries? Aren’t we closer and closer to the moment, in which the big companies will be allowed to do whatever they want, just because they have enough money? About this and other similar questions I think whenever I think about Ivory Coast, accompanied by anger and indignation.

mous: according to datas from Amnesty International, medical assistance sought 93,880 people, of whom 46% were classified as confirmed cases of poisoning by toxic waste, 26% as probable cases of poisoning by toxic waste and 27% as suspected poisoning by toxic waste. Allegedly 15 people died of poisoning bytoxic waste.

First Trafigura was trying to resolve the issue out of court, paying $ 260 million to the Government of Ivory Coast. In 2010, however, the court held, the company was found guilty, was fined 1 million euros, and two people from Ivory Coast were jailed.

Which is, in my opinion, really insufficient In 2006, a transnational Dutch-based oil punishment, especially considering how company called Trafigura, got rid of 580 big impact on environment and health of tons of chemical waste by offloading it in thousands of people it had. neigborhood of city Abidjan in Ivory Coast.

Originally toxic waste should have been Activities of company Trafigura are for me disposed in Amsterdam, but due to high not only damaging the environment and costs, it was decided to get rid of this in health of thousands of people, but also less expensive way. Shortly after this, re- human rights violations and the proof that sidents of Abidjan have begun to suffer the world is still not completely equal. It medical complications as respiratory pro- is also a warning that we should be more blems, skin problems, abdominal pain and concerned about the activities of large diarrhea. It turned out that the waste was companies, and especially we should fight toxic. Effect on human health was enor- for the rights of all people in the world.

EVS PROJECT 31

Photo Exhibition „My EVS Life“

By Pavel Daněk

On the 10th of May 2013, at the foyer of the oldest cinema in Minsk, the ‘My EVS Life“ photo exhibition of EVS volunteers was officially opened. The aim of this project is to raise awareness about the EVS program in Belarus and consequently motivate Belarusian youngsters to take active part in mapping their futures.

The birth of the idea wasn’t easy. Firstly, I wanted to do an exhibition of photos of one former EVS volunteer from Poland. However, I wasn’t able to find a good place where it would be possible to exhibit her photos and I thought that there won’t be any exhibition at all. Fortunately, thanks to a particular brainstorming session during one of my meetings with colleagues from my hosting organization, New Faces, we came up with the idea that I could try to do an exhibition involving more EVS volunteers and maybe, in this case, find a venue for the exhibition.

It proved to be a right decision. Since I knew that the EU Delegation to Belarus will organize The European Film Festival at the Victory cinema, I asked them, if I could organize such an exhibition at the foyer during the festival. The foyer in the Victory cinema is usually used as a photo exhibition too. Negotiations went without a hitch and they agreed to host the exhibition. During this time, I was already communicating with various National agencies. I have sent more than 800 mails to EVS hosting and sending organizations throughout Europe. In the end, I received 94 photographs.

Out of them, I chose 41 pictures which I wanted to exhibit.

Choosing the pictures wasn’t easy. The biggest problem was low DPI quality for a majority of them. Unfortunately, even sufficient DPI wasn’t enough in some cases and the designer of the printing agency didn’t recommend me to print some of them. I had to agree unfortunately. In the end, 36 pictures were printed in the A2 format on the carton.

Visitors of the Victory cinema can now view 36 pictures made by volunteers coming from 12 countries who worked in 28 different destinations from Portugal and as far as to Indonesia. During the official opening of the exhibition, the foyer was full and even some journalist and TV channels attended the event. One of my interviews with them can be watched here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLFxBTTujU&feature=player_embedded. The European Film Festival was attended by approximately 6000 people. All of them have to pass through the foyer in order to enter the cinema hall which in turn makes them view the pictures too. Most of these people stopped for a while and checked out the pictures. The overall attendance of exhibition was better than I expected. Above all, the director of the cinema decided to exhibit the pictures in the foyer even after the festival has ended. I agreed to it. People in Minsk can still see the pictures of EVS volunteers and get to know more about this program. The goal – to make EVS in Belarus more popular – seems to have been accomplished.

Enjoy your summer with hiking!