Youth! Time to speak out!

Imagine a village in Latvia with only 200 inhabitants. Where there is only one kindergarten, one school and two shops. 10 young people and 7 politicians sitting in one room and having a cup of coffee together. The chairman of the municipality is speaking about the mailbox which has stood in front of the main building for 6 years. Everyone can write his suggestions and opinions and leave them in this mailbox.

"Every single morning I check the mailbox and every morning the same - no messages. We would be very happy if you would give us your suggestions, your ideas, what you would want to do in our community. We have money to fulfill your wishes, you just have to tell us what they are. If you can't come and meet us, leave the massage in the mailbox," says the chairman of the municipality. Youth stays silent.

The world has changed very fast in the last 10 years. Worldwide processes like globalization and one of its main components - urbanization — affects small societies such as Latvia. The main problem is that the cities are growing fast; for example Latvia’s capital Riga is the host to more and more local people every year, which means a loss of population in rural regions.

Fields are empty, the crops replaced by forests, because the youth see their career possibilities and fulfillment of a better life only in the urban areas of Latvia. Because there is a lack of people to keep them going, a lot of local schools and post offices are being closed down. So it ignites a chain reaction – people lose their local jobs and must search for possibilities elsewhere to make their living. Adults, such as teachers and municipal employees must migrate to urban areas or foreign countries.

I organized the discussions between youth and politicians called COFFEE WITH POLITICIANS where the youth and politicians could meet in a non-formal atmosphere to discuss the issues both sides were interested in.

Usually, young people are afraid to speak with politicians. They have a stereotype that politicians are untouchable and young people are not on the same level. On the other hand, politicians think youth don’t care about the local community and they don't want to participate in decision making. With this project I tried to break down the barriers between them.

Discussions took place in several municipalities, in bigger and smaller towns and villages, so it was a good possibility to observe the differences between youth in urban and rural areas.

In the urban area, youth is more open and self-assured. They are not afraid to ask questions or to speak about their problems. They are used to giving their opinion. In the rural area, the situation is completely different.

When we had COFFEE WITH POLITICIANS in villages, the biggest problem was that there was no discussion. Politicians were speaking about the possibilities in the community, they offered youth the opportunity to take part in decision making, but young people didn't say a word, they didn't open their mouths at all.

I can’t stop urbanization. But with this blog I would like to get youth to speak out. I want to do interviews in audio and video format with young people from local areas, about different kinds of issues and then publish into this blog. I hope to also have international contributions to share their rural experiences.