Success at the Hove Festival 2009

There is an old saying that you can never have too many friends, and during the grand Hove Festival in Arendal this summer we took this saying to another level with our very own “Meet a Friend” booth.

We live in a world today where getting acquainted with new people can be a challenge. Especially in Norway there is a certain barrier between unfamiliar people that is difficult to break down in order for friendships to blossom. One could perhaps say that people guard themselves and may even let the chance of finding a new friend pass by.

During this year’s Hove Festival in AMV’s birth town Arendal (Norway), lasting from June 22 till June 25, we was so lucky to team up with the festival administration and were given the opportunity to hold a booth at the venue. We got the chance to spread not only out vision and mission, but perhaps also to break some barriers and lay the foundation for new friendships.

In the so-called “Morning Area” of the festival we shared a booth with two other NGOs, but actually even brought our own tent for friendships to be established. The services we offered were many, but our priority was to provide a safe haven for all those festival participants who traveled alone. Nothing may be worse than being completely on your own amongst thousands of people without knowing where to go or whom to talk to, so our booth was aimed at making everyone feel included and bringing people together.

The booth itself was untraditional by intention – where old oil barrels were used as tables and construction blocks became chairs. The thought behind this was to provide an alternative to the typical plastic chairs and tables and also to bring new hopes about an environmentally friendly future by turning something as destructive as oil barrels into something constructive. Thus the booth would be a symbol of environmental friendliness.

We also involved our 8 scholarship students in Manila who all joined for a special photo shoot for the decoration of our booth. According to themselves it was really a fun filled day that will be remembered for a long time, and the photos that were taken were put on display on sticks all around the booth and extra tent.

In addition to our meeting place we also had a small café where we sold muffins, cookies, cake, coffee and tea, as well as bags and T-shirts. We were so lucky to get all items donated, which meant that all sales would go 100% directly to projects in the Philippines. Despite some complications in the beginning of the festival due to lack of payment terminals we did manage to raise more than 7000 Norwegian kroner during the four days. For this we owe a big thank you to our sponsors of muffins (Millba), coffee (Löfbergs Lila), cake (Cafè Lindvedske) and booth (Hove)!

We also owe a big thank you to the 17 AMV volunteers assigned to assist in other sections at the festival. With their assistance an additional donation was given to the organization and they were able to help people across the world through their work efforts.

The festival was blessed with beautiful weather, which ensured an extra positive spirit among the festival participants and the AMV booth volunteers, and during our opening hours we were able to turn several new acquaintances into friends. Many were even interested in visiting the Philippines as volunteers for projects, which really disproves a common belief that young people all too often are careless. We were even visited up to several times by the same festival participants, and one of these were the mayor of Arendal city herself!

All in all the friendship and café booth provided us with great experiences as well as leaving a lasting impression, and we hope that we also managed to have an impact on some of the many festival visitors. One thing is certain – with the raised funds we will be able to provide life changing services to many beneficiaries in the Philippines!