Kristin

This weekend we all went on a trip together- and we had no idea where the trip went or what was going to be the content of it. It turned out we were going to "Hynnekleiv" which is not far from Arendal, and on the agenda were different kinds of teambuilding activities. For instance on saturday we went hiking to the forest where I had to walk around blindfolded and Inger Marie gave me directions and was responsible for me not falling down anywhere and not stumbling... It was interesting but also hard having to trust another person to a certain degree. Afterwards we put it in the context of teamwork and what it will be like to feel "like a helpless child" when we go to a totally different culture with a language we dont know and ways of communication we have never met before... We will have to trust "strangers" because we will be dependent to them.

This weekend I realized I really start to love all the people here- its such an open and nice environment. They are all so fun to hang out with. I talked to a girl from Uganda called Jennifer and learned a lot of what it is like down there. She goes to a boarding school where they sleep about 200 people in the same big room! Jennifer is a real fun girl to hang out with. Whe wants to become a journalist, and I am sure she is going to be a good one!

Tonight I have been studying a report from 2003/2004 written by The Ministry of foreign Affairs called "Felles kamp mot fattigdom" (Our common fight against poverty). It reported on how we are doing on the Millennium goals (UN) and how development work is more focused on human rights than before. The governments receiving development aid must now be at certain level when it comes to fulfilling UN`s human rights. I think it is good to make sure a country has a certain infraestrucure so that the help really reaches out to the people. If the country is using a totally different set of rules and values than your own, you cant expect them to use their given resources as you would like yourself.

You guys are welcome to comment on my thoughts- they are not necessarily absolute facts! It would be fun to hear your persepctive.