National day celebration in Arendal,Norway

Every year Norwegian celebrates it's constitution day on 17th of may.  I found children on the center regarding attraction point of view today. Childrens parades, children games, child rally(barna tog) were the things i found most of the peole talking about and further more one of my Norwegian friend was explaining that children get what ever they want in this day. In fact this is the one day of the year where the supply of ice cream and hot dogs is endless.

Children having fun during rally

I have heard that it is like a festival for all norwegians but this year I got the opportunity to watch and feel it from near. I was surprised today because i had never seen this much people in the norwegian streets. It was more crowded then the streets of Kings palace of Norway during summer.All the streets of Arendal was filled with people with their traditional dress. The name of the Norwegian traditional dress is called 'Bunad' and i was explained that it is increasingly being popular to wear this during functions like this but the bunad varies in appearance from region to region.

                                           You can easily guess how many people were there

On the same day, last year of the upper secondary(vidergånde) school  students celebrate the end of 13 year school even though many still have to pass the exams. They call themselves 'russ' and illustrates their standing through colourful russ pants (usually red or black) depending on their line of study. It is one of the surprising thing for me because in Nepal we study hard befor exam and be prepared for that but they have fun since 3 weeks before exam.

'Russ' making fun in the rally

I also took part in the rally(folk tog) with Red Cross. We together with multinational and Arendal youth group had prepared for the rally to show the people what we do? It was my first experience of rally in Norway because it is not normal and we hardly find people watching us but this is one of the main awareness raising activities in Nepal. We youths were together with children Red Cross and  Rescue team. Finally  I can say that this day was full of happiness and new experience :)

Red Cross Youth, ready for the rally

Red Cross/Crescent Day 2010

8th of May is always like a festival for all Red Cross/Crescent volunteers. I always feel proud to be a part of this humanitarian history.  Today Red Cross is celebrating its 148th years of its establishment with the slogan- 'Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers are at the heart of the movement endeavours to strengthen urban communities'. Red Cross is a only organization which was established on humanitarian background. Humans(volunteers) are the properties of it, who are always ready to help the vulnerable.

      Red Cross informational stand and some of us

I'm celebrating Red Cross day since almost 10 years and i always have a good feeling with this. This year i celebrate this great day in Norway. It was something which i was looking forward to. In Aust-Agder district of Norway we had  a Red Cross  informational stand in the center of the town . We not only disseminate information about Red Cross but also collect fund to support Red Cross activities inside and outside of Norway with the slogan 'Her og Der' meaning 'Here and There'. We found many people who respect the brilliant job of Red Cross in the field of humanity and put money in the collection box.

me, telling about the work of Red Cross

     

 In addition,we also use a new way to get more money. We sold our hugs for 5 kroner. This was new thing for me because we don't have hugging culture in Nepal but i found it interesting, in fact i enjoyed it a lot :)

 wanna hug?

Hjelpekorpset (Search and rescue team of Norwegian Red Cross) Arendal was also cooperating with Red Cross Youth today in the stand. First-aid exhibition by Hjelpekorpset was also helping to get attention of many people around the town. Many youth and children were practicing first-aid there.

      some children learning First-aid

 In this very day Aust Agder Red Cross also started a second hand shop along with the existing cafe with the new name of 'Henry's Kafe og Brukt' meaning 'Henry's cafe and second hand shop'. It is also a matter of interest for me because here people use to collect as many things as they can but are throwing the things in the rubbish after sometimes even if they are OK and can be used next time. So Red Cross Collected those things and washed them to be sold again which is one of the income generating activities for Red Cross.

photo: cafe

This Red Cross day also became memorable as previous used to be. I'm very thankful to Great Henry Dunant for his great work to form Red Cross, which provide me a perfect ground to work for humanity.