A few days ago I had a talk with one of our board members discussing the question of advantages and disadvantages of living in the countryside. This really got me thinking about my life in a rural area and I caught myself almost finding just advantages. Certainly there are some negative points like a bus only once an hour or no shopping mall nearby your home but these are all acceptable conditions.
Growing up in a metropolis would maybe mean that one never gets the chance to join a youth organisation like the Austrian Landjugend and in my opinion one really misses something if this happens.
During my time in our rural youth organisation I have got the possibility to develop my character to a more self-confident and more receptive one and the most important thing is that I made plenty of new friends.
There is no other organisation which is wide spread, motivated and abounding in chances to improve like the Landjugend. During my time in the board of our local group I was part of the exciting task to arrange our own ball. This means young people who are often mistakenly said to be irresponsible have to organise a whole event on their own. The team you have for this assignment knows their responsibilities and their way to handle it. Tell me one other non-governmental youth organisation where youngsters get the chance to proceed this way.
The items listed above are the the reasons why I am so thankful that I – as a girl living in a rural area – have got the possibility to be part of one of these rural youth organisation, and I if you are not part of one yet I can just recommend you to join one.
I have never met such interesting people with a similar approach of life at one time before although they often have completely different backgrounds and I can tell you that a youth organisation like the Landjugend is a “school for life”.
Katrin Kramer,
Landjugend Austria
(to the left in the picture)