Posted by Heinz Gabathuler on Jan 16, 2017

When I looked for some printed SCI materials from the 1980s, I randomly encountered these old leaflets issued by the International Secretariat of SCI, explaining SCI's Origins & Aims, how SCI works (completely unsurprising is the list of activities, and their order of appearance: Workcamps, Local Groups, Educational Activities, Long Term Projects), and listing the addresses of all branches / groups and international co-ordinating structures. My pre-predecessor Ralph Hegnauer had noted the respective year of the issuing on each of the leaflets, so there should be no doubt about that.

The ones that date back from the time when the IS was located in Canterbury, England, it was before 1986, had been issued in both English and French. The one from 1988, "printed at Naubharath Enterprises" (apparently in Bangalore, India), is in English only.

continue to read

Posted by Heinz Gabathuler on Dec 29, 2016

I found this poster only recently, when I was looking for material on the solidarity campaign with SWAPO and Namibia which had been coordinated by SEED. The abbreviation stands for Solidarity Exchanges Education Development - SCI's former North South commission based at the then European Secretariat in Antwerpen. It was a veteran who had been involved in SCI at that time, and in this campaign particularly, and who had asked whether there was some extra material that could be let to him.

continue to read

Posted by Heinz Gabathuler on Oct 17, 2016

In one of the many boxes I got from the IS two years ago, I found this sober sheet of paper in DIN A3 format, containing a diagram that shows all relevant international bodies of SCI in handdrawn rectangles and their relations in various lines, also drawn by hand.

continue to read

Posted by Heinz Gabathuler on Sep 23, 2016

The first Wednesday in September every year is the moment when volunteers gather at the SCI Switzerland office in Bern for packing the freshly printed small booklets called 'Agenda' (pocket calendars, or diaries, or planners, indeed) which are then mailed to all members of the Swiss branch as well as to some subscribers who live abroad. And later in spring, Swiss delegates carry dozens of these booklets to international meetings in order to sell them to other branches.

 

  

 

continue to read

Posted by Heinz Gabathuler on Jul 12, 2016

"If the number of displaced people in the world is swelling as they are forced to run from civil war, oppression or plain poverty, the response should not be to reinforce the walls of the rich-world fortress."

This sounds like a statement to the recent so-called "refugee crisis" in Europe. In fact, it is a quote from a 20-year-old document, edited by SEED – the Solidarity, Exchange & Education for Development, or simply the North-South Commission of SCI International.

continue to read

Posted by Heinz Gabathuler on Jun 21, 2016

First discussions on how SCI should celebrate the centenary of the first-ever international voluntary peace service near Verdun in 1920 have just started – and the second edition of the probably one and only monograph on the SCI movement's history is not less than half a century old.

The 167-pages paperback written by Hélène Monastier (parts 1 and 2) and Alice Brügger (part 3) in French language and self-published by SCI. The title Paix, pelle et pioche means in English Peace, shovel, and pick; the essence of the movement from its existence: The ideal of peace combined with two tools used for the construction of paths and other practical work.

continue to read

Posted by Meri Paunonen on Jun 15, 2016

This year is the 70th anniversary of the first KVT workcamp organised in Finnish Lapland and next year it will be 70 years since the establishment of KVT, SCI's Finnish Branch! Anniversaries bring various kinds of programme and sneak peeks to KVT’s history! The very first workcamp started in the village of Hirvasvaara (near by Salla) on the 15th of June 1946.

continue to read

Posted by Nigel Watt on May 31, 2016

In May Arthur Gillette, a longstanding activist for international volunteering passed away. He started as SCI volunteer in 1958. In 1963 he become CCIVS director and later director of the Youth department in UNESCO.

 

 

 

continue to read

Posted by Heinz Gabthuler on Apr 12, 2016

The document I am presenting in this text is actually just a copy: I had donated the original to the recently opened Museum Friedland (www.museum-friedland.de) which is documenting the history of the transit camp for refugees and other migrants near the former border between West and East Germany. And when I visited the museum at its opening day, I was happy to see the SCI Archives’ donation having become part of its permanent exhibition.

continue to read

Posted by Heinz Gabthuler on Feb 8, 2016

Belgian French-speakers say souper whereas the French prefer dîner. In Minsk, the capital of "Belorussia", a restaurant called "Jubileinaja" close to the Metro station Nemiga is recommended, however with no comments. A train ticket from Bonn to Köln costs 7.80 DM, whereas a big meal in Rome may easily cost 24,000 Lire. In Budapest, "it is better to ask an agency to help in cheap accommodation as they are overcrowded in summer." Belfast is neither "a natural home of the beer connoisseur" nor "over-endowed with theatres, cinemas or major musical venues". The section on Catalonia is safely separated from the one on Spain by well over 60 pages, reflecting the fact that an SCI branch in Catalonia existed well before the branch in Madrid was established. The Finnish capital Helsinki "has many faces: cold and warm, east and west, and especially in the north," as well as "rich and poor." And "McDonald's" is called "McDonald's" in the otherwise pretty exotic-looking local language.

continue to read