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UPDATED October 30, 2007
My Visit to the
On Friday, October 4 on the way back from Saaremaa Island I stopped by to see the Noortekohvik alcohol and drug-free cafe in Tallinn. The Ministry of Social Affairs donated space in their building to start the cafe on the ground floor of a busy Tallinn street right next to Old Town. The location is excellent. Lauri Beekman walked about 3/4 mile to get me at the hotel I was staying at and we both walked back to the cafe and talked over a latte. I was really impressed by the idealism and pro-activism of the young people who have gotten together to open this safe location for young people's socializing. The cafe is open from 4:00 PM until 10 PM. I really enjoyed watching and the different young people come in and interact. The youth did a lot of the work in painting and decorating the location for the cafe. The cafe has a website and an English section at http://www.ave.ee/kohvik/?lang=eng. Lauri and I talked for about an hour before I headed back. He is the head of the Estonian Temperance Union. He is a daily radio program on a Christian radio station that is heard throughout around the country. LifeNets is a sponsor of his Ole Kaine (OK) or "Be Sober" program targeted at teens. Below are a few photos of my visit. - Victor Kubik
UPDATED September 22, 2007
LifeNets has continued to support the
work of OK in Estonia this year. Founder / Director Lauri Beekman writes this
report.
March 23, 2006 Our main audience is youngsters, mainly between 12-18 years of age. This is the age group that is making the most important choices in their lives and alcohol use is increasing in that age group. The circulation of OK is 30 000 copies. The most important outcome is that students and schools have accepted the paper and it has become regular and expected thing in schools. We receive many articles from young people themselves and they write that the temperance subject presented like that does influence the readers. Lauri Beekmann November 7, 2005 Our fifth issue of OK is now being distributed. Over 30,000 issues have been printed and are distributed freely to Estonian youth. Estonia has one of the highest incidences of teen alcoholism in Europe. LifeNets has helped as sponsor--you can see below our listed with other sponsors. We are pleased that for this issue the Estonian government has paid a much greater portion that previously, helping to fulfil LifeNets mission to help people get started and become self-sufficient.
September 21, 2005
From Lauri Beekman --
Dear friends! I´m sorry I have not contacted you for so long.
ISE project went really well. The camp that we had was more than
success. 52 teenagers went home in tears and they insisted that the
project should continue. Our team has grown now also and we are planning
to expand this year to Jõgeva county also.
In the Estonian Temperance Union we have launched a campaign inviting
the president of Estonia to organize the independence day gathering
alcohol-free. We are inviting people to sign their names and support
president in this decision. We see that this act would be very important
and would give a good example and a message to our society. At the
moment we have 470 names, but the number is growing.
http://www.ave.ee/kutse/
I have good news about OK also. I made a money proposal to
the same foundation that have supported us before also and we will
receive for the next issue 35 000 EEK.
We are planning a huge development with the paper. A professional
designer is becoming a member of out team and so hopefully the next
issue will look much better.
I hope that everything is OK with all of you.
God bless you all --
Lauri June 1, 2005 This May the fourth edition of the youth paper OK was released by the Estonian Temperance Union. With circulation of 30,000 the paper brought the temperance subject again to the schools all over Estonia.
Schools are becoming more more used to the paper that is released every autumn and spring. One of the main concerns for us has been the fact that getting to the small rural schools has been too expensive and difficult. This time we have improved our cooperation with the local social- and health workers who have been a great help to us. The more we work with the Temperance Union the more we see cooperation with different NGO's and local specialists which is vital for success. OK is a brilliant tool to improve that cooperation. It can be used by various organizations that are involved in the youth work.
OK is also still the central project in Temperance Union. For our local organizations it is an important tool to make connections with the schools. One of our members in Kehra area, Kaarel Aruste, took several hundreds papers to small country schools. “The principals of these schools took those papers with gratitude and asked for more,” told Aruste. I have 200 papers for him to take them to some more small schools. We have many letters from young people. Many of them are writing about their life, how alcohol use has been affected their life and their family. One teenager girl began her letter with following words: “Hi, dear editors of the OK paper! I read the last paper with great interest, because I believe that the subjects that are covered there are very actual for youth these days. So I decided to write to you. I think you can call it my life story….” This is only one of the letters. And I believe that most of the reactions will never reach us. Last week the Estonian Institute of Economic Research published data about consumption in 2004. Estonians drink 13.5 liters absolute alcohol per capita. In 2003 the number was 13.1. So it still increases. In 1996, the year before the government began its alcoholism and drug abuse prevention program, about 1,500 people died as a consequence of drink-related incidents or illnesses. That's three times the European average. The program was planned from 1997-2007. The program was not successful or it seems that alcoholism is no longer a priority for the Estonian government. Last year the program was cancelled. As of January 2005, it has been replaced by the National Drug Prevention Strategy. This year the state budget has no direct funds for alcohol prevention.
In this situation the help that LifeNets has provided for Estonian Temperance Union is especially important and valued. A couple of months ago a new member stepped into our ranks. He is a professional book designer and with him we plan to improve OK-s layout and design. Also we see that the circulation number should be bigger. Still many-many schools only hear about the paper but will never see it. Once again, many thanks to LifeNets for its help. Without it OK could not be published. Lauri Beekmann Lauri Beekman of Tartu, Estonia is developing a pilot project, a newspaper to youth called “OK – Ole Kaine!” (Ole - Be Kaine - sober) about alcohol abuse. It will cover all of Estonia. LifeNets is helping sponsor this program. During the last 10 years the use of alcohol has doubled among young people ages 11-15. Alcohol problems have grown also in Estonia. Every year in Estonia there are about 1500-2500 alcohol related deaths. 60% of injuries are connected with the alcohol use. According to the research conducted in Estonia in 1999, 85% of young people have used alcohol. The goal of the paper is to inform youth about the dangers and results of alcohol use. Through interviews, feature stories, statistics, OK will show cause and result of alcohol use and will encourage young people to set positive goals for their lives and to do their best to achieve those goals. As an example, Lauri Beekman will present well-known people through interviews who can say that if they would have been using alcohol or drugs they would not have been able to achieve the things they did. Longterm aim is to advance a healthy lifestyle among young people. Also the program will improve their knowledge about the use of these substances. First issue of the paper was printed in early November 2003 and was distributed without cost. Lauri himself went from school to school personally delivering the newspaper. The plan is to prepare the periodical with the help of the educational departments of the counties and local sponsors. The list of people people who Lauri is working with in Estonia is impressive. The front page story is an interview with Indrek Pertelson of Tallinn who won the silver medal in world championships in judo last August in Japan. In the Sidney Olympic Games he won the bronze medal. He is a great example for Estonia's youth. He was glad to help with the OK cause. Professor Rein Taagepera is working at Tartu University for half a year and half a year in California . In 1992 ran for president of Estonia. He has written about youth and alcohol and how it affects the future of a young person. Then there is Dr. Enno Kross. For years he has worked in ER. He has seen
how alcohol has ruined the lives of hundreds of people. He write in such a way
that no reader can stay indifferent. On December 1, 2003 Lauri reported that OK was doing a fine job with lots of feedback from schools who want more. At the official level OK has been received well, too. The Education Department of Estonia are saying that they are glad that somebody is doing this! Lauri had submitted the paper to the public health department that is under the social department and asked about help with financing future editions. While they could fund the next six issues as Lauri had hoped, he was able to get funding for one more issue. That news came on March 5, 2004. Expected results of this program are: Further plans
On January 7, 2004 Lauri Beekman submitted the following report Its OK to Be Sober A small northern country, Estonia has one of the highest alcohol consumption per person in the world. According to the recent research the population of Estonia diminishes fastest in the world. Suicide rate is one of the highest in our beautiful country. These are the problems that we have to face when we are moving towards the European Union. In northern countrys, like also Finland, Sweden and Denmark people tend to drink not only to have some fun and to ease ones thirst, but out of the lack of meaning of life and to drown the everyday problems. 60% of the injuries in Estonia are connected with alcohol. Nation that has 1,4 million inhabitants, loses 2500 people every year through accidents that are connected with alcohol use. More and more young people are starting to drink very early in their lives. From there they are moving to drugs and also HIV, that is becoming a big issue in our society. Alcohol policy in Estonia is very liberal. You can buy alcohol in gas stations and almost in every store you are stepping in. Capital of Estonia, Tallinn, has as much liquor stoes as there are in the whole Finland, our neighoring, much bigger, country. Estonia has been a free country only the past 13 years. For 50 years we were under the Soviet rulership. Although drunkenness was very usual during those times, people tend to think about Soviet regime when they are told about temperance and chastity. But couple of years ago the Temperance Union was reorganised and we decided to do something about the situation our nation is in.
In November, last year, we published the first issue of the paper that is focused for the young people. And in that project the LifeNets is coming in. With the help of LifeNets and namely Lilya Wagner, Victor Kubik and Johnnie Lambert, we were able to print the paper that is called OK (Ole Kaine - Be Sober) with the circulation of 30 000. This is the same number that the second largest newpaper has in Estonia. Our goal was to give the youngsters some good examples and help them to think what does it take to achieve ones lifegoals. Olympic silver in judo Indrek Pertelson, who is a big name for every young boy, said in the front page that if he would have wasted his life on alcohol or drugs, he would have achieved nothing. These are the statements that we hope help the youngsters to start to think. We shared those papers in the schools, all over the Estonia. They were free for young people. I myself was taking the papers to the schools and I saw the reaction of the teachers and the schoolprincipals. They were very thankful and impressed. They admitted that it was something that our pupils need. From one school I heard that pupils were reading the paper in the hallways and they asked later when the next edition is coming. Well, we hope that soon enough. Of course we have no illusions that we could solve the drinking problem among our youth just through this paper. Of course not. But we are certain that it makes a difference, helps young people to think better thoughts fot their future and for the future of our nation. I´am very thankful to LifeNets and to the persons that I mentioned earlier for the help that they provided and I hope that we can continue this most pleasant cooperation. Lauri Beekmann
The next issue of the newspaper will include and an interview with one of the members of Estonia's Temperance Union. He is neurologist and for past eight years he was a member of Estonian Parliament. Also, an OK website has been started at http://www.hot.ee/kainus/. On April 13, 2004 Lauri Beekman writes: Hi Friends!
This Monday the OK paper came out of the press. I have
been occupied these days with the transportation problems, but all went
pretty well and most of the papers are already in schools. Two issues in
a year is a reality. One in autumn and one in spring. Now the summer is
close, so the next issue could be planned for school beginning in
September or October.
-- Lauri
Lauri Beekman produces five nightly radio programs weekly on Pere Raadio, a
Christian family radio station in Tartu, Estonia. He also produces the
Christian News on this station. Lauri also edits the Adventist Church magazine
and church's youth magazine in addition to his work with OK.
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Kohvik (Cafe)
in Tallinn, Estonia on October 4, 2007
We
have had very active summer and it feels good that our work is growing.
We went out with our information-tent to the biggest folk music festival
in Estonia. The festival was in Viljandi. Thanks to the local Lutheran
church we got the best place and people were really interested what we
shared there. Our OK paper was of course very popular. We
have some pictures from
