Blog

Even though December has just begun, Lilleke's youth room is already prepared for Christmas early! To be completely honest, the room has been sparkling since the end of November, although a couple of young people thought it was too early to turn on the lights and bring in the Christmas trees. Yes, we even have two Christmas trees! At Lilleke, we aimed to enjoy this festive sight for at least four weeks.    Even the grey and damp weather of November and December cannot extinguish the glow that appears when the first Christmas lights are lit indoors and Christmas songs play from the speakers, infecting other residents of the building. Youth workers can often be heard humming Christmas carols to themselves on the stairs.    Of course, not all young people immediately joined in. Many watched skeptically as we started stringing lights along...

As part of Youth Work Week, Narva was visited together with young people. Our youth worker Liisi Soo recalls this trip. On November 11, we organized a trip for young people to Narva, where we visited the Narva Youth Centre, briefly explored the city, and participated in an exciting excursion at the Kreenholm Manufactory. We hopped on the bus at 9:30 AM, and our journey to Narva began! Upon arriving in Narva, we walked along the river and observed the fortresses on both riverbanks. We then moved towards Kreenholm, where we spent an hour and a half exploring the museum grounds and learning about the manufactory's exciting history. The Kreenholm Manufactory is a textile industry enterprise, named after its location (Kreenholm Island), and operated for a total of 153 years (1857–2010). In the second half of the 19th century, the Kreenholm Manufactory was the most modern industrial enterprise in Russia…

Organizing a youth event is more than just setting a date and planning activities. Participating in organizing offers young people the opportunity to develop, communicate, discover their strengths, and feel that their opinion is valued. I believe that the success of an event cannot be measured solely by the number of participants or a diverse program, but by whether young people felt included and heard. Below, I have outlined five of my own thoughts that, as a youth worker, have helped me organize memorable and successful events with young people over the years. 1. Involve young people from the start. Involving young people doesn't just mean asking for their opinion, but truly taking their ideas and thoughts seriously and considering them. Young people often have...

As part of Youth Work Week, Narva was visited together with young people. Our youth worker Liisi Soo recalls this trip. On November 11, we organized a trip for young people to Narva, where we visited the Narva Youth Centre, briefly explored the city, and participated in an exciting excursion at the Kreenholm Manufactory. We hopped on the bus at 9:30 AM, and our journey to Narva began! Upon arriving in Narva, we walked along the river and observed the fortresses on both riverbanks. We then moved towards Kreenholm, where we spent an hour and a half exploring the museum grounds and learning about the manufactory's exciting history. The Kreenholm Manufactory is a textile industry enterprise, named after its location (Kreenholm Island), and operated for a total of 153 years (1857–2010). In the second half of the 19th century, the Kreenholm Manufactory was the most modern industrial enterprise in Russia…

I worked at the Tartu Youth Work Center (hereinafter TNTK) for a total of 1,509 days. Initially, I was supposed to come to the job as a substitute for four months, but after four months I refused to leave and, fortunately, my wishes were granted. Previously, I worked at a place where I was the only youth worker. The experience left me with the feeling that this field was simply boring and perhaps not my cup of tea, even though my field of study would suggest otherwise. In fact, it wasn't youth work itself that was failing, but rather the lack of what is most important to me – the people around me. The TNTK team proved that there is a real team here, where I received immediate feedback on my ideas and where I felt every day that my work really matters. I...

1. What does an exchange year mean? An exchange year is a time when you can go to another country to live and study. I am in Spain and live with a host family here. I go to school and live a completely new life in another country. 2. What are the first emotions and experiences like? The first week I was at a camp where we met people and received preliminary training on what to do if something happened and who to inform if help was needed. There was also a Spanish language lesson. On the last day, everyone met their family, but my family was at a wedding, so I met them the next day instead. I had to manage somehow, and the person I stayed with didn't speak English, so we communicated little and…

Autumn is here, leaves are changing color, and the air is crisp, but at Ilmatsalu Youth Center, it's warm and increasingly lively. Our team dreams that this house will become an even more open and versatile place where not only young people but all residents of Ilmatsalu and its surroundings feel welcome. Our house now also has a position called community specialist, and all youth workers are named community youth workers. I will briefly open up the concept of community and just one of many reasons why communities and their role are important. The term "community" has become very popular and is used quite often. Community is an integral part of everyday life, and although it is intuitively understood, it has…

The Youth Summer Camp has concluded once again, and it's time to summarize. It was once again a vibrant Youth Summer Camp, which can be summed up in the words of one camper: “This was my first Youth Summer Camp, and it was so cool. I really enjoyed it!” As camp organizers, our greatest wish is to be able to offer their first camp and work experience to as many young people without prior camp experience as possible each year. When planning the 2025 Youth Summer Camp, we set ourselves the goal of increasing the number of camp places specifically for 13-14-year-olds. The goal was achieved thanks to the institutions of Tartu city, with whom we collaborated to secure a total of 120 camp places for 13-14-year-olds this year, which is twice as many as in 2024. In total, 222 young people aged 13-19 were able to participate in the Tartu Youth Work Camp, who…

Every autumn, we incorporate nature and its beauty into the activities of the youth center. The end of September and beginning of October is a wonderful time to go outside, walk around the city, and enjoy nature. One of the annual activities at the Lillekese youth center is printmaking with fallen leaves. This means that we start by going outside with the young people and looking for fallen leaves. Each young person chooses a few leaves they like, collects them, and returns to the youth center. As a group activity, we take out gouache paints, brushes, and a bowl of water. Then we look at how the leaf has two sides—one with deeper and more noticeable patterns, which we paint over with gouache. Next, we use a printing technique to capture the leaf patterns on regular A4 paper using colors. Very...