bio
My name is Beate Heide, and I am a part of the Sami people of the north. To be a Sami has been met by the majority in Norway with suppression – as many of the small indigious people around the world. To stand up as a Sami has taken courage. And today I wear my native costume with pride, although I have lost my ancestors language.
I am born in the north of Norway; above the Artic Circle on a small island called Andøya. I love to be by the sea- and to go for hikes in the mountains. Growing up in a harsh nature and stormy weather, I really enjoy a good storm as much as a quite walk under the midnight sun.
I work as a section leader in Statped, the support system for children with disabilities in Norway. I work with people with visual impairment. We offer an pedagogical approach to the impairment.
I have 4 boys – born from 1980-1999; and I also have a fosterchild – born in 1998.
I am also a writer and I have written two Childrens books in Norwegian and Sami- about serious matters . In “Ida og Nordlyset” I write about a little girl dying of cancer. The other book “Det knuste hjertet” is about living in fostercare.
As a part of indigious people I praise and admire Mother Earth and her strength. I believe she will need all the help she can get to provide fresh air and water for everyone living on the planet earth today; as long with a fair charing of the food we produce amongst us.
bio
I still feel so positively linked with my grandmother, I remember how she shared her life’s experiences. Now, I am a grandmother to 4, I live with my husband in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Who am I? Seeker of myself, what can I do to help others to live in peace and harmony. I am a teacher in Aleksandras Stulginskis University. I like Nature, herbs and traditions of Lithuanian pirtis (steam bath), embedded in a wider Baltic tradition. We are practicing the art of water, steam, herbs; attracting people to find inner peace and love, to connect to Nature, bringing balance and harmony. Furthermore it is a way of promoting ancient wisdom. I am also a yoga teacher. I would like to exchange experience of how to increase mental and physical activity, amongst older people and so enhance the quality of later life as well as inspiring the next generation to use their body, mind and mental strength to achieve peace of mind and eliminate negativity. I love chanting mantras and singing. I am part of the international Choir where we enjoy highly spirited joyful singing We all are members of the same family bound by the religion of love…
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My commitment for refugees
My commitment for refugees has its roots actually here in Iceland: 31 years ago. I was staying as a migrant for a year in Island, working as a physiotherapist in Akureyri. One very important experience during this time was how nourishing and connecting it was to get in real contact and feel welcomed by local people. So, back home, whenever I met some foreigner in the street looking for help, I usually made contact.
In August 2015 a 5-minute encounter with a young Tibetan woman on the train was the beginning of my voluntary commitment for the cause of refugees. In a short conversation I was told in broken English that the young woman with the two little bags was not, as I had first presumed, a tourist, but a refugee on her way to the shelter she had been allocated to, situated in a small town in the East of Switzerland. Quickly I passed her my mobile number before I got off the train – just in case. Three weeks later she really did call me, and we fixed a date for me to visit her. I became aware that I had absolutely no clue on the subject of refugees! So I contacted the managing director of the shelter to find out whether I was allowed to visit her, whether it would be possible to take her out… The first visit at her place with subsequent hike was to be followed by many further encounters until now.
Out of this experience I was much more open to the concerns of refugees, and I searched the internet for information about Swiss refugee politics.
In February 16, together with my husband, I spent a week as a volunteer in a transit centre on the Balkan route in Serbia. There we gave out tea, soup and clothes round the clock. The people were exhausted, and in rainy weather soaked to the skin from their strenuous trek along marshy paths. Now the Balkan-Refugees took shape and face for us.Humans of all walks of life of many different countries and social classes. With some of them conversation was possible in English, with others there was only body language for communication – and empathy and sometimes humor.
Very deeply touched by this experience I was now following the news around refugees from a very different perspective. And I decided to become active locally. I followed the charities’ advice to join an already existing project.
Thus I found “Horizons”, a project of a church in our village – open to all – with the goal of integrating the locally residing refugees into the village community. The weekly café “Horizon” offered German courses, refreshments and socializing.
In this context I taught German for beginners in small groups, occasionally also individual private lessons at my practice. Twice I accompanied asylum seekers to their second interrogation at the Federal Secretariat for Migration in Berne.
In our village of 4000 inhabitants, we had at that time 16 young men and 2 young women at the age between 18 and 30, two families and one couple, coming from Erithrea, Syria, Afghanistan and Iran. Most of them had just arrived in 2016, all waiting for their second interrogation, hoping to be accepted as refugees. During that time they had a place to sleep, a little money and tutoring from the government. But they were neither allowed to work nor to get regular intensive German lessons, and this for up to three years.
By now, all of them got their answers. Some are accepted as refugees, some just for the time being. Three of them had to leave the country. Most of them are now learning German in an official German course and some could start professional training. So now I sometimes meet some of them for a cup of tea, and I take time to be with them to listen what is going on in their lives with friends, families, schools, difficulties and dreams.
Occasionally there are also invitations: from the refugees to us “teachers”; then there is a huge table laden with the most wonderful food from Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Erithrea… cooked by the refugees as a “thank-you” to us. These are times when peace on Earth can really be felt!
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A lecture for the 6th Meeting of the European Council of Grandmothers in Island
INNER PEACE
I am Grandmother Helga from Germany. I am happy to be here in Iceland together with my European Grandmother Sisters, and I am happy to meet all of you. Our topic for this council is PEACE, and I am sure that this is one of the most important issues for all of us in these days and it is no coincidence that our council takes place in Iceland just in the time of the UN-WORLD PEACE DAY.
It is my part today to talk about our inner peace, our peace of mind.
Why shall we think about inner peace?
Many years ago, I thought about what I can contribute to the goal PEACE in the world! I felt overwhelmed by this immense challenge! I was about to give up, but I read about Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and other great peace campaigners and I understood that peace is not a state but a process.
“There are no roads to peace, peace is the way”. (Mahatma Gandhi)
Then I understood that PEACE in the world starts with us. That means I have to find peace inside of me. I remembered the cosmic principles of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece. One of them is “As the outer world, so the inner world – as the inner world, so the outer world.” The Dalai Lama: “If you do not know inner peace, you will not find it in your encounter with others.” These examples may be enough for the moment to explain, why I decided to think about inner peace, work on it and share my experiences with you. Now – a little break! Although I know, that there is only little time!
Please -Take your time!
Now!
Close your eyes!
Take a deep breath and exhale! Four times!
Find your own rhythm now, be quiet and relax!
Imagine you are at your favourite place in the nature!
Realize that you are connected to everything!
Stay there and enjoy this moment until I will call you back!
– two minutes –
Come back and open your eyes!
Sometimes it needs not more to find our inner peace:
Take some time!
Be aware of your breath!
Be just in this moment!
Be in the nature!
Feel connected!
Sometimes it is much more difficult to find our inner peace. There are many reasons for this.
One reason is that we are angry with ourselves. We are very often angry with ourselves, one aspect of us fights against the other as if we have war within us.
We have to understand, perceive and accept that we do not really value ourselves.Most of us have a deep fear of rejection. That is why we try to live up to expectations of others and our own. For many of us this means a tremendous effort and causes great stress.
Mostly the cause for this is in the past. That means, that we have to look into our childhood, sometimes even deeper – into the childhood of our parents or grandparents- to understand all the suppressed feelings, deep mental injuries we all have suffered. Children are very vulnerable, and dependent to their parents, they need their love. When parents have had to suppress their feelings, they are unconsciously afraid, that these feelings, especially deep pain, come into their consciousness.
Where fear is there cannot be love, because fear makes our body tight and love needs space.
So almost all of us have a lack of love. We have many ways to deal with it. Most ways do not lead to inner peace, because most of us do not understand that many of our activities and efforts have something to do with our need for love. That means that we have to look into our childhood and to our ancestors to see, understand, feel and accept the hidden wounds, pain and anger to heel them. Then we can learn to forgive our ancestors and ourselves. When we forgive, we are connected. This forgiveness, our connection leads to INNER PEACE!
