Youth and Faith A collection of texts on the subject A collaborative Magazine Content

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2 Youth and Faith A collection of texts on the subject A collaborative Magazine Content Introduction - English... 3 Introduksjon - Norsk:... 4 Utangulizi - Kiswahili:... 5 Importance of faith to youth... 6 Importance of faith to the youth The case study in Iraqw society of Dongobesh Mbulu;... 8 Globalization Effects on youth s faith More on globalization and religion Interview Poem: Poem analysis Christianity comes to Norway The old Norwegian religion The new faith Effect of science and technology to the youth in religion and their faith Dongobesh Lutheran Secondary School Youth in daily life at school Youth and faith in Dongobesh and Levanger Interview

3 Introduction - English: Ten years ago, in 2002, four students and two teachers from a secondary school in Levanger, Norway, went out on an unexpected and courageous journey. They travelled by plane all the way down to the little town of Dongobesh, Tanzania, far into the bush in the middle of the warm, African country, after only barely having communicated with a few people down at the secondary school there. They knew nothing about what to expect when their car rolled up in the school yard under the burning sun, and they were for the first time welcomed in Dongobesh. Neither did anyone at the school. No one really knew what they had started. None of them could have known what a long-lasting, wonderful and fruitful friendship had just begun Today, ten years later, the Friendship-North/South project still lives on, and every year, students and teachers from both schools in both countries travel the long, tiring distance between Tanzania and Norway to visit their sister school and keep the fire of friendship between us burning. Every year, new projects about various subjects, are started. Along the way, these projects have flourished, and several have won international prices. These projects, which the students participating in Friendship-North/South are responsible for, can be related to many things. So far, projects about energy and language/culture has been carried out, producing interesting products which proves that students and teachers from different cultures can achieve great things when working together. The last two years, students from both schools have worked on a project named Youth & Faith. As the name suggests, this project has focus on young people (especially in the local areas of the two schools involved) and their relations to religion and faith. What views does youth in these areas have on these topics? And why? How does religion affect their everyday life? And what does it mean to them personally? This year s project form Friendship North/South aims to put a spotlight on these questions, and many more. In this little Magazine, we have gathered all texts and other products this project has resulted in, and we truly hope you ll enjoy it. Good reading! Sincerely, Students & teachers from - Levanger Secondary School, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway - Dongobesh Secondary School, Manyara, Tanzania 3

4 Introduksjon - Norsk: For ti år siden, i 2002, dro fire elever og to lærere fra en videregående skole i Levanger, Norge, ut på en modig og lite planlagt reise. De dro med fly, buss og bil hele veien fra Trøndelag i Norge, ned til den lille byen Dongobesh i Manyararegionen i Tanzania, langt inne i det varme, afrikanske landet, etter bare så vidt å ha kommunisert med noen på den videregående skolen i byen. De visste lite hva de kunne forvente da bilen deres kjørte inn i skolegården under den brennende solen, og de for første gang ble ønsket velkommen til Dongobesh. Det gjorde heller ingen på skolen der. Ingen av dem visste hva de nettopp hadde satt i gang. Ingen av dem kunne ha visst hvilket langvarig, fantastisk og givende vennskap som nettopp hadde begynt. I dag, ti år senere, lever fremdeles prosjektet Vennskap Nord/Sør i beste velgående, og hvert år reiser elever og lærere fra begge skolene den lange, slitsomme distansen mellom Tanzania og Norge for å besøke søsterskolen sin og holde liv i det varme vennskapet de to skolene har seg imellom. Hvert år startes nye faglige prosjekter, med utgangspunkt i flere forskjellige fag og temaer. Disse prosjektene, som utformes, gjennomføres og styres av elevene selv, har blomstret og vunnet flere internasjonale priser. Så langt har prosjektene tatt utgangspunkt i henholdsvis i temaene energi og språk/kultur. Disse prosjektene har resultert i svært unike og interessante produkter, som står som gode eksempler på hva elever og lærere fra like land og kulturer kan oppnå når de jobber sammen. De siste to årene har elever fra de to skolene jobbet sammen med et prosjekt ved navn Youth & Faith (Norsk: Ungdom & Tro). Som navnet tilsier, har dette prosjektet fokus på unge mennesker (spesielt i de to skolenes lokale områder) og deres forhold til religion, livssyn og tro. Hvilket syn har ungdommer i disse områdene på disse temaene? Og hvorfor? Hvordan påvirker religionen hverdagslivet deres? Og hva betyr det for dem personlig? Prosjektet vårt dette året prøver å sette fokus på disse spørsmålene, og mange flere. I dette lille Magasinet har vi samlet de mange tekstene og produktene dette prosjektet har resultert i. Vi er aldri så lite stolte, og håper du vil finne det intressant. God lesning! Vennlig hilsen, Elever og lærere fra - Levanger Videregående Skole, Nord-Trøndelag, Norge - Dongobesh Secondary School, Manyara, Tanzania 4

5 Utangulizi - Kiswahili: Miaka kumi iliyopita 2002 wanafunzi wa nne na walimu wawili kutoka shule ya secondari Levanger, Norway walisafiri kwa ndege kwenda kwenye mji mdogo wa Dongobesh, Tanzania, nchi ya Africa Baada ya kuwa na mawasiliane na watu wachache pale shule ya sekondari hatujua kuhusu nini kinachoendelea wakati gani lao lilifika wakati wa mchana na ni mara yao ya kwanza kukaribishwa Dongobeshi. Hakuna hata mmoja aliyojua ukweli watakapoanzia hakuna hata mmoja kati yao aliyojua nini mwanzo wala mwisho ni kitu cha ajabu na matunda ya uhusiano wa urafiki umeanza. Leo miaaka kumi baadaye uhusiano wa north/south ripoti bado inaendelea kila mwaka wanafunzi na walimu kutoka pande zote katika nchi zote wanasafiri kafi ya Tanzania na Norway kutembelea sister school nakuendeleza usiano wa kirafiki kati yetu. Kila mwaka tunaandika ripoti mpya kuhusu masomo tofauti yameanzishwa. Na hii ripoti ambayo wanashiriki katika uhusino wakirafiki North-South inawajibika na kuweza kuingiliana na vitu vingi mbali na hapo ripoti kuhusu nishati na utamamaduni imekuwa ilyotolewa,iliyozalishwa ambayo inahakikisha kwamba wanafunzi walimu kutoka tamaduni tofauti wanaweza kufikia vitu vikubwa wanapofanya kazi kwa pamoja. Miaka miwili iliyopita wanafunzi kutoka shule zote mbili walishuhulika kwenye ripoti inayohusiana na Youth & Faith (Kiswahili: Vijana na imani) kama jina lilivyopendekezwa hii ripoti inayohusiana na vijana maalumu katika maeneo ya vijijini katika shule mbili zilizohusika na uhusiano wao kwenye dini na imani mtazamo gani ambao vijana katika maeneo wanahuu mtazamo? Na kwanini? Jinsi gani dini inaharibu maisha yao ya kila siku? Na ina maana gani? Kwa kiubinafsi? Miaka hii ripoti inaunda uhusiano wa kirafiki North/South. Ina madhumuni ya kujibu haya maswalina mengine Zaidi. Tuna matumaini kwamba mtafurahia hili gazeti dogo, na zaidi tunasema taratibu tunajivunia hayo mafanikio nakutakia. Usomaji mwema! Wanafunzi na walimu kutoka, - Levanger Secondary School, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. - Dongobesh Seoondary School, Manyara, Tanzania. 5

6 Importance of faith to youth By Maja Slettvoll Munkeby, Levanger It is difficult to define faith, but it seems like it is something all humans obtain. In this text I will talk about faith in meaning of religion and how it effects youth. I also want to find some answers concerning importance of faith for youths. So what is faith? It can be answers to the big questions, the difference between life and death, it can be something you turn your back on, something you cling on to, or it might be everything or nothing. One thing is for sure, faith is a personal understanding and we expect other to respect that. Is it an age limit for religious faith? As a young person it might be scary to have faith in something, because how can you be sure when the grown-ups might have another view in faith than you do. Is the feeling you define as faith something you have made up yourself or is it a real power? I believe many youths experience not to be taken serious either they have faith in a god or not. In the modern society we can see new religions and directions within religions very often. I think this type of happenings appeal very much to youth. In this kind of situation the person might be drawn between their old faith and a new faith. That might cause a conflict between the youth and his or hers friends and family. Elders often expect the young ones to share the same understanding of faith. Of course there are some common guidelines if you belong to a certain religion. For example; Sunni Muslims believes that the religious leader should be the man most capable for the job, compared to the Shia Muslim who mean that the next leader should be in direct relation to Muhammad s prophet, Ali. Muslims have the same guidelines from their holy book, the Koran, but as we can see it is your personal conviction, traditions and family and societies influence who have great impact on your personal faith. All these aspects are important in the process of trying to define faith. If I use my own country, Norway, as starting point it is important to describe all active religions in the country, and not only Christianity which is the official religion in Norway. 6

7 Norway is a country with many religions. About 85, 7% of the Norwegian population are members of The Norwegian Church, 8, 7% belong to other religious communities, and ca 5,7% is not member of any religious communities. However, where do the youths come into this picture and what importance in general do these societies have to the youths in Norway? Some children are born into a religion and grow up in the surroundings of this religion. Almost every religion has different paths, but I use the most common costums. Quite soon after birth it is very common to get baptized in Christianity. This is to open the heavenly kingdom and introduce the child to Christianity. In Islam the first thing the newborn child is supposed to hear is the Islamic prayer, Adhan. The child grows up, with or without being socialized in religion and often when the child reaches a certain age he or she may choose or have to go through a ceremony in the occasion of becoming a grown up person. The Jews have Bar Mitzvah for boys and Bat Mitzvah for girls. And also some religions use circumcision as a religious ritual. And then it s easy to start wonder. Do youths volunteer accept this rituals and ceremonies, or is it just a result of tradition and ancestors relations to a religion who they might not understand and personally stand by. When we are young we meet so many issues. First of all our body is changing, we start to understand things we haven t understood before and suddenly many things become an issue because it is difficult to relate to something, when we don t really know who we are. How are we supposed to know if Jesus died on the cross for our sake? And how are we supposed to know if we get 27 virgins when we come to paradise? And why believe in something we can t really figure out. The answer is faith.it seems like the 7

8 trend in Norway these days are either the very spiritual and deep-seeking longing for meaning with life and truth, but also many youths choose to turn their backs on religion. Is this the result of someone finding faith, losing faith or ignoring faith? Norwegians hope that our oil-adventure will continue for a long time to come, also we have faith in the government to have control over distribution of the goods, and we trust that they will come up with something that can make Norway continue to be one of the worlds` richest countries on earth. If we hadn`t had faith in this, the society would have been a totally different one, where we would have planned to carry out the society in a totally different way. Although this is not religious faith it makes us realize how important faith is in everyday life. We can say to our friends and family; I have faith in you, and it will mean a lot to the person told to. It is easier to conduct ourselves to definite things we know. But when it comes to religion; faith become something more. Then it is about the certainty whether you were created by nature or a god, if you are going to live another life on earth after death, you are damned to eternal torment or glory, or you will rotten in a coffin. It is something abstract about this that concerns our lives, if you choose to think about it that way. A life without a religious faith will in many ways be simple, but also religious faith for someone will be the only way to live. Without a religious faith you are not subject for a god and you are a free individual and it is your own consciousness and the society s guidelines that will decide your decisions. This is what we call a humanistic philosophy of life. Although Norway is a country for many religions and views of life; we can see youths be together as friends across their religion and personal understanding and just being what they are, youths. It is difficult to conclude a text about something so personal as faith, but I think for those who believe, their faith will be their guideline in life, and for those who don t have a religious faith it will be a feeling of expectation for something. And how could someone tell you that your faith is not right? Importance of faith to the youth The case study in Iraqw society of Dongobesh Mbulu; By Elirehema Steven, Dongobesh Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Also in the society he/she has their own faith, a good example is an early Barbaig leader who has his own faith and the man is called Gidamosa in Dongobesh area. He was a leader with strong faith, which led him to be killed by the Germans. He was opposing the administration of Germans in Dongobesh area during 1980s. There are many kinds of faith, for example did our elders believe in trees, dams, stones and animals. Religion is spread by persons who preach and show the evidence about their successes. Another source of faith is problems that arise in the societies. When the youth face problems they adhere to the faith of their religion and follow the rules of the faith they believe in. Due to problems that are faced by the 8

9 youth, they work to solve their problems by following their faith. Example of those problems is poverty, diseases, war, and drought. Poverty created a faith to the youth and to the whole society, when the society/government failed to fulfill their basic needs like food, shelter and clothes. These problems above created faith to the youth. As faith is defined before also has importance to the Youth and society as whole, these importance are as follows; It strengthen confidence to the youth, someone who has faith in something has confidence because of faith. An example from the Bible is Abraham, the father of faith; he believed in God, he also had faith to trust God to get a child though he was quite old. Youth become strong in faith after reading different books which was written to explain about their faith. In this way youth can be confident in the difficulties that they face in life. To help the youth to perform their duties, they must have faith in order to end it successfully. E.g. students in Tanzania have faith to perform well in their exams if they only hard. They can face difficulties in life if they fail in their exams; they have hard science subjects like Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and physics. This is due to the absence of laboratories and lack of laboratory apparatuses. Some also panic because of fear of examination. Students and teachers from Dongobesh & Levanger in Tanzania,

10 We should try to help youth and other members in the society to depart themselves from evil behavior. In some religions, youth are not allowed to be among the groups that believe in different religions or do not believe at all. Also in some societies there is crimes and evil done by the members of the community, but with faith youth are isolating themselves from those involved in evil activity. Normally, the bad groups are involved in robbery, drinking alcohol and raping. The groups like these are not admired by the society and government, which also assist the society to attack these groups, sometimes they will be taken to jail. Shape youth to be obedient, this refer to the teaching given to the youth from modern faith like Christianity and Islam. Christian youth are taught to be faithful because it is the foundation of Christian beliefs. Also there is the teaching provided in Islam that youth have to sacrifice their life to strengthen Islamic faith to the world. Globalization Effects on youth s faith By Sayi Jilulu, Dongobesh The world is in constant evolution, and as the years pass by, the whole world is more and more easily accessible to each and every one of us. Foreign dishes, language, culture and customs are becoming a part of our everyday life. How does this actually affect us, and how does it affect our youth. And more importantly; how does it affect their faith? Faith can be defined as trust in somebody s ability or knowledge or strong religious beliefs. Globalization has brought both positive and negative effects to youth all over the world. Below, some of the negative effects are discussed. Changes in clothing style have been an effect of globalization to the youth, especially youth who cope with the influence of different cultures in the society. For example, the culture of wearing in Africa will be different from the way the people in Europe dress. So due to globalization, keeping the development of science and technology like computers, internet and televisions in mind; through all these youth have changes their way of living. This withdraws African youth from their faith, because faith is associated with wearing style of African culture. Globalization also accelerates commercial sex work in Africa; it is especially admired by youth. For example the African youth have been watching television and visiting internet in order to know how people of other nations involve in sexual activities or making love. This is a moral decadence to capture Youth minds. Due to prostitution, many youth failed to manage school life. Globalization mobilizes youth to conduct violence and wars within the African countries. For example in African nations it was believed that youth were obedient to the society and worked to benefit the society, but things fell apart because the youth were violating the society in seek of money and wealth. Apart from the negative effects of globalization to the youth it has also brought positive impacts or effects to the youth in the world; 10

11 It creates friendship or relationship among the youth. For example youth can travel from one place to another area without limitations. The notable example is Facebook, Twitter and other social networks that connect people in the world to meet and chat. All these facilities accelerate friendship from all corners of the world and from different ethnic and ethic perspectives. Globalization has also improved employment opportunities to the youth and to older people. For example the investments made by the government or private sectors are very essential in employing youth. The most notable example is that youth can find employment on internet from different parts of the world. Awareness and consciousness have been brought by globalization to the youth. Youth can now reason for the rights and judge on how the politics is going on in the world. The mass media of the world like Al Jazeera, CNN and BBC are notable examples that aware youth and mobilized youth from Africa, Asia, Europe and America. More on globalization and religion By Cecilie Skjørstad, Levanger Globalisation is a well-known term for people all around the world. Today globalisation is important for all of us; we get food, clothes, services, information and a lot of other things from other parts of the world. It affects our daily life. In this text I ll debate the affect globalisation has on us, especially youths, in Norway today. Globalization can also affect our religion. We get new impulses from other parts of the world that might put our religion in a bad light, but also in good light sometimes people take one religion from one corner of the earth and mix it with their own religion and so on. We hear that other people believe in totally other things than what we do what s the right thing to believe in? Especially youths are might ask themselves this question. Youths may get affected by the cult-religions around the world today. Some might even convert to a religion just because their favourite celebrity is a member of this religion. Sometimes it doesn t seem like a religion s meaning is that important, it s more the status it gives you. Is this a wanted evolution? Norway has become a multicultural society. A number of immigrants have moved to Norway over the past years. When they settle down here they have their own way of living, their own culture and they also might have their own religion. In Norway Christianity is the most widespread religion, but during the last years others religions have become more normal as well. 11

12 One of the new beliefs in Norway is the New Age movement. They are a non-religious Western spiritual movement. It was developed in the last half of the 20 th century. They mean that there is a form of Oneness and unity throughout the universe. They have a worldview that includes both science and spirituality. A lot of religious institutions have been critical towards the New Age spirituality. They look upon their activities as demonic. New Age practises yoga, meditation, feng shui and crystal healing. In Norway today several of these activities have become normal, and Norwegians attend for example yoga-classes without even thinking about it being a New Age -activity. So what do this do to young people? Does it make it more difficult to stick to your old religion? 79.2 % of Norwegians are registered members of the state Church of Norway (January 2010). Although the number is that high, only 20% of the Norwegian population say that religion occupies an important part of their life. This makes Norway one of the most secular countries in the world. Church attendance has also dropped over the years. Among non-christian religions in Norway, Islam is the biggest representing about 1.5 % of the population. Islam is practised mainly by the Turkish, Somali, Albanian and Arab immigrants. It s also practised by the Norwegians of Pakistani descent. Indian immigrants introduced Hinduism to Norway and in 2009 Hinduism had more than followers. Today there are eleven Buddhist organizations in Norway with members are followers of the Baha i religion while Sikhism has % of the Norwegian population adhere to the secular Norwegian Humanist Association. If you ask a Norwegian youth about his or her religion or faith, the answer might not be that precise. I think that many youths are members of a religion because of traditions and not because of personal faith. Of course this is not the case for all Norwegian youths. 12

13 For youths living in a country with various religions being practised, it might be difficult to know what to believe in. What s right and what s wrong? With all these religion living side by side, respect for one another is extremely important. But in the middle of all of this we have to ask ourselves; what might happen in the future if the constant income of new religions and understandings continue? Interview By Maja Slettvoll Munkeby, Levanger What is your name and how old are you? - My name is Sara Jønvik and I m 19 years old. I am a student, currently in my third year at Levanger Secondary School - How is your relationship to faith? - I believe in what I can see and the things that can be proved. I can t just trust someone because they say they have seen a miracle, I have to see it with my own eyes. Do you recognise yourself in a religion? - I `m atheist. I have tried to be Christian more than once, but each time I start to read the Bible I find many aspects of it quite naive, for example the story about Job in the Old Testament. Even when Satan is ruining his life, he trusts in God. I find that very naive, because he had always been a good and pious man and, therefore I think he should have expected something in return. As humans, I think we all would expect that. Therefore I feel like the bible loses some of its reliability, due to the fact that I cannot relate to the people in it. I am simply sceptic by nature. - Do you come from a religious family, and do you think social heritage affects the faith of the younger generation? - Yes, I consider my family to be religious. I think social heritage means a lot, because then the religion you are brought up in is a natural part of life. Even though you are brought up in a religious family, I think it is easy to turn your back at your family s religious understanding when you are young. Does faith affect your daily life? - Not at all. I have many Christian friends, but we respect eachothers understanding and it does not affect our friendship. I ve heard many non-religious people start to pray or start believing when something drastic happens in their life. When I`m scared, or something bad happens, I do not think becoming religious is a way out of it - How do you think faith affect youths life today? - I think many young adults find comfort and safety in their religion. Some might even say it has shown them a meaning of life. In Norway today, I see that escpecially young Muslims have these feelings about their religion. It seems like their life and their faith goes hand in hand, though I think that has both positive and negative sides. 13

14 Do you have a personal definition of faith? That is a very difficult question to answer, but I think I will have to say that it is a person`s conviction about the truth of something. Thank you Sara Jønvik Poem: THE TRAIN The train carries everybody everywhere. It carries the men It carries the woman It carries me too a blind boy wherever it carries me alas, I meet distress and knock against it with my knee. It carries the men it carries the woman it carries the blind boy to his distress Iteso (Uganda) 14

15 Poem analysis By Iman Ibrahim, Happness Musa, Fredy Lazaro, Joseph Isack, Dongobesh This poem is about the serious disease HIV, also called AIDS. The poem has four stanzas, the first stanza contains three verses, second stanza contains four verses, third stanza contains four verses, and the fourth and the last contain four verses. In this poem we get the lesson that HIV/AIDS is a dangerous disease, which has no treatment so it is important is to be carefully on how to avoid it. The poem tells that the train carries men, it carries woman, and it carries everyone, which means that AIDS does not select, anyone can get it. Also we can say that this poem is relevant to our society (Tanzania) because most of our people are uneducated, they do not have best ways or methods on how to avoid this disease. Also it is relevant socially, especially in faith. Our advice about the poem is that people should be given education about this disease. There is also used symbolism in the poem, for example the train is AIDS and the blind boy is someone who doesn t have the knowledge on how to prevent this disease. Christianity comes to Norway By Torbjørn Andre Moe The old Norwegian religion Before Christianity came to Norway, the Norwegian population believed in the traditional Norse gods. The Norse religion was spread all over Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) and people on Iceland did also believe in the Norse gods. The time when the Norwegian population believed in the Norse gods is called the Viking age, this is because of the Scandinavian warriors and tradesmen who travelled all over Europe. These men were called Vikings, we do not know for sure what this word comes from, but we know that the Scandinavian population called it to travel in Viking when they were travelling around in Europe. Some of the most known and important Norse gods was Odin, Thor and Frey. Each one of the gods had its own special power and the Norwegian population made sacrifices to the gods to make sure that they got protection and luck for the coming years. Thor is known as the thunder-god. He was the god of strength and he was ruling over storms and thunder. There are many stories about him fighting against the jotuns, the enemies of the Norse gods. Thor was travelling with a wagon pulled by two goats and he had a terrible weapon Mjöllnir, Thor s Hammer. The people believed that when it was thundering, Thor was travelling over the sky with his wagon and hammer. They believed the thunder was made of Thor throwing his hammer against the jotuns. 15

16 Frey was the most important god for the farmers, because he was the god of fertility. Frey was the god responsible of everything growing on earth; he was responsible for every animal and every plant living on earth. The farmers wanted their animals to grow big and their crops to become large; this is because they needed to collect enough food during the warm seasons in Norway before the long and cold winter came. It was important to have enough food for the winter because there is almost impossible to produce food during winter because of the cold weather and the ice. The farmers made sacrifices to Frey to make sure that their crops and animals would grow and produce enough food for their family to survive during the winter. Odin was the highest of the Norse gods; he was above everyone else and was often called allfather. Odin was the god of wisdom. He sold one of his eyes to be allowed to drink of the well of wisdom. Because of that he had been drinking of the well of wisdom, Odin had all of the knowledge and wisdom in the world. He did also have two ravens, Huginn and Muninn (thought and memory in English). The ravens were sitting on his shoulders and sometimes Odin would send them out in the world to collect information about what was going on in the world. Because of the ravens, Odin knew everything about what was going on all over the world. Odin was the most important god for the warriors and those travelling in Viking. They made sacrifices to Odin to make sure that they did not meet any of their enemies during the travel and to make sure that they would win the battles they were going to fight. It was common to use statues or symbols of the Norse gods during the rituals of sacrifice. Thor, the god of strength was often pictured with his hammer, Mjöllnir. Frey, the god of fertility was usually pictured with a large phallus (penis) as a symbol of his fertility. And Odin, the god of wisdom was pictured with only one eye and often with his two ravens. Shukuru John, student from Dongobesh Secondary School is standing with statues of two Norse gods (Frey and Odin) 16

17 It was common to sacrifice food and alcohol, but sometimes they could also sacrifice living animals and sometimes they could even sacrifice living humans. They believed that the more you sacrificed, the more the gods would be pleased. Most of the people living in the area around Levanger and Trøndelag were farmers. Most of the people would therefore make sacrifices to Frey, the god of fertility. Many places in Trøndelag is named after Frey, for instance Frol in Levanger and Frosta which is south of Levanger. It is believed that the reason why these places have got names after Frey is because these places are very fertile and it is possible to harvest large amount of crops in these areas. People who believed in the Norse religion did also believe in a life after death. It was common to bury the dead with things they thought they would need in the next life. A man did often get his weapons in his grave and sometimes some of his animals. Women got their jewellery with them in the grave. It was sometimes normal to bury a man with his ship or boat in case he had to use it in the next life. According to the Norse faith you can come to many different places after death. If you were a warrior or a king you would come to Odin s house, Valhalla. If you came to Valhalla, you would be fighting during the day and when the night came those who had died during the fight would live again and they would have a large feast during the night. If you died because of a disease you would come to a place named Hel, which probably is quite similar to what we call Hell today. We do not know for sure how many different places that the Norwegian population believed you could come to, but the most common belief was probably Valhalla and Hel. Today we can find many different traces of the Norse religion. One of the traces is the names for the days during the week, for example: Wednesday (Onsdag in Norwegian) is the day of Odin, Thursday is the day of Thor and Friday is the day of Frey. And the word thunder (torden in Norwegian) comes from the name of the god Thor, because he was the god who was controlling the weather. The new faith During their travels in Europe, the Vikings came in contact with a new religion, the Christianity. The Vikings was trading with Christian tradesmen, but many Christians did not want to trade with people who did not believe in Christianity. In order to be able to trade with Christians many Vikings started to learn about Christianity and to wear Christian symbols. Later it began to be common that the Vikings was baptised and started to believe in the Christian religion. The oldest traces of Christianity in Norway are found in the south-western parts of the country. It has been found stones with Christian symbols written in them and there has also been found stones shaped like a cross. This can mean that Christianity came to those parts of Norway as early as around the year 800. In Sweden and Denmark, Christianity was spread quite peacefully. In Norway the Christianity was spread using force. It was the kings of Norway who wanted their people to believe in the new faith. And they used force and violence to make the people convert into Christianity. The first king who tried to convert the Norwegian population into Christianity was King Haakon the Good. He learned about Christianity in England and as king in Norway, he tried to introduce the new religion in Norway. He got some priests from England and he built some churches, but the Norwegian population did not want to convert to Christianity. King Haakon 17

18 gave up his attempt to Christianize Norway. This could be the reason why the people called him the Good. Later came King Olaf Tryggvason, and he did not use only peaceful methods. He was converted an baptised in England and he went back to Norway to convert the people into Christianity. First he tried to convince the Norwegian population to convert into Christianity. This method worked in the south-western parts of the country, since those who was living there already knew about Christianity and some even believed in the new religion. However, when Olaf Tryggvason came to Trøndelag (the region of Levanger and Trondheim) he met large resistance. The people did not want to stop believing in the Norse religion. Olaf started to use force and started to destroy the statues of the Norse gods and murder the people who were against him. Because of his violent methods Olaf Tryggvason made a lot of enemies, and around year 1000 Olaf was killed by his enemies. The last Christianization king of Norway was King Olaf Haraldsson, later known as King Olaf the Holy. During his travels in Europe he converted into Christianity and he did also go back to Norway to convert the people. Olaf Haraldsson did also use violent methods and he became very unpopular amongst the population in Norway. Olaf Haraldsson had to flee from Norway and he went to Russia. Some years later, in 1030 he went back to Norway to take back the position as king of Norway. When Olaf came to Stiklestad in Trøndelag, Olaf and his army met a large army of farmers who did not want Olaf to take back the power of Norway. There was a large battle and Olaf was killed and his army lost the battle. Later it was built a church on the spot where they believe Olaf Haraldsson was killed. Students from Dongobesh and Levanger at Nidarosdomen 2012 To prevent the enemies of King Olaf Haraldsson to steal his body, one of his allies moved the body of the dead king to Trondheim. He was buried on the riverside of the river Nidelven in Trondheim. 18

19 After the death of King Olaf Haraldsson, there was told stories about wonders around his death. One of the stories was that a blind man had touched the king s blood and touched his eyes with the blood; this made the man regain his vision and he could see again. This and many other stories about King Olaf made the people believe he was a holy man One year after the death of King Olaf Haraldsson his grave was opened and they discovered that his hair and nails had grown since they buried him. After this he was called Olaf the Holy. The church declared him a saint and got the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae which is Latin and means the Eternal King of Norway. Because of all of the stories about Olaf the Holy, many people started believing in Christianity and Norway became a Christian country. To honour the memory of King Olaf the Holy, it was built a cathedral above his grave by the riverside in Trondheim. This cathedral is called Nidarosdomen and it is the largest and most important cathedral in Norway. Students and teachers from Levanger and Dongobesh in front of Nidarosdomen in Trondheim 2010 It is said that Norway was Christianized by the sword; this is because of all of the battles Norwegian kings has fought to Christianize Norway. However, after all this fights and deaths, Norway is now a Christian country and King Olaf Haraldsson is remembered as the king who made Norway to be assembled under one state and one god. 19

20 Effect of science and technology to the youth in religion and their faith By Joseph Isack, Dongobesh Faith can be defined as situation of someone to be hoped for, the evidence of something which he or she can not be seen by his or her own eye, but he/she thinks something is present by using his/her trust. Science and technology has brought many positive and negative effects to youth and their faith. Let s start to mention and to explain negative effects caused by science and technology by youth and their faith. Rapid moral erosion, many young people especially in the third world countries, like Tanzania are affected by science and technology due to the advancement in information and communication technology like internet technology. They change their way of living from the life they lived earlier and then they start a new way which they believed is good. However, society see it as a bad way, because they go against their culture, a non-acceptable way, which caused by advancement by science and technology is as follow, way of dressing style of dancing nature or region belief and the mode of weeding songs. Rapid increase of gays and lesbians. Most of youths believe that the homosexual situation is good things, because they see on television through different films like x-films. But biologically women can not have sexual intercourse with other women, similar to men copulate with another man, it is not a biological situation also in faith or religion, this situation is not good behavior and it is evil situation to God. 20

21 Also there are positive effects of science and technology as follows: formation and expansion of the great world religion, institutions like Christianity in Africa, Asia and other parts. Due to expansion of religion people are hoped that there is the God in the world. Introduction of Easter conference: Due to the introduction of Easter Conference in the country, it contributes to the increase of youth also believe God. Also it contributes youth to get salvation. Dongobesh Lutheran Secondary School Youth in daily life at school By Iman Ibrahim, Happness Musa, Fredy Lazaro, Joseph Isack, Dongobesh Dongobesh Secondary school is a school which is owned by Mbulu diocese, which helps students academically as well as spiritually. Academically our school performs well because of religious periods, which makes the students concentrated in studying rather than doing bad deeds. In the last years we have seen that students from form IV and II of perform very well in the national examinations. This shows the truth that the presence of many religious periods our school can bring us positive attitude. Spiritually our teachers help us by imposing many periods of worship, and students have to be aware on what to learn about God. This period is done every day at morning, evening and night after our preparation of studies. Also there is a religious period on every Sunday which, leads us to be strong in our soul. Faith can be defined as the situation when someone is looking after the evidence of something, but he or she can t see it with his or hers own eyes. Although he or she can think something is present by using his or hers trust. In our daily life at school we learn to be faithful, especially when it comes to religion. During Easter conference we use many different ways of teaching, which helps us to believe in our God. The ways of teaching which we use during Easter conference, are good to make 21

22 cooperation to believe in God. Also we learn about the fact that Jesus will come to the world in order to save the bondage of Satan. This again means that the arrival of Jesus Christ will help youths to believe in God. During Sunday period we get different teachings given by a preacher. Also we get different ideas in the church which tell us about youths and their thoughts. During joint-mass we have a meeting with different students from different schools. Then we share different ideas about the world of God all together. In these joint masses we enjoy the word by praying. Another thing we do is seminars and conferences, which helps the students to develop in their soul. Students from Dongobesh and Levanger with the Hadzabe Socially we learn the values of different values, which emphasis us to wear long clothes so cover our parts of the body which is not supposed to be seen. This is to avoid cruel men, like rapist and so on. If someone behaves like that we give them severe punishment, like suspension or further discussion about the problem. This punishment may save the youth who are behaving different from our traditional believe and laws, and makes them behave properly. 22

23 Also in our school we have youths from different tribes, who perpetuate their traditional cultural values. This gives us more challenges about how to stop bad behaviors and cruelty. Some tribes have traditions about female genital mutilation. Some tribes also *** forced marriage and early marriage. Sometimes they gather and sell our crops as well, so they can get money to buy school books. On the other hand we participate to make our environment beautiful by slashing the tall grass and prune the large branches of flowers. We also clean water which is going to be used for cooking and washing. We make the environment clean and safe, to safe the youth from bad diseases like malaria and cholera. These diseases kill many people which lead to less development in the country. We don t only learn about all the things I wrote about above, but also about democracy and about the selection of a leader. In our school we select prefect each year, so the youths are quite familiar to democracy. This democracy helps us to know how you can select a leader by voting. A part of our success is also a result of the good relationship between Dongobesh Secondary School and Levanger Secondary School. This relationship encourages us to explore and know more about the very world we live in. We know much more about what the world looks like in various geographical places. For example they gave us instruments which we can use to see how global warming and greenhouse affects our planet. Through this we have learned that this is a big problem for the environment and the humans. This makes the youth to do something about the problem, because the instruments let them see it with their naked eye. Through these real practical studies the youth perform better at their examinations, which can lead them to more advanced studies in the future. We also sing our national song to publicize our nation and our school to other nations. Then we sing of peace and security to our country. We also sing gospel songs which brings virtuous words to us and other people who believe in God. We praise the Lord to reach heaven by doing various things that God accepts. 23

24 Youth and faith in Dongobesh and Levanger By Håkon Bårdsgård Minsaas, Levanger In some contexts the students from for example Tanzania and the students from Levanger are a bit different. One of these things is when it comes to religion. In Tanzania and other places in Africa, religion is very important to most of the population. Compared to Levanger in Norway, it is growing stronger and stronger in countries like Tanzania. This is also the situation in most of the other Northers Countries in the world. In our school, Levanger Videregående Skole, not so many students are very religious. This means that they don t go to church occasionally, but sometimes during holidays, celebrations and ceremonies. In Tanzania almost all of the students are religious, and religion is a big part of their lives. They also learn about Christian belief in school, which means that they know a lot about Jesus and God very early in their lives. Family and friends are religious as well, and that means that they live in a religious society. We can say that religion binds the people together. We don t see that that much in Norway, and this is quite the opposite to the situation here. When we are born, most of us are baptized in the church, but we are not raised up in Christian belief like they did here years ago. Even though 80 per cent of the populations are 24

25 members of the state church, only 3-4 per cent goes to church regularly. Religion is a very big part of the life for some people, but not for so many. For most people it is just something they do because it is tradition, and because they often are raised to do it. Also, in Tanzania they don t have as much immigration as in Norway. This again means that the variety of different religions is not so big. In Norway we have a lot of Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and so on, who are from countries where their religion origins from. In Tanzania they have the original religions that they have believed in for several hundred years, from when the missionaries came to their countries. Before that time the native people believed in nature-religion, and the native Norwegians did that as well. All in all, we can say that religion still means a lot to many people, both in Africa and Norway. Although it has lost quite a lot of foothold in Norway in, it is growing bigger and bigger in many parts of the world. Interview By Maja Slettvoll Munkeby, Levanger What is your name and how old are you? - My name is Elizabeth Hosea and I am 20 years old. I come from Burundi, but moved to Norway when I was 12 years old. Now I study to be a child- and youth worker. How is your relationship to faith? - My faith is the biggest thing in my life. The fact that I m allowed to believe and can do it means very much to me. When I tell people about my faith I expect them to respect me, and also I respect them and their understanding. My faith defines me, and it also has a big influence on my everyday life. Are you religious? Why or why not? - I am Christian and my faith is based on things I have seen with my own eyes and experienced myself. I have seen miracles like blind people get their sight back. My faith gives me safety and belonging. Do you come from a religious family and do you think social heritage affects youth in their faith? 25

26 - Yes, my family are Christians and of course this has affected me. I was Christian when I was young, but when I turned 13 I really chose it myself. I chose to believe in something else than what we see, but the faith has become reality for me. Does faith affect your daily life? - As you see it means everything in my life, but also in my everyday life. Since you are from Burundi, do you experience any differences being of faith in Norway and Burundi? - Yes, in many ways. In Burundi they might ask you are you Christian? And you answer yes, they will say Ok, cool! In Norway I feel it is much more scepticism and reluctance around faith. It is so much easier to be proud of being Christian in Burundi, than in Norway. In Burundi it doesn t matter what you are and what you believe. How do you mean faith affect young adult life today? - I think faith for youth have both positive and negative sides. When young people come together to praise God, it is not always everybody who has the same way to react on God s presence, so it might happen they fake a meeting with God. It is not always easy for youths to not be like the majority. And if you start being Christian, you stake a lot. Maybe your old friends don t accept it and also your family might not respect your understanding. This is a hot spot for young adults when belonging is important. I also noticed that if a Christian person is one way or another and makes a mistake or someone is not agree, often people judge all Christians. Sometimes also Christians are to fast to judge people with another understanding. But as I said there are also positive sides. You will meet many new friends and people with the same faith as you, you learn a lot and also you could just try to be Christian and see how it works for you. You are not bounded. There are many things I could mention these are some of the effects of faith for youths the way I see it. Do you have a personal definition of faith? - Safety, belonging and a lot of fun. Thank you Elizabeth Hosea 26