EASA is a miracle. EASA stands for European Architecture Students Assembly. It is held in a different country every summer. This year (2018) it was organized in Rijeka, Croatia for two weeks. The whole event was organized and led by students. The organization team of this year’s EASA had consisted of thirteen people. One of the organizers accepted the role of coordinating a large number of helpers (forty-four of them). Lucia Majica, the person responsible for the coordination of helpers assignments, answered some questions about who the helpers are and what their role was on EASA in the following text.
Helpers are young architects or enthusiasts who pay a reduced participation fee to attend the event. They work six hours a day and are an irreplaceable part of the organizing machine. They will cook for their colleagues, clean up, help them to overcome the work with the tools, not sleep at night so that young participants always have someone to ask for help. Helpers drive them wherever needed, pour them alcohol, water, coffee, and safety… They will understand the organization and its principles, think and act instead of the organizers, sometimes even better than the organizers themselves. They care about this small community, and I care about them…
The phone rings…
H: ‘Ej Luca, the Kosovars say they have the morning cleaning duty two days in a row and they can’t find gloves. Where are they?‘
What? Who am I? What’s going on? What fucking gloves? I see concrete, beams, metal profiles…
L: ‘Gloves are upstairs in the storage room. I’m going to get them now, and I’ll see about the cleaning duties later, when I do a schedule for all the shifts. I don’t have internet here.’
H: ‘Okay, Vana is asking if you and Peko could go and get some bricks for the workshops?’
L: ‘OK, when?’
H: ‘Like now.’
L: ‘OK, just let me brush my teeth, please.’
It is 9 AM. I slept for two hours, again. I look around… The beautiful yellow scaffold is enriched with colorful linen, underwear and flags as far as the eye can see. Two helpers are sleeping on the scaffolding next to mine. They assisted me to close the bar this morning as we took the last drunk Easians home. Outside, the busy day had started. Voices, music from the EASA FM van, hammers, drills… I have to take breakfast to the helpers securing the bar. I get up and go to the Info Point where Cecilie and Kitty wish me good morning with generous smiles.
While one is making me coffee, the other is informing me that a couple of helpers have been asking about tomorrow’s shifts, for which I didn’t have time to make. Poor people, I tell them at 5PM they have to work tomorrow at 7AM. And they do not complain, they comfort me.
I can’t think. I send Cecilie to get the gloves and ask Kitty to print shifts for morning cleaning duties. In a second – Cecilie comes back with the gloves. I’m so grateful to these people. If they were not around, I would be dead. Cecilie apparently sees my thoughts and hugs me on my way out. As I look for Peko to go get the bricks, Luka runs over.
H: ‘Luca, you know how many people forget to bring their own glasses to the bar in the evening, so we provide them with plastic ones. I’ve been thinking… We have many glass bottles… I could split the glass bottles in half and make reusable cups out of them. Then we can sell these at the bar. People would love them. They can be really attractive – I made them with my father a few times, it’s not that difficult.’
Perfect. Perfect young people.
L: ‘Of course Luka, whenever you want. If you need some help, I’ll send someone. It could even be a small workshop, it would be interesting to people. ‘
I look around. No signs of Peko. I take out my phone.
H: ‘Ej Luca.’
L: ‘Ej Liviu.’
H: ‘The helpers at the checkpoint let some guys in the EASA site this morning. They probably didn’t notice they had no bracelets. Those guys wandered around the workshop area and when they went to the dormitories, one participant noticed them and asked what they were doing there, so they were sent to me. I informed them politely that this was a closed event and that they could not just enter the accomodation as they want, so they left. I told the guys at the checkpoint they have to be more careful, but I think you should also tell them.’
L: ‘I will Liviu, thank you for taking care of everything.’
I hug him. Peko is coming.
L: ‘Come on, come on, let’s go! It could have already been done.’
Passing by I see Stiv who is helping a workshop carrying some wood.
H: ‘Hey, someone told me we need to go and buy drinks for the bar afterwards. Do you want me to do this?’
L: ‘You don’t have to do anything, take your free afternoon.’
H: ‘I told you not to give me breaks. What should I do all afternoon – drink beer and watch others working?’
L: ‘Go on a trip or something.’
H: ‘Come on, where are the keys to the van?’
L: ‘At the Info Point. Thank you.’
Peko is pulling me by the hand. We have to go. Cheerful crew standing at the door is making me smile for the first time today. It is so good to see them. I love them so much. We are sitting in a car and going towards a long day which is going to end in a second. So many things to do… The temperature is slowly rising above 30 ᵒC. Valentino Bošković and Mario Peko are singing together ‘Ritki zrok‘.
As I think about the schedule for the day, I remember I haven’t brushed my teeth. It doesn’t matter now. We can stop at the gas station, I have everything I need for life in my bag anyway. Over here, we can immediately buy fuel for the generator.
L: ‘Peko, we will go to the gas station first, cross the fuel from the list.’
EASA is an event that brings together six hundred people from all over Europe and a smaller number from around the world. About fifty different cultures live, work, and have fun together for two weeks. It happens in a parallel universe they create, piece by piece, to their own needs, by themselves. Those two weeks are a process – the community is growing, the needs emerge and the participants find their own solutions. Organizers ‘just’ have to provide the conditions for such a thing to function.
When you go to EASA for the first time, it takes a while to relax and engage in the process. This is a very important part of ‘alternative learning’ offered by EASA. If you need a place to dry your clothes, you make one. If you need a table to eat, you make one. If we all want to eat, we will not take vegetarian lunches if we are not vegetarian. We will keep our dormitory in impeccable condition if everyone wants to feel comfortable in it. At one point, everyone takes responsibility for the community and things start to work very well. That is when the great potential of the impressive number of six hundred people shows itself.
EASA is a small town. A perfect platform for studying the influence of an individual over society. If we go on to say that architecture is important and that young architects have great responsibility, these are very valuable lessons.
Foto: Alexandra Kononchenko
