Our first minute of Pilgrimage around Wales, England and Ireland

Thanks to Alun from Mon CF… for awesome support 😀

we are blessed with everything that happened since 31st of January and all our time living on the streets of UK and Ireland.

Last four days in Galway we are staying in warm beds 😀 ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

we are now recycling streets and becoming true Street Artists :v

Fighting the mental illness…

 

I am writing this post even though it is really personal as it comes from a personal experience. We live in a world where mental illness is spreading through the lives of many people around the world. It affects both the person with illness and all the family and friends that care about them. Despite tremendous advance in science of psychotherapy and psychology there are still many people suffering and there is still many unknown factors about causes of mental illness. Our brain is a fascinating organ and despite efforts of many scientists from different fields still it is the most mysterious organ in our body. Public awareness is slowly growing about the need to support and understand people who suffer of mental illness and unfortunately in many countries there is still a lot of stigma and misunderstanding of the illness. I have personally experienced good and bad reactions from my surroundings, but luckily I had more support then judgement. I also had different experience in different hospitals I have “visited” as a patient. My last experience was the most positive one and I think it is mostly due to a fact that I searched for help willingly and that I was lucky to be in one the best hospitals in this field in my country. The combination of talking with my psychiatrist, listening through group therapy other people’s experience and feeling connected sometimes to certain parts of their story, sharing my experience and my fears and doubts with them, just spending time with other patients talking or watching a movie, laughing, regular visits and phone calls from my friends and family, all helped me on my way to recovery. Also I believe medications helped me in a way to calm my negative pattern and to start thinking more about now and the future. I have gained lifelong friendships during my three months stay because it was a first time I really opened up in the hospital and I consciously decided to make the best of the opportunity for recovery that I was given. I have met there some wonderful sensitive people with tough stories behind them but with a strong will to hold on and to recover. After meeting there many people who keep coming back to hospital with same problems that are bothering them outside of the hospital, I realized that most of my problems I made myself by not observing myself, my thoughts , my feelings, my intuition. I was already deep in the crisis when I realized I need to ask for professional help. Now that I am out of the hospital since November, I am taking every day as it comes. I have surrounded myself with positive and encouraging people, I keep in touch with my close friends even if some of them are far away, I am in regular contact with my family.

I am grateful to everything that i have learned from my experience and for all the wonderful people that are part of my life.

When I think about the system we have in place for treatment of mental illness I like to envision a world where these types of illness will be seen through a different light and we will have hospital which will focus on reconnecting people back with nature, focusing on creative workshops, with lots of dancing, singing, just celebrating life. And the world in which we will not be afraid to teach our children about mental health and we will remove the stigma and the feel of shame that comes with mental illness.

To all of those who have suffered and are still suffering from some type of mental illness I would like to say be brave, be strong, be kind to yourself and open your heart so you can receive help, because there is always a hand eager to pull you out of the darkness and show you the light. No matter how hard it may seem and no matter how many dark thoughts you have to endure, don’t give up, because life is worth living even when the going gets tough. You will be rewarded for your persistence, for your courage, for your heart and for your trust.

For all of you who know someone who is suffering from mental illness, I would like to say stay strong, look after yourself, together with other friends and family make a support network for the person who is suffering and when you are really confused and hurt, understand that you to have felt down in your life and you needed helping hand. Maybe you managed not to go as deep in the darkness as your friend, but accept that we are all different and that our paths are different but we share a lot of crossings and many times we share parts of the path.

And finally as final message I would share a speech from one of my favorite comedians and heroes Bill Hicks:  “Life is just a ride…”

This post is dedicated to M.

DAY 32:in WIEN with Ash and two new friends from Poland… visiting AUGUSTIN;street magasine

01.02.2013. VIENNA

Sorry for lack of photos from this day as I have forgot camera at my host place 😛

A day started with a surprise 🙂 but we got used to them on our journey…

Previous night I came home on my own as my host left me keys and he stayed out.

So I am fast asleep when the bell rings and I get up thinking its my host. So I press the button to open the door donwstairs and I leave the flat door opened too as I go for my morning pee.And then a couple walks in as I am coming out of toilet and they greeted me as I am the host. They were from Poland and also couchsurfers 😛

So after some explanation and laughs we spend morning together and then Ash,the real host, arrived.

It was our second day in Vienna and time to visit the organization that is publishing a street magazine and also running a radio and TV shows related to the problem of homelessness in Vienna.

The organization and the street magazine is called AUGUSTIN and in the afternoon we went to see them hoping that someone will be available for a talk.

When I arrived to reception they told me that someone might have 15 minutes for me as they were very busy preparing the new edition of their papers.
It was cool to see that they publish two issues per month.

I was welcomed by very nice gentleman and at the end we talked for an hour as he shared a lot about their work and I shared some of my ideas and stories about other organizations I met during this trip.

AUGUSTIN is an organization that has started publishing in 1995. With such a long existence they have gained a lot of local support. As their magazine sales have gone down during last year they have asked a local community for direct monthly support to their organization and the RESPONSE was amazing. They have asked for 333 contributors to make a monthly commitment to support their work. And in two weeks they received more then 600 offers. So now they have a waiting list for people who would like to contribute in the future.

They were pleasantly SURPRISED with this response and it was a good indicator how much their work is VALUED in Vienna.

I have to mention that besides the magazine they also produce a radio show and a TV show. In both media they are focusing on social problems, mainly homelessness.

He was very kind to offer me copies of their older magazines and I took 3 copies including their FIRST issue 🙂

It was a pleasure visiting them and I hope in the future we will have opportunity to do some projects together.

The day has finished with a very enjoyable few drinks with our new Polish friends and our mutual host Ash. Evelyn and her new friend got a lot of attention in a bar we went too 🙂

Just to remind you that I am VOLUNTEER in a small organization from Zagreb that is called DOM NADE or HOUSE of HOPE and we have just started OUR BLOG yesterday.

We will try to share all the work we do and connect to as many people around the world who are passionate about SOCIAL PROJECTS.

Next 44 days in my and Evelyn’s life…

Sometimes you make a decision that could affect your life in every way possible. I think what I am about to do with my dear dog Evelyn is one of those decisions.

Can we have 2 and a half minutes of you attention to see OUR TRIAL CAMPAIGN VIDEO? 😀

sorry for a low quality, it was recorded with a digital camera not designed to make great videos 🙂 and we had a shaky “accident” during filming…and the background noise is too strong. I am working on another one now.
More about campaign in a next post with a new VIDEO and a link to our campaign site on INDIEGOGO… 😀

Peace and Love

from Evelyn and Muppet

Please check out what they do and support the cause… link in Croatian

Just had an great connection and talk with a couple behind this project for premature babies.

Here is a link in Croatian

Evo linka Palcic

When ready and translated I will post this link again in English 😀

My friends and I will help them spread the word and raise money for the much needed equipment in Croatian hospitals.