Denmark | Kirstine Kærn

The humanist society

2019-04-02 | Denmark, Short read | 1 Comment

My life stance is humanism and my values are based on human rights. This means I belong to a minority in this world since most people are religious. I have not really considered myself being part of a minority before I started my travels and talked to other non-believers.

But we are a minority. In Denmark approximately 1.500 people are members of the Danish Humanist Society and approximately 800 people are members of the Atheist Association – Denmark has 5.8 million citizens. So we are a minority in Denmark even though the country is considered to be one of the least religious in the world.

I’ve been a member of the Danish Humanist Society since it was founded almost 11 years ago. Since then the society has fought to be acknowledged as a life stance organisation to acquire the same rights as faith communities. We are not there yet but hopefully we will get there within a year or two.

I have been active in the society in some years now. It was my involvement in the international work which gave me the idea to Babelfish – it was meeting all the other humanist struggling to get recognised who sparked the idea. Even though I travel I am still active in the political work – you just need your laptop and your phone, and you can work all over the globe.

I have also been involved in planning a lot of events culminating in our 10-year anniversary celebration last year. 2018 was a busy year with a record high number of ceremonies held and a lot of events. Last weekend we had our general assembly where our President Lone Ree Milkaer again was amazed on how far we have gotten and what we manage to do with very few resources.

At the general assembly I was re-elected for the board and will also continue as vice president the next year 😊

By Kirstine

Management by Fear

2019-03-20 | Denmark, Rwanda, Short read | No Comments

I just finalized my next article. Its about my visit to Rwanda and it has been difficult writing it. Its been tough thinking about my visit again, so emotional. I ended up spending several days writing the article, because I needed breaks in between.

Thinking about all those people killed during the genocide. All those lives lost. Looking at history it doesn’t seem like we will ever learn and change our ways. I’ve visited the memorial in Rwanda, I’ve also visited the killing fields in Cambodia – my grandparents were part of the resistance during world war 2. They were imprisoned in a camp in Denmark (Frøslevlejren). They were lucky. They were caught just before the war ended, else they might have ended up in a concentration camp.

And why do genocides happen – how is it possible for human beings to kill other human beings. How is it possible for human beings to commit those horrible crimes. It is difficult to comprehend.

Looking at history the commonalities to me seems to be when groups of people are dehumanised – either because they are from another tribe, another religion, another race or just something else which differs them from the majority.

The dehumanising begins when those in power (or the people who wants to be in power) starts to distinguish us from them. They point out the differences between humans. Next step is to put fear into people, claiming ‘the others’ are bad people. Claiming ‘the others’ want to force you to change your life, your belief or even that they want to kill you, your family and friends.

This is what the Nazis, the Khmer rouge and the Hutus did. This is what happened before all genocides. Fear is a powerful tool – it is a powerful weapon. It is easy to scare people, especially when it comes to the un-known. It requires much more energy for us to have an open mind, look at the facts and be pragmatic.

Everyday we see how fear is spread, fake news and lies are all over the place. It’s a shame because basically all we want as humans is living a good life. We want a good life with friends and family being happy. This is what everybody wants no matter where you live, what colour your skin has or what you believe in.

By Kirstine

Home sweet home

2019-03-14 | Denmark, Long read | No Comments

I haven’t been active on my blog the last week. My writing routine is a bit off after I came home. I’m still trying to adjust to everyday life – it is especially hard to get used to the cold weather and the rain. I’ve been freezing, some days just wanted to stay under my blanket binging Netflix. It is no surprise that many people suffer from winter depressions here in the north.

I’ve been bust processing all my experiences, catching up with everybody and at the same time plan my next trip. My plans are in progress and I’ll hopefully leave Denmark in 3 weeks. At the same time, I am meeting a lot of new people and hope I can corporate with some of them in the future. interesting times 😊

I met one new friend through Instagram. The fun part is that she lives in Copenhagen, she is an atheist and has made atheist jewellery for some years. I had never heard about her before and we live a few kilometres apart from each other. She found me and yesterday we met for coffee and talked for hours about humanism, atheism and our common goals. She has a lot of followers in the US where it can be (in some parts of the country) just as difficult to come out as a non-believer as in Africa.

Her name is Maja but known as minnie_mouseling on Instagram. Maja has created a beautiful invisible pink unicorn pendant for atheists to wear and has the motto: put a friendly face on atheism. The invisible pink unicorn is an international symbol for atheism. Check out her webpage and follow her on Instagram.

Last week was International Women’s Day and I spent a lot of energy being frustrated about the media coverage. In Denmark the media prefer to ridicule feminism instead of focussing on the issues and challenges we still face.

We do not have gender equality in Denmark – a report from Amnesty international highlighted this in a report on how rape survivors are being treated by the authorities. It is devastating to read how the survivors are blamed, victim blaming is the norm both by authorities and in the public eye.

But the media wanted to cover a non-existing conflict regarding gender neutral traffic lights. A story created by a journalist who months back also created a non-existing conflict about a song.

So I was mad most of Friday – fortunately we (Humanistisk Samfund) was hosting the annual Nordic Humanist meeting the whole weekend – they managed to make me happy again. It is always a pleasure meeting our friends in the Nordics – from Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

We talked, shared experiences and made plans. During the weekend we also had a visit from the Norwegian ambassador in Denmark Aud Kolberg talking about Nordic identity, and a Danish scientist Josephine Valentin talked about SKAM (the tv-series) and Nordic identity. Great weekend.

I’m also adjusting to the day-to-day tasks – getting used to grocery shopping, doing the dishes, cleaning the apartment, visiting the doctor and the dentist. I still need to get a haircut. All the tedious tasks you have to do – it’s tough to adjust 😉

By Kirstine

Back in the ‘office’

2019-03-07 | Botswana, Denmark, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda | 2 Comments

I’m back in Copenhagen, I’m back in my hood on Vesterbro down town Copenhagen. Today I went back to my ‘office’ – a local restaurant BOBs where it is possible to work all day if you are a member of Sp8ces. Through sp8ces (no I don’t get paid to tell about it) you have access to several working lounges in Denmark and Norway – they make agreements with hotels, restaurants, etc. to use timeslots where their spaces are not occupied. It is a great concept – and cheap.

I’ve spent the last couple of days sleeping, doing absolutely nothing besides catching up on Netflix. It will take time before I have processed all my experiences from my journey. I have travelled many kilometres, met so many people – not only humanists, but also other locals and tourists, seen the most amazing landscapes and met fantastic animals. Earth is an amazing and beautiful place.

I know I’m privileged – I have the possibility to visit places where the usual tourist never goes. I’m glad this journey is a combination of following the usual tourist path and meeting people living their lives in these countries. It adds so much more when you talk to people living there and not just other tourists or people from travel agencies.

My journey has showed me the diversity of the different countries. There is so much prejudice in the western world toward the African continent – yes, it is a continent and not a country. Africa is unfortunately often perceived as a country and treated as such in popular culture and media. Africa is three times larger than Europe and occupies 20% of the land mass on Earth – it is huge.

In eastern and southern Africa where I have been travelling, they have many challenges. I travelled during the rainy season but in most of the countries, if not all, they got lesser rain than they need to avoid drought. Climate changes are already impacting this part of the world. The growing population is also impacting the infrastructure – water supply, electricity and transport.

I’ve been travelling for 10 weeks, visited 8 countries and held 30 interviews with non-believers. During the next 3-4 months all the interviews will be published as podcast episodes through Babelfish and I will continue to write articles for POV International.

At the same time, I will plan the next steps of my journey. Which means I will be pretty busy while in Copenhagen – I also want to see, to hug and talk to my friends and family. Right now it is cold and rainy – I hope spring is coming.

By Kirstine

POV International & I

2019-02-28 | Babelfish, Denmark, Uganda | No Comments

*The new humanist celebrants in Eastern Africa –*
*Picture from Kato Mukasa*

I am happy to be able to break this news today. Going forward I will be a writer for the Danish online media POV International. This is amazing. They have so many fantastic journalists and writers who publish on their platform. The writers don’t get paid, but the readers can donate directly to the writers.

POV International will bring my travel stories. The articles are in Danish. The title of the series is (roughly translated to English): In search for the worlds non-believers.

The first article has been published today. I tell about my visit to Uganda. The next article will be about my visit to Rwanda.

I hope this is an opportunity to gain a wider audience in Denmark. And maybe in the long run to an international audience.

By Kirstine

1 week to take off

2018-12-15 | Denmark | No Comments

*Plane in Kastrup*
*– Airport of Copenhagen*

The departure date is getting closer, all the final preparations need to be done. Long check lists have been made – booking transport and accommodation, planning with many people, making sure all vaccinations and medication are in place and so on.

I now where I’ll be staying until the 13^th of January – Sofie (my daughter’s birthday). We will leave Copenhagen on the 22^nd of December arriving in Entebbe, Uganda on the 23^rd of December. We will start a roundtrip and hopefully see a lot of nature, animals (mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants, hippos etc.). On the 30^th of December Sofie will fly back to London to celebrate New Year’s. I will then be on my own staying in Kampala for a week.

The 6^th of January I will fly to Kigali, Rwanda and stay there for a week. On the 13^th of January I will fly to Nairobi, Kenya. This is what I have arranged so far. The rest of the planning will happen later – I know I want to stay approximately 1 week in each country. I also know I would like to spend time understanding the history of each country, visiting interesting site, experiencing the nature, tasting the food, talking to people.

First of all, I look forward to spend a week with my daughter, just the two of us, talking and being on an adventure.

By Kirstine

My Crazy Idea

2018-12-08 | Denmark | 4 Comments

*The Happy Human*
*– logo of the Danish Organisation*

For some years I have been active in the Danish Humanist Society (Humanistisk Samfund) a humanist life stance organisation. Our foundation is humanism and human rights. We offer humanist rituals (confirmations, weddings, name giving’s and funerals), work for equal rights for all life stances & a secular state. I have mainly been involved in the political and international work.

After I decided to take a year of and travel around the world, I got the crazy idea to create a podcast telling the stories of people from the humanist movement in the countries I visit. There are more than 150 organisations around the world representing humanist, freethinkers, atheists and other non-believers.

I’ve met many of them at our general assemblies in the international organisation IHEU (International Humanist and Ethical Union). In many countries non-believers are facing prejudice or jail, some are even risking their lives. Their struggles and stories are worth telling.

I’ve decided first to visit the African countries south of Equator. My idea has been received very positive and all the organisations would like to participate. It is amazing that my crazy idea will come to life.

So far, I will visit Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, South Africa and Namibia. Even though there are organisations in DR Congo and Burundi as well, but it is to risky to travel to those countries for me. Zimbabwe is also a possibility but could be risky. I’ll need to decide at a later stage.

I’ve invited my daughter to spend Christmas with me in Uganda. We have travelled all over the world and like spending Christmas in other countries. This will be a good start on my journey. I plan to be back in Denmark in March.

The first episode of the podcast will hopefully be published in January… stay tuned.

By Kirstine

Ctrl-Alt-Delete

2018-12-01 | Denmark | 9 Comments

From today I don’t own anything. From today I don’t owe anything to anybody.

The new owners of my house got the keys today. Within a few weeks everything will be settled. I can then relax and continue my planning for what’s next. Looking back at the last 9 months so much has happened. My life has completely changed. Everything sort of fitted into a turnaround, a turnaround for me – a new beginning.

Nine months ago, I was working more than full time as a quality manager in a large IT company with the responsibility for compliance and ISO certification within Northern Europe. A well payed job with lots of challenges and changes, just as I like it – but I wasn’t happy anymore.

At the same time, I was considering selling my house and downsizing. My daughter moved away from home 2 years ago, so I didn’t need the space anymore. I talked to the realtor and we decided to put the house on the market. At the same time my daughter and her boyfriend decided to move to London, and I was able to sublet their small apartment down town Copenhagen.

Just before the summer holidays I was told my job would be moved to Finland. Since we were not able to find another role for me in the company in Denmark I was out of a job from the 1^st of September. Due to my many years in the company I would get paid until the 1^st of February.

All of this put together gave me the chance to look at my life all over again. I have worked and studied all my life. I got my first job at 13 delivering newspapers – I’ve been a nanny, a maid, a cleaner, working at a supermarket, at a newspaper, as a student’s counsellor and so on – supporting my self since I was 18 going through college and university. Also doing volunteer work most of the time since then. I have always worked, studied or done both at the same time.

I never had a gap year. Now is the time for my gap year – now I have the time, my daughter are not planning any grandchildren in the near future and my parents are in good health, this is my window of opportunity.

I have decided that I want to travel around the world and see where it leads me.

Follow my journey on this blog

By Kirstine

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Category: Denmark