Anne Marie Interview

Anne Marie Boile Nielsen was President of EDYN from 2004 to 2014. During her chairwomanship, she took the first steps with EDYN, accompanied many organisations into EDYN membership, experienced the move from Utrecht to Budapest and from Budapest to Brussels and has been a strong supporter of international long-term voluntary services in church. Since many years, she has been a benevolent and experienced companion to our work, as private member.

Interview

What has EDYN meant to you?

I were rather alone with international volunteering in my job, in my country. But soon I realized that in the connection with EDYN I suddenly got lots of colleagues and partners, with the same interest. This experience was a revelation to me. I felt a common movement, a power.

What have you worked on in the early years of EDYN?

At first, we had to establish a working culture for the Board. In the beginning, we worked on the statues, requested documents and managed the necessary paperwork from members. You probably cannot even imagine it today: our board meetings were working sessions: we talked briefly, then worked alone for two hours, each having our own tasks in the Network, and met again briefly to talk & follow up. Fortunately, this has changed over the years. Discussions, dialogue and a look into the future have become our focus.

What were your favorite tasks?

I was President of EDYN when the network was growing rapidly. Our network has orientated itself in many different directions. Representing EDYN in Brussels & and among present members, working with expanding EDYN was colourful and exciting.
I remember John Stringham took us on a tour to Roma-Gadje projects in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine to meet with the projects where they hosted “volunteer-pairs”: a Roma alongside a Non-Roma. It worked out to be an amazing trip to understand the conditions of the volunteers and the life in Roma villages. This trip was inspiring – and cold! It was January and John had rented a car without heating. Only my icelandic sweater could keep me warm.

We had many contacts with churches from Central and Eastern Europe. Sometimes it was hard, because we had to start from scratch. They were not used to long-term volunteering. In some countries the protestant church was more cautious how to express itself; cautious – but proud. For example, we reached out to the Armenian Church, and I was immediately invited to lunch with the bishop.
I have also precious memories of our work with the American members. They were quite loosely connected only to the program of Time for God. We had many talks to include them equally in our network. It was a great reward that they hosted the Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. There, we learned so much about the shared history of Europe and the USA.

What advice would you give EDYN for the future?

Keep going on. I remember hosting a quite creative French volunteer in Denmark. She served in a program with homeless men. The people learned to develop within different professions: Graphics & Printing, Gardening, Willow weaving of baskets etc. or production of Euro-Palls to earn their own money and be able to get back into society. She loved that project, to see people becoming active and self-confident. After finishing her service, she installed a similar project back in France. Now there is a small project in France, inspired by a volunteers’ experiences in Denmark. This is what EDYN is about. Keep on going!

Why are you a private member?

Being committed to EDYN was the most precious time of my working life. I love being part of it.