How does an individual decide to dedicate his career to protecting the environment and helping people? Justice. This is one of my core values. Even as a child, I was "mad in the nose" if something was not fair. My career choice didn't happen overnight. My upbringing is also partly to blame for this, as we...
How does an individual decide to dedicate his career to protecting the environment and helping people?
Justice. This is one of my core values. Even as a child, I was "mad" if something wasn't fair. My career choice didn't happen overnight. My upbringing is also partly to blame for this, since we have always lived at home in a frugal, trans-ecological way. Traveling also contributed a lot to my decision.
There are many environmental organizations. Why did you decide on Umanotera?
Umanotera covers sustainable development in an umbrella way. It is based on the mentality that says it is possible meet their current needs without compromising the needs of future generations. It is a non-governmental and non-profit organization that operates at many macro- and micro-levels. Its operation can be seen in raising people's ecological awareness and influencing decision-makers through development projects, in projects where others can also get involved and with which we help both people, animals and the environment.
You are the project manager of the Krilca project, gifts with magical power. What exactly are Krilca?
Krilca is a project that offers individuals, companies and others who are interested to concretely and actively get involved and contribute their share to the implementation of sustainable development. Wings are socially responsible gifts. By giving someone a gift, we do a good deed with Krilci in their name. Our donation does not go to a factory or some organization, but to beings in need. Our purchase of a gift does not burden the environment, but can make a child happy, save the Amazon turtle, buy a part of a tropical rainforest or help preserve the world's natural wealth... The choice of Krilc is varied. We can stand up for the planting of indigenous tree species in Slovenia, with the Silent Friend gift we help to de-taboo death in cooperation with the Hospice organization, ... The recipient receives a greeting card with a unique illustration and information on where the value of his Wings was given. We wanted to move away from the already established practices of collecting donations for the operation of the organization, where we do not know specifically what our money was spent on. We concretized the donations and made them sustainable. If we buy school supplies for a child in Ghana, a sustainable attitude is manifested in the fact that we have enabled him to go to school, helped him get an education, with the help of which he can extricate himself from the teeth of the eternal cycle of poverty.
How did the idea for this kind of donation come about?
The idea came from Great Britain in 2003. The organization is called The Charities Advisory Trust. The director of the organization came up with this idea when she was looking for a suitable gift for her sister, who already has everything and needs nothing. So she came up with the idea of doing something good for humanity in her name. This type of collection of money for various charitable purposes is already a widespread practice in Europe, while in Slovenia we are currently the only organization that deals with this type of donation.
What are your findings regarding charity among Slovenians? Are we different from abroad?
We are charitable and we like to help, but innovative ideas that don't have that much tradition are more difficult for us to reach people. Perhaps the lack of trust in new ways of donating comes mainly from the fact that the emergence of non-governmental organizations is fairly new in our country. In Great Britain, the tradition of collecting donations through non-governmental charitable organizations has been present for a very long time.
Who bought the biggest Krilco so far?
SID bank. They decided to buy saplings of native Slovenian tree species as business gifts. By planting as many as 400 saplings of rare tree species, we increased the diversity of forests and fields and thus protected the natural system and typical Slovenian landscape.
What can an individual do if he has no money but wants to help?
Volunteer work is available to him. He can offer his work to organizations at various levels, from raising awareness to concrete work in the organization. We can participate in various campaigns. Next year, the Clean Slovenia campaign will take place, the purpose of which is to clean Slovenia of illegal waste dumps in one day with simultaneous actions across the entire country. The main thing is not to remain passive.
And your wish for 2010 is?
So that people globally find a common goal in their way of life and start acting in accordance with their realization. As a result, we will be happier as a society and as individuals.
