Homeland|Prometheus Camps
“Inevitably, our main goal is not to purely challenge the position of ripari.”
Young Prometheus, i.e. protools, are currently more popular than there are places available.
The huge popularity of protuleirs, i.e. religiously and party-politically unaffiliated young people, broke the online registration forms, when an estimated 2,000 young people tried to register for the camps at the same time in March.
Prometheus-leir tuki ry informed then that it was a technical problem. In addition, the volunteer-run organization was unable to meet the high demand.
The chairman of the association Alma Koivisto According to
“In general, the course of development is reflected in society. For example, the study of life outlook information has increased,” he adds.
Almost 60 camps will be organized this year, and there are just under a thousand places.
“At least another thousand would have been interested in getting to the camp,” says Koivisto in an interview with STT.
Camps the registrations were finally full in a day. One of those who successfully registered for the camps is from Helsinki Lassi Eskonlahti, who went to protuleir in the first week of June. He chose the protuleir instead of the rippling camp because he does not belong to any religious denomination and had heard about the camp from his older brother.
“Yes, you noticed that registration was completely blocked and nothing worked.”
Eskonlahti went to the protuler with a few friends. A couple of other guys also tried to get to the camp, but they couldn’t join. However, Eskonlahti describes the camp as a nice experience.
“If I had to recommend protu to someone, I would recommend leaving. It was really worth it. Even if I had gone alone, I would have easily met others. We are still in touch.”
Koivisto describes protulers as a relatively mainstream option in many places in Finland, especially in big cities.
In addition to the religious starting point, the camps have differences in the fact that people come to the protu camps from different parts of Finland. Protu is not tied to its own residential area in the same way as the congregation is.
According to Koivisto, it helps to break away from the roles and situations that you may have assumed in your everyday life or at your school.
“For many young people, camp is a place where they feel for the first time that they are listened to or that they matter,” says Koivisto.
Protul camp is often seen as an alternative to a religious school. It was originally created to offer maturity training similar to a rip camp for non-religious people and those who belong to other religions.
Koivisto does not take a position on whether there is a correlation between the popularity of the rip camp and the popularity of the pro tuler camp.
“I think rip camps are still doing just as well. Every year, about a tenth of our young people also go to rip camp,” he says.
Practically all of Eskonlahti’s closest friends still go to rip camp, except for a few friends. He also hasn’t noticed that rip camps are less popular than pro tulers.
In 2022, the number of visitors to the seminary school was approximately 48,500. In 2021, the number was slightly higher, approximately 49,600. This year’s figure is not yet available, says Tuija Helenelund Communication of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.
Koivisto has a moderate attitude to the relationship between the pro-tiller and the rip-roar camp. He emphasizes that the protoolers try to do their own thing.
“We want to grow as an influential social factor in the youth sector, but it is not necessarily our main goal that we would purely challenge the position of the riparian,” he says.
Resource questions however, they will meet. Protule camps are basically a more expensive option than ripple camps, because ripple camps receive, for example, support from the state in a different size category than protuleries.
According to Koivisto, protu operations receive about 200,000 euros in public funding annually. In addition, the costs of camp and training activities are covered by camp and membership fees.
The price of the pro camp was almost 400 euros this year, and even more for the theme camp. According to the 2022 data, the price of Rippileirim is on average 80–140 euros. There are also parishes where camps are free.
“Our biggest challenge is that the operation runs on volunteers. We have made it our goal that in the future, everyone from as many backgrounds as possible would be able to attend the camp.”
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