How 120 stories in six languages became one book

That Blauhús, and the stories of our village, became part of the SAVE project was for a long time something intangible.

Every well-told story is the beginning of a new story. That sentence surfaced when I was searching for words to give meaning to this moment, the moment we publish the 120 personal stories of SAVE.

At the beginning of December, with the start of Advent, the residents of Jadagoniai traditionally gathered at the “Pušynas” recreation site for a community event.

“Why is my story interesting?” is a question we often heard when we got to talk with people living in our four small SAVE-communities.

From about age six, I went out into the polder every Saturday in the winter, along with my father, brother, and later on also my mother, to pollard willows.

I joined the SAVE team in 2021 or 2022, shortly after moving to the Netherlands from Canada.

“Be a change you want to see in the world.” Yeah, I know… But that is what a dear friend of mine told me after years of listening to my frustration and negging.

The beginning of this project – or more precisely, this initiative – was in 2020, when the main current project coordinators met in Zapyškis.

Following Sjoerd Litjens' call in May 2023, seeking a Frisian village to continue the SAVE project, we, the board of the Vereniging Doarpsbelang Blauhús, enthusiastically responded.

It was October 2019 when the people from the “Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture”. Foundation asked me to take part in a European project.

It was exceptionally warm for the time of year. It was early March. T-shirt, shorts, slippers. Eighteen degrees.