Hot summer for students

An acquaintance of mine returned from Scotland not long ago — she gathered strawberries there. Strange it may seem, this thermophilic berry grows in the north of Great Britain. The staff came to the Scottish "kolkhoz" from all Eastern Europe. Thus it′s small wonder that Kathy (as I call her) greeted me in Albanian, or in Romanian instead of Russian or Belarusian.

Sometimes she complained: now she had no will to gather strawberries, then a Romanian boy fell in love with another...

The Belarusian girl went to Scotland to earn some cash. As a result, she spent her summer on coasters, splashed through marshes, got acquainted to a dozen of youngsters and could hardly find some pounds for return ticket.

So I think: why go far abroad?

Today one can earn some just as well at home.

This year it was haut ton to spend summer in native country — in Grodno region, for instance. Truly, why not go to reconstruction of Augustowsky canal, one of Europe′s future tourist attractions, and even get some money for that? One even needn′t open his purse for flight!

Augustowsky canal restoration has become the first "youth construction site" in Belarus. This summer five student teams worked at the reconstruction. Students performed accessory jobs: wattled withe faggots to strengthen canal banks, did brickwork in flood gates, cleared the water course, seeded grass. "Grodnomeliovodhoz" enterprise provided them with workwear and decent salaries.
Students are not very good at manual work: pencils are easier to handle than shovels are. Still, as my acquaintance realized, gathering strawberries is quite hard. So, it was a hard but airy summer for students at the canal.

Augustowsky canal has long before drafted youth for summer works. Students of history department of Grodno university go there as members of archaeological and ethnography companies. Last year they searched overgrown causeway paved in 1829 and remains of floodgate keeper cabins, by request from "Grodnomeliovodhoz". As student Dmitry Kienko told us, during the expedition they discovered a unique object — stone sundial of 18th century. Near the gate they found a machine gun, some shells and grenades dated as of World War I.

This summer a construction team was drafted with the participation of Grodno regional committee of Belarus republican youth Union; team′s objective was to restore road section in Sopotskino that leads to Augustowsky canal. BRYU members had been working in cooperation with road workers for one month. Their day started at 8 a.m. and was over by 7 p.m., one hour for lunch. Their main job was to pave border stones in 30-degree heat. Their housing conditions were more than simple — they were accommodated in plain dorms. Yet everyone was attracted by $500 salary.

Over 1000 students of Belarus National Technology University joined construction teams at National library and underground complex in Independence square in Minsk this year.

Nine student teams were organized in Belarus State University. Young people prepared dormitories for the upcoming academic year, helped in construction of judicial department building, made visits to war veterans.

In total, 30 thousand students joined labor teams this summer, — proudly says Mikhail Orda, first Secretary of BRYU Central Committee.

Pavel Zenevich