Musikhjälpen

Charity, anyone?

This week was Musikhjälpen, a six day fundraising event produced by Swedish radio stations.  It's an annual event that sends money to a 'forgotten disaster'.  This year, the funds were sent to help women all over the world to survive their pregnancies.  Three hosts live in a glass box that was constructed just across the canal from my school in a central square in Gothenburg.  These radio hosts played music requested by people online and those who visit the box themselves.  For a small contribution, they would play your songs.  Swedish celebrities and musicians are also invited to give live performances, which draw big crowds to the cause.  There is merchandise and food sold next to the glass box and there are usually fundraising things happening in an attached annex, where you can see some girls getting their hair cut to raise money, or an artist creating a painting to sell for the cause.  For six days the whole square is alive with music, crowds, and life.  All around the square there are people in official Musikhjälpen vests and money collectors, going around asking if there are people wanting to donate a few spare coins.  Sometimes there are runners in green vests running around and around the square for hours on end, all to help the cause.  From far distances in the city, you can hear the music playing or hear people talking about it.  All of Sweden participates, but I was lucky enough to be right where the action was.

As I mentioned, the location of the event was right across the canal from my school, so I passed it everyday.  On Thursday, my school had an 'NTI-day' where we were released from our afternoon classes so we could go out and raise money to contribute to Musikhjälpen.  Students were encouraged to get creative, and they did.  Later the next day, our school was featured in the Gothenburg newspaper, it was great!  We were asked to form groups and prepare.  I went with quite a few friends, but we all ended up going in different directions with smaller groups, so we were all kind of lost.  I chose to sell some American hugs for 5 kr. (which is maybe 80 cents?) and it was so much fun.  I got to meet quite a few interesting people and have some great conversations.  People are really willing to help, but there are also several unfriendly people who fall all too perfectly into a 'cold and unfriendly Swede' stereotype.  All in all, I had a lot of a fun and my group raised about 450 kr. (about 70 dollars).

Here is the link to a little more explanation in English:

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=3946&artikel=5376057

My original sign

The new sign was better received :)

With Sofia outside the glass box

The glass box

A view of the square and the crowds