This year's Liberty English Camp in Lithuania, the 9^th since its inception in 1992, was held in the historic town of Trakai, on the shore of Lake Galve, some 20 miles outside the capital Vilnius, from 6^th to 12^th July. The weather was glorious, with temperatures rarely dropping below 28 degrees Celsius (82F), and the calm and clean waters of the lake always providing a refreshing invitation.

Still, the serious side of teaching and learning English, Free Market Economics, Philosophy of Liberty, and Entrepreneurship was not neglected by the 50-odd students from Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine, as well as the teachers from USA, England, Belarus, Malaysia, Sweden, and Lithuania. In addition, we had an observer from Bulgaria (President of the Bulgarian Society for Individual Liberty, which staged its own successful seminar in April in Sofia), with an eye to extending the Liberty English Camp concept to Bulgaria sometime in the near future.

Language of Liberty Institute (LLI)

The official organizer of this year's camp was the recently established Language of Liberty Institute (LLI), the brainchild of the camp's original founders Steve Browne (USA) and Virgis Daukas (Lithuania).  LLI has been incorporated in the U.S. state of Arizona.  The other directors, Jaroslav Romanchuk (Belarus), Glenn Cripe (USA) and Andy Eyschen (Malaysia), were also present at this year's camp.  The local organizers were from the Lithuanian College of Democracy, ably led by Giedre Kvieskiene and Regina Ruibiene, the person-in-charge at the camp.

A Typical Day at the Camp

The camp was held at a home for children located in Trakai town, and like everything else in Trakai, right on the lake. The usual occupants of the building were away for the holiday season, and we basically had the whole facility to ourselves.

A typical day began at 9am with breakfast in a communal hall on the ground floor. The food throughout the duration of the camp (3 meals a day) was excellent and gave the visitors a great taste of Lithuanian cuisine.

Breakfast was followed at 10am in a common lecture hall by teachers from the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI).  Topics included Taxation, Property Rights, and the Shadow Economy. Q&A often resulted in lively debates, cut short by the formal classes starting at 11am.  Students split into groups of 4 or 5 and went to the locations of their teachers who had positioned themselves in convenient spots throughout the building.

The younger students (10- to 16-year olds) had their own program, organized and supervised by our oldest teacher, Judith (85), and our youngest, Christy (21), and assisted by Geo, our most energetic (27).

By 1pm, it was free time for swimming, Internet, or just lazing around, before lunch at 2pm.  By 3pm, the lectures started again in 1-hour slots until 6pm.  The small class sizes were ideal for highly interactive sessions, giving students the opportunity to practice their English language skills by discussing, debating, or simply asking questions.

In the evening, we ate together, sometime at a BBQ, or at the hall, or on a boat cruise around the lake, and participated in performances organized spontaneously by our Lithuanian hosts and our visitors from Belarus. Evenings rarely ended before 1am, and midnight swims were not unusual.

LLI Curriculum and Teachers

As in previous years, the teachers brought their own study material designed to impart knowledge of freedom philosophy, free market economics, entrepreneurship, and, of course, the English language.  With English still being the language of choice in a globalized world, everyone appreciated the opportunity to practice their skills with native or near-native speakers.

In the future, LLI will prepare a more formal curriculum for the camp, especially if the concept is adopted by other countries, and also to reduce the burden on teachers and to attract more teachers for additional camps.  This year's teachers had varied backgrounds (which made it also more interesting for the students):

Steve Browne, founder of the Liberty camps and President of LLI, PhD student in journalism at Oklahoma University

Ken Schoolland, Professor of Economics at Hawaii Pacific University and author of Jonathan Gullible

Li Schoolland, a teacher of high-school English and History in Honolulu, originally from China

Dr Kirby Cundiff, Professor of Finance at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma

Jaroslav Romanchuk, economic analyst, Vice Chairman of the opposition United Civil Party of Belarus, and President of the Mises Center in Minsk

Glenn Cripe, professional trainer and curriculum developer for IT courseware, from Arizona

Andy Eyschen, management consultant from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, an Australian citizen, originally from Luxembourg

Judith Hatton, author from England, and, at 85 years, still actively involved in spreading the freedom message

Christy Chenette, student in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University in Washington, DC

Gerald Olsson (aka Geo), Swedish hotelier currently working in Dublin, Ireland

The Future of Liberty Camps

The camps are an effective means of not just teaching English language, but also of sharing the principles of a free society, the philosophy and history of freedom, as well as giving young people, especially from former communist countries, the opportunity to find their way in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world.  Providing an alternative to the dominant philosophy (at least in Europe but increasingly around the world) of welfare statism, where governments are constantly meddling in the lives of their citizens from cradle to grave and increasing their stranglehold on the individual, has become a necessity for freedom-loving people everywhere.

We therefore see an ever-expanding need for events such as the Liberty Camps to capture the minds of young people for the ideas of freedom.  More camps, more students, more teachers will be required in the future to offset the well-funded programs (with taxpayer money) of the enemies of freedom, using democracy as a rallying cry to systematically reduce and eliminate individual liberty.

The support of organizations such as ISIL and the International Republican Institute (IRI) has been indispensible in making the Liberty Camps happen, and their contributions are gratefully acknowledged.  To exploit fully the potential of the Liberty Camps, however, more will be needed, and LLI is committed to spreading the liberty message as far and wide as possible.  Eternal vigilance is still the watchword, and all lovers of individual liberty are invited to contribute and participate in the Liberty Camp venture. Please explore our website, enjoy the photos of this year's camp, and stir your imagination for ways that you can help!

Yours in Liberty!

Andy Eyschen, LLI