our Regions

Most, Czech Republic

Regional status: in development (DEV)

The word “Most” means “bridge” in English. It is an inspiring place for an organisation that wants to build bridges. However, it is not the prettiest part of the country and often people ask why we would choose to be in Most when there are so many other places.

What they refer to are the deep crevasses on the north where the communists did strip mining yet where the pre-communist beauty of the land is starting to reappear again.  It is actually a beautiful region with volcanic pimples and beautiful hilly paths and landmarks. Interesting fact is that Most only has one church with a steeple. Can you find any other city in Europe with one steeple?But there are still four  small churches in this city of 69.000, yet during communism they were not allowed to have steeples.

There is a lot of mining in the Most region. Brown coal created a place for industry, and many people came to Most for work. With the demand for coal decreasing in the past decades, the unemployment figures in Most started rising. Today 21.4 % of the Most workforce is unemployed.

Since 1996 Atlantic Bridge has organised activities in Most. Various Circuit Riders (artists and teams) have been in different schools in the Most region. The first music group to go to schools in Most was the British band ‘Double Check’. Other circuit riding artists were Geert Doldersum (Netherlands), Steve Apirana (Australia) and Freddie Kofi (Ghana). exchange. In 1997 the International Youth Festival in the Czech Republic took place in the nearby town of Louny. In 1998 a group of 40 students from Most went to The Netherlands for a two week long exchange project.    In 2001 the first Marco Polo Team made up of Jeroen, Joachim (Netherlands), Todd and Beth (USA) researched the region to discover the youth culture. They found that young people were disillusioned about their city and depressed about their possibilities. They also found that this city had the highest unemployment rate in the country, at that time 24%. Since then, Atlantic Bridge has been anxious to increase the presence of staff and interns in this region to build an ongoing youth work.

In 2005 we started with internships and with two enthusiastic English interns, Phil and Simeon, under the supervision of two part-time staff, Lenka and Marketa. They established contact with the four small churches in town and built up a presence in the schools. The highlight of that year was a concert in the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary with the Angels of Harmony, a black gospel choir from Philadelphia (USA) with the mayor and city notables in the front row.  Phill and a new intern, Tamas from Hungary, continued the work in 2006. In 2007 Sam Porteus, intern from Connecticut (USA), continued to build contacts in the various schools in the region, and in 2008 Kendra Hoover, youth leader from Portland OR took over from Sam and increased the impact especially in the town of Zatec through the Obchodni (business) Academy.  A Bridgebuilders Club from that school started after the visit of an American youth group from Portland OR in the summer of 2008. They visited the USA in the summer of 2009 . This trip also ended Kendra’s mission to Most experience.

People:  Much of the credit for building the work in Most in its early stages goes to two people: Lenka Cerna (now Fritschova) and Marketa Cermakova. As a team they worked together for several years working with interns from other countries. 

After years of various efforts in the Most region, it seems like we are back to the start but a bit wiser.