Tällberg with the umlaut

Tällberg is a small town four hours north of Stockholm in Sweden, and it doesn’t have a Wikipedia page. The town or city you’re reading this in probably has one; even my humble hometown of Midsayap has a comprehensive Wikipedia page. This small detail alone fascinated me about the place, never mind that it was my first time in Scandinavia and nothing could have made me less excited. I was also there to do what I do best: promoting my advocacy to a diverse audience, some of them high-level leaders of their own fields. Through the British Council’s Global Changemakers program, I was sent to the Tällberg Forum a couple months ago, along with three other Changemakers who work in human rights, conflict resolution, and social entrepreneurship. I was picked through my interest and work in using technology for better governance.

As memorable adventures go, our journey was nearly more exciting than the destination. From Stockholm, we took the train to Norköpping, then a bus to “Tallberga,” only to end up in the middle of nowhere, rural Sweden. “Where are the organizers who are picking us up?” we helplessly asked. It took us about half an hour to see another human being and confirm that, indeed, we had the wrong tickets and we were at the southern end of the country when we were supposed to be up north. I was in denial, but there was no time for that as we had a conference to attend. We were promptly instructed by Paola Hjelt, our Swedish mentor and co-founder of Global Changemakers, to take the same route back to Stockholm, and from there to take the train to Tällberg — the one with the umlaut. Haggard and still in disbelief, we walked back to the bus stop, when suddenly a taxi came out of the empty road and stopped right next to us. The most handsome taxi driver in the world emerged and told us that he had been instructed to pick up three people. “That would be us!” we happily announced, as there wasn’t any competition in the vicinity for his taxi. It turned out that the Tällberg Foundation, the organizer of the Forum, had summoned a taxi company upon learning of our misadventure and organized the rest of our trip to the correct destination: Tällberg, with the umlaut. God bless them.

As you might expect from a town without a Wikipedia page, Tällberg seemed very small and deserted; at times it felt as if the participants of the conference comprised its total population. But the houses that surrounded the breathtaking foliage confirmed that we weren’t alone; in fact, we stayed in one of these beautiful houses, with gracious Swedish hosts who made us feel at home. They were so hospitable they could have been Filipinos. It also didn’t hurt that their house, as almost all of Tällberg, was overlooking the expansive Lake Siljan, one of Sweden’s hundred thousand lakes.

Nature, which the forum counts on as providing “ecosystem services to the Tällberg learning experience,” is central to the event. During the opening session, there were guided tours around the surroundings, which we missed by being lost in the other end of the country. For four days, the forum posed one deceivingly simple question — “How on earth can we live together?” — a question that gave birth to four days of plenary sessions, workshops, networking, and overall good times. I attended group conversations on topics ranging from “big data” to “What words define our time?” and “What important questions have we not yet asked?” — the latter extending to discussing US-China relations. There were about a thousand participants, but the Tällberg Foundation managed to make this an intimate event, true to its unique model of “intellectual conversations tightly integrated with arts and nature,” by encouraging participants to form reflection groups in the woods, meadows and lakefronts. Nature and technology, the Forum’s two major themes, didn’t immediately form a coherent narrative in my head, but the surroundings of Tällberg provided a compelling backdrop for thinking about matters such as this: How far have we advanced, really? And to what end?

I highly recommend that Tällberg and the Tällberg Forum be experienced together. But even if you cannot come in June, Tällberg remains a wonderful destination in itself. There is no shortage of wonderful hotels, such as the Green Hotel, Hotel Dalecarlia and the Klockargården, which also served as venues for some of the workshops in the Forum. Also, go have tea or coffee at the Tällbergsgarden, if only for its fantastic Victorian furnishings. And if you come at the right time, go skinny-dipping in the lake. In the end, a four-hour ride from urban Stockholm is nothing if it means experiencing a very raw version of nature and the countryside: pack your laptops and tablets deep into your luggage, reachable only for the urgent need. Lastly, when booking, don’t forget the umlaut in your destination: Tällberg. (Although if you also end up in Tallberga and get to explore the place, let me know.)

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For more information on the British Council Global Changemakers program, go to www.global-changemakers.net.