INVOLVEMENT: WHAT WE CAN'T DO WITHOUT

Two to three hours a day. If possible, I play every afternoon after doing homework and then before I go to bed. On the weekend I sometimes spend up to ten hours in front of the screen.

We play on the Internet in two teams. The game is called »Counter Strike.« One team is the secret agents, the other, the terrorists.

At the beginning it was the challenge of being able to start the game on my friend's old computer. Now it is about getting really good at it. However, the standard I have at the moment is not quite high enough. To improve, I would have to play a lot more, at least five or six hours a day. I do not know if I want this.

I am currently building a small community with friends. We want to create forums on the web and distribute information about the computer gaming scene.

No, we are scattered throughout Germany. But we chat with each other via a mic. If you spend a few hours every day on the web together, you get to know each other quite well.

The computer will become smaller, faster and more user-friendly and the Internet will grow even more important.

Daniel Wiese

I'm from Russia, and there I started modelling at a very early age. I was also a member of a children's dance ensemble. The first time I had a speaking part was for a school play.

On stage you can say things which you normally would never say out loud. You dress differently, behave in a different way and you are a totally different person. I enjoy slipping into different roles.

One actress I know stood up on the stage half-naked and sang totally out of tune. I would like to do something crazy like that.

No, but I want to convey a message with my roles. Parts in which you can do everything you want appeal to me. In theater there are parts in which you can be moody, tired, loud and joyful.

I read a lot of plays and take part in our school's theatre. But I don't really like it there.

I want to study in St. Petersburg and then I would like to work at the Kirov Theater, where I have a lot of friends. At least I'm sure that I will do something related to theater, because it is a friendly and fun atmosphere there.

Malin Elsen

My friends! We are a group of about 20 people, boys and girls. Some of them I have known since I was eleven.

We do a lot of sports, go out, have parties. During the holidays, the whole group went camping in Italy together. The most important thing is that I can talk about anything with my friends.

We are in some ways quite similar. We have the same sense of humour and are quite spontanuous. The main thing is that we can trust each other. I know when I tell something really important to someone, my friend won't gossip about it. He just listens and if I need help, he will try and help me.

My friends are more or less of the same age as me. They are interested in the same things as me and have similar backgrounds. Parents often cannot understand stuff, because they are not in the same situation. Some of my friends can't even talk to their parents.

Probably not with all of them, but definitely with my best friends. It's not the most important thing to see each other all the time.

Stefanie Hentschel

Health! One always takes it for granted until something happens. A lot has happened to me in the past year.

First, my father had to go to the hospital. He was lying in intensive care with some kind of snorkle in his mouth. And then my parents found out that I was anorexic.

I felt too fat and simply started eating less and less. At the end I only had a little bit of cereal for breakfast, that was all. I lost more than 33 pounds. When I wanted to start eating normally, I couldn't, although I had seen what this leads to: A friend of mine couldn't even walk anymore she was so weak. Ultimately, she had to be fed through a needle.

I went to a doctor and now I am trying to force myself to eat again. But I am still scared to put on weight. I would like to be able to control my diet in such a way that I feel healthy but can balance my weight. I am also thinking about going to therapy.

Nowadays, everyone wants to be perfect. Whether or not this is good for your body is not the priority. My dream is that nobody would judge people by their looks. Then there would be a lot less ill people.

Stefanie Hentschel

No, it started about two years ago. The DJ for our school party was ill and I took over.

I have always been interested in music and have a big CD collection at home. But since the school party, I regularly spin records, espescially at a lot of private parties. At home I produce mixes on my computer, which I burn on CDs.

My favorite music is techno and drum 'n' bass. At school parties I mainly spin hip-hop and a little from the charts - that's what most people want to hear. As a DJ I can't just do my own thing; I have to respond to my audience.

Sometimes, but there are always hits people go crazy at. When I play those, the dance-floor gets crowded. It's a game with the audience - you try to get them enthusiastic about your music. It's a great feeling when it works and people have fun at your parties. It does something for school spirit. When a party goes well the mood is a lot better afterwards.

Maybe. But it definitely can go on like this: organizing, listening to music, spinning. It's fun.

Ulrike Adams

At school I did graffiti. I realised I could express myself through pictures. It is important to convey something and provoke some kind of reaction in people.

A wide range of emotions. I can work very well when I am furious. The feeling pours onto paper and relaxes me. When I have painted well, I feel a lot more open towards people close to me.

Sometimes I go into hiding for weeks and work on a painting. Then my friends come last. When I'm finished, I show them the painting, to make them understand me better: This is what I did, this is something coming from me.

The most common reaction is: You have a very individual style. And people always ask what the painting means. But I've had very enthusiastic responses. Sometimes I do not know why people consider one work good and another bad. I rate my paintings sometimes totally differently.

I watch everyday life and the people who surround me. Out of this, I try to create something. Sometimes history provides topics. The theme of my first painting was war.

I'll keep on doing this for a very long time. Painting allows me to get in touch with different things, because I deal intensively with myself and others. While I am painting I can get excited or amused in a totally different way. I dream of being able to make a living with my art one day.

Michael Kraske

Working for the church is a family thing. My mother is active, and I ended up doing it while I prepared for confirmation. I even managed to convince my sister Eva, who is 14, to get involved.

I belong to a group that prepares the children's service. We think of stories and activites that make biblical topics interesting . A lot of the things we plan have to be tried out at home. I am also leading a camp for kids and a children's Bible week.

It's not important to me to be dressed in the latest fashion or to get drunk every week. It means a lot more to work with others and to teach children so they will think about faith the same way I do. I think it is great that there is something above man, something which created the world and from which you can expect help in difficult times, like when you have to deal with sorrow.

Even in my religion class a lot of people do not believe in God. Among friends, it is difficult to make others enthusiastic about visiting a church. At my age, church is considered uncool.

One should accept people with all their quirks, even if one does not like them. Also, I think it is a Christian task to preserve the divine creation, so I could not do a job where I would harm nature, torture animals or use genetic technology.

Gregor Jungheim

Very! I only buy refundable-deposit bottles, switch off the light when I leave the room and collect my plastic yogurt containers for recycling. I do not want to look on while our environment gets more and more destroyed. It already got on my nerves as a child when someone would dump beer cans in the forest.

I used to do this, and then I would stack the rubbish in the pedestrian zone to make people see what they chuck away. I want to be active myself, otherwise I feel helpless.

I joined a Greenpeace youth group. We try to do something for the environment with creative activities: We stage plays, collect signatures against whaling and play drums against the deforestation of the rainforest. Last year we had a camp at the world climate conference in Bonn and held a vigil for 99 hours. I also took part in activities against transports of atomic waste.

More or less. Once a policeman carried me away when I sat on railway tracks during a transport of atomic waste. I tried to have a discussion with him.

Only when policemen stand in front of me with dogs and helicopters are circling close to us. We join hands and sing. It's a great feeling to be involved together.

I want people to deal with my views. Even if they have different convictions, we can have a discussion. Sometimes, when I speak with someone who then shows more understanding for my point of view, I believe I've changed something. This gives me courage.

Marion Schmidt