The most valuable thing is a culturally high-quality, healthy environment for the family and child close to nature

“I really like that Skujene is not too far from the city. There is a bit, but it is not too difficult to drive to Cēsis. Skujene is a quite peaceful place, tidy and beautiful. There are beautiful country roads, bigger and smaller. Nearby lakes and rivers. The tidy parish center is a pleasure. As much as the municipality tries to organize events and maintain the territory as much as possible, that’s what we have here,” said Māris Kalniņš. His daily life is spent in Skujene, his work goes on – as for many nowadays – remotely.

“It would be very difficult to live in Skuyene if I needed a job on the spot. My wife and I both work from home, and we’re very lucky to do so. If you had to spend time and fuel to get to the workplace in the city, then life in Skujene would certainly not be so nice,” reveals Māris.

He spent his childhood in the parish. Then some time passed abroad, but now he returned to his native place with his family. Mara’s wife is a Filipina named Bambi. Maris says that she has already settled in Skujene, even though the beginning was not easy. Bambi is used to life in a big city, the transition to a quiet rural village was a bit of a challenge. “She misses her loved ones, relatives. She really misses all the benefits of big cities – shopping centers, opportunities to attend events, cafes. But now she has got used to life here, she is also gradually learning the Latvian language,” says Māris.

“We have to admit, we are not too active in social life, we also participate in parish events as a couple, but our daughter works in a dance group, we try to support her in all concerts,” said Māris.

Asked if there is anything he would like to improve in Skujene’s life, the man admits with a smile that a parcel post would be very useful. “However, we are all modern people, we often order something on the Internet. Since there is no parcel post office in Skujene, you have to pay for the much more expensive courier delivery. Yes, I would be very happy for the parcel!” says Māris and still assesses that Skujene, as a rather small village, has quite a lot of opportunities. “Of course, not everything can be provided. There are things that can only be done in Cēsis, for example, our daughter recently started learning karate. Then let’s take him to classes in the city.”

Maris is also the administrator of the Skujene notice board on the social network “Facebook”. “I really don’t like websites where administrators don’t check ads – for example, a person from Talsi or Liepāja can easily post an ad on the Cēsi page, but what’s the point of that? I try to keep up with all the advertisements on the Skujene bulletin board, so that information circulates among local people – what they are looking for, what they are offering, what they are selling or what they want to buy here.”

Skujenietis adds that he is very concerned about the field of education. “There are rumors that the Skujene elementary school, where our daughter currently studies in the pre-school group, could be liquidated or transformed. It already happened with the primary school in Sürmuksi, where I used to study myself. Even today, it is very painful to see that instead of my school there is now a nursing home.”