Day of Plans and Strategy

First full day of meetings and discussion completed. You could not help but be impressed with what this YMCA is doing. The engagement of young people and their committment and ability is stunning.

At 8.45am today I counted approximately 100 young people sitting in front of computer screens undergoing training in IT. We heard in the presentation this morning that 67% of the population are under 35 and 80% of the active population are unemployed. Staggering. Perhaps that is why the YMCA comes across with such passion to tackle the subsequent issues. It is great to see the Board members, CEO, Branch managers and senior staff including head of finance activitly contributing to the discussions on the new plan.

Also included in the group are the newly elected President and Vice President of the National Youth Council who are both young YMCA Volunteers.

One of the stakeholders present at the meeting, the president of the National Students Union said he was joined by the Federation of Liberian Youth in thanking the YMCA for their work on ensuring that youth issues are kept on the Governments agenda. The key areas of work that the YMCA in Liberia fall under three key themes, 'Youth Leadership', 'Education and Employment' and 'Health & Environment'. Their strap line is 'Empowering Young People for the African Renaissance'. Heading off now for a debrief on today before dinner with Carlos from African Alliance, Steve and Darlene from Totonto Canada, Ricco fromm Y USA and Harriet from Y Care International. I have not forgot about the promissed post on the former young combatants and we are also paying a courtesy visit to the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia. Expect more tomorrow,

Discovering the YMCA Liberia

My second day of fact finding about the YMCA took me on three visits. The first was to the Paynesville YMCA Community school. Offering formal education to some 457 children and young people. Jacob Sandolo, Principle of the school beams with pride we he told me the school was intended to take 350 pupils but due to the quality of the education and levels of attainment,the school population has grown to 457 pupils.

The education attainments are achieved through 16 Teachers working in 12 Classrooms.

We moved on to visit two placements under a EU and Comic Relief funded programme. This programme is entitled the'Supporting youth livihood Project' The first was to visit a 'one student' placement in electronics;

There have been 579 completers on this programme with 55% of completers being in work or self employed when a follow up survey was carried out. Moving on then to a placement in motor mechanics and here two students are on placement.

truely inspirational work. In my next post I hope to share a motor bike project with former young combatants from the Civil war which only ended in 2003.

The YMCA in Liberia is Buzzin

Let me see if I can something of the life in the YMCA in Liberia, West Africa. The YMCA runs a programme of Intersport activities across the country and recently 2000 young people attended an event. The YMCA coordiates a network of Youth Councils in sixteen schools all organisted by young YMCA volunteers. The YMCA provides IT training with 1080 young people participating at any one time. The YMCA runs a series of Holiday programmes across the city of Monrovia attracting 900 children every day. The YMCA struggles to cover their overheads when delivering contracted work and the YMCA wresltes with identifying soft outcomes. The YMCA is alive and buzzin in Liberia.

Orientation in Monrovia

Arrived safe and well in Monrovia as did the bag. So what am I doing in Liberia? Within the Global YMCA, since 2006, we have been engaged in what we call the Global Operating Plan (GOP) and one of the key features is Movement Strengthening. This is where a group of people from across the YMCA Movement come together to carry out a diaognostic visit at the invitation of the National Movement, That group will consider how clear the Mission of that Movement is, are the programmes it delivers solially relevant and how sustainable is that National Movement. We in YMCA England have been considering how we might better engage with our colleagues in Africa, so when the invitation came in for YMCA England to join this group we were delighted to accept. Over the next few days a group made up of people from neigbouring African Movements, Canada, USA, Y are International and ourselves will meet with Board members and Staff of the YMCA In Liberia alongside the Secretary General of the African Alliance to consider the GOP in relation to The YMCA Movement in Liberia. Today I have engaged in some orientation visits and tours to begin to acquent myself with the Movement here. Harriet Knox, Africa Programme Manager with Y Care International and E Tim Kamabockai, Development Secretary for the YMCA in Monrovia have been extreemly helpful and thoughtful towards me.

I really hope I can catpure the work,passions and committment of all who are involved here over the next few days.

Into Africa

5th/6th November 2012 Well my first, what I will call,'Proper Visit' to Africa has begun. At 'Check In' in Newcastlle International Airport at 4.00pm Monday, the check in person said 'I have been working Check In here for BA for six years and this is the first time I have checked someone in to that airport (Monrovia), would you like your bag checked through to Libiya, my response was 'no thanks I am going to Liberia'. I soon discover that todays flight via Heathrow is the first time BA has flown there. So at 10.45pm we took off into the night sky over London, embarking on what turned out to be a 6 1/2 hour roller coaster flight to Free Town, the capital of Siera Leon when some 90% of the passenges disembarked at 5.30am leaving about thirty of us on the massive Boing 767. Just as we reached the start of the runway in Free Town the sky lite up as the African Sun rose above the horizon. We took off towards that sunrise and on the way to Monrovia in Liberia. Signing off at 16500 feet going at 484 miles per hour over Africa, I pause for just a moment really hoping my bag has not gone to Libiya :) In my next post I will tell you what I am doing in Liberia.

Auf Wiedersehen (Goodbye) Gorlitz

Hi All- it is time to say good bye after an interesting 5 days packed with lots of activities. Some of the highlights of the meeting have been listening to Lenin a young person from Russia share his experience on volunteering in Germany and also hearing YMCAs share their learning. On the entertainment side, we had an intercultural night on Saturday where we got to enjoy the diversity of European cultures through food, music, dance and dance. There was no better way of ending the day whose afternoon was punctuated with an excursion of Gorlitz!!! There is a great sense of enthusiasm from the whole group as we look forward to strengthening the networks that have been birthed. Next meeting will be held in November 2013 and we hope there would have been progress on this seminar’s outcomes.

Volunteers for Europe

Greetings from the beautiful city of Görlitz right at Germany’s eastern border with Poland where I am attending the 2012 VfE seminar with 17 YMCA staff and volunteers from 12 European countries. In case you’ve not heard of Görlitz before, it is a historical city that has a population of 50,000 people and is famous for its rich cultural heritage dating back to the 17th Century. Once called the Via Regia (street of the King) Görlitz was a very important trading route that linked Germany to many Eastern European cities. YMCA presence in Görlitz was suspended during the Separation of Germany till the 1990s and this beautiful city now houses the YMCA regional offices for Upper Schlesische Oberlansitz. Special thanks go to YMCA Germany, the seminar sponsors for leading on putting this interesting event together. It has been a time of reflection as we each talked about the different opportunities we offer or are looking at offering to out volunteers. Our discussions have definitely highlighted ways YMCAs in Europe can contribute to the development of volunteers’ programmes under the European Voluntary Service. It is not a one size fits all but through creativity, passion and commitment to impacting lives of young people, YMCAs can help give their young people a chance to participate in these life changing experiences! Partner finding is now the buzz word…. Watch this space for more. From Joy Namayanja YMCA England

One year volunteering at YMCA Le Rocheton, France

This my first ever blog post and I am not very comfortable with formal writing but here goes! I am Ian Cook from YMCA Bolton and I am currently volunteering at the YMCA Centre International de Séjours, Le Rocheton, France.

When I found out I had been invited to work here for the year, I was amazed that they had even considered looking at a weak French speaker from the north but here I am! I am a very laid back person and that was the downfall to my preparation, Instead of practicing my French, I was out enjoying my remaining days with my friends. Big mistake.

I arrived at the Le Rocheton my usual confident self but when I met the other volunteers I soon quietened down after meeting the three Germans, as they are near perfect in French and English. This did in fact make me want to leave after only 2 days because I was to work with 2 older French chaps that could not (and still cannot!) speak a word of English. After the first day we developed a way of communicating, mostly hand gestures and free hand drawing, so the nerves went away and I have worked to my utmost capability every day since while also learning the language as I go.

Le Rocheton is an amazing place with so many great people, from the big cats in the “Bureau” to the trainee chefs in the kitchen; everybody has been extremely helpful and patient with me. Even though it is not anything like my youth club back home in Bolton, Le Rocheton definitely still has that YMCA feel that makes you, and anybody else, feel welcome and comfortable.

When the World Challenge was at le Rocheton we managed to get over 200 hundred people to come and shoot baskets, ride ponies, attend conferences and even drink a bit of champers! It was just a shame this mini-festival was dampened, literally, by the appalling weather. It was truly a privilege to by apart of it.

I have only been here 7 weeks but I have met so many new people, visited beautiful places and learnt valuable new skills. Another 45 weeks left, I cannot think of anything better. France, come at me bro!

English Tea Party in Istanbul?

There is a shared feeling in the global link network and indeed across the movement that a common perception of representing your country on International duty can often be ‘ it’s a jolly’ by jealous or uninformed people, this actually offends us as the GLYN (global link youth network) and let me tell you the readers of this blog; 7:30am starts followed by a boat trip, when I am sea sick and fish for dinner, when I don’t eat fish is about the furthest I could get from a jolly!

To not double up on information the English contingent have divided the days of this conference between us and if you would allow me to comment on the Turkish evening, I would be most grateful. The common tourist attitude to the Turkish Culture is that the men hang around outside shops trying to entice the women, while the women dress in burka’s and are completely covered. During our evening meal we were treated to a taste of Eastern entertainment, there was the ‘whirling Derbyshire’s’ which were four Turkish men praying and while in a trance they span around with such grace and beauty for such a long time… it was breath taking, we then had a belly dancer and what struck me was this total reverse in roles for the genders. The men were dressed in smart white robes which fanned out while they span and the girl wore very little and was a complete contrast from the women in the street. Then what followed can only be described as breath-taking as Juan followed by the participants all took to the dance floor and we were treated to an alternative but explosive different style by Dorina form Kosovo and Vicktor from Macedonia. This was a very special evening indeed and I felt very privileged to see behind the curtain and look deeper at the culture of this country.

Rachel has already mentioned the change assessment, so I cannot really add anything rather than the fact this long training ended with much pride and joy as teams created their own evaluation questions which were used in the conclusion this morning. I would like to add that when we talk about impact, this cannot be measured until some considerable time has passed after the event, with this in mind I can see the impact from the peace seminar last July in Prague with 7 young leaders attending this training and showing a hunger and desire for the YMCA’s peace work programme…this is really special.

Just to try and explain a little about the conference venue, we are using the old YMCA Turkey building which needs much love and attention but has a certain historical and unique quality to it, the hotel is around 10 minutes away and offers very little social space, Basti from Germany showed great leadership by arranging a games night on the final evening, although many people chose to not attend around 12 of us went and shared games and fun together giving us this close conference feel and a chance to bond which had been missing. I have to be completely honest with you, some music was played as the participants danced but the last thing I expected to see was around 7 young ladies from the Nederland’s all the way to Turkey all dancing and singing to the spice girls! Certainly proud to be British here but felt a little surreal….
Now as I mentioned the lack of space was an issue however…. The last thing I imagined would happen at this conference was an English Tea party in the street of Istanbul…. Yes readers you read that right!!!

                  …. AN ENGLISH TEA PARTY IN THE STREETS OF ISTANBUL!!!

I’m not quite sure if I am qualified to speak on behalf of the queen, but this morning I thanked this special group of people for participating in this one off event… if this is not where West meets East then I don’t know what is! As I mentioned I brought a teapot, Rachel brought teabags and Frah brought some shortbread biscuits. It’s hard to describe how it all happened… however Rachel catered for everyone making them tea and there was much debate over adding milk or not. Let me tell you this people from England, Russia, Kosovo, Serbia, Germany, Holland, Czech Republic, Armenia, Turkey, and Georgia sat drinking tea in the streets of Istanbul and it was a very special, unifying moment!

Lastly I would like to comment on the change agents; in my last blog I briefly spoke about my challenge to Johan and left you the readers to make your own mind up on who should be a change agent and how they should be picked. Well after letting this marinade for a few days in my mind the simple response is…  “We are all change agents” young or old, experienced or new, we are all working for the common good of our movement. The world challenge and this conference have shown me that people are willing to take ownership and unite for what we stand for, what we have been doing throughout history and what we are still doing to this day! For any younger folk reading this blog, don’t get too hung up on whether you are a recognised change agent or not and remember its local people who have a global impact, we need everyone to wake this giant!

This really has been a culture shock and a learning curve for me, supported by friends and surrounded with a variety of experience, expertise and passion. For me this was where East meets West but the truth is "together we are YMCA!"

 

Do Not Harm - On behalf of Farah!

I feel honoured and privileged to be part of such an extraordinary conference that has the potential to inspire the world and bring Change and Hope.

In day 2 we have done a workshop on 'DO NO HARM methodology'
Our imagination was stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there.

If I share my understanding of “do no harm” principle not only suggests that anthropological work be consciously shaped (“intend no harm”) – it suggests that the act of doing generates a set of social obligations (to track and recognize outcomes, to own up to harm, to do further work to remedy).

todays workshop was a very inspiring peace that offered a very valuable lesson which we will take back with us to our YMCA and the work we do.

Stay Tuned

Where East has definatly met West!

Hey All,

Firstly, let me express how privileged I feel to be here at the Catch the Vision Conference  in Istanbul, not only to experience the amazing city, and culture that comes with it; and not only the amazing and inspirational people (participants and facilitators) here from all over the world who are united by the extraordinary and unique work that impacts so many lives in the YMCA, and the worldwide movement… but also and equally as importantly, the wonderful and educational content of the conference that has already overwhelmed and inspired me the past few days!

The most intriguing part for me so far has been the study of Youth Empowerment , with the never-ending positives and influences that has made me realise there is still so much to learn and use in my work at my local YMCA.

Not only have I learned so much through sharing best practices with participants worldwide, but I have also learnt through exploring initiatives such as the Change Agent programme, and the Space, Transformation and Impact diagram in aid to wake the ‘Sleeping Giant’ which is the worldwide YMCA movement, and anticipate the extraordinary ways of doing this and making the world’s general knowledge of the YMCA more than just a song.

 

 

I would like to briefly comment on the inspirational work done in Africa, which makes you appreciate all the negatives in Young People’s lives, and how these can be changed even in the most extreme of cases. With the extreme cases in Africa, it is marvellous to see that through the S2C programme, (Subject to Citizen) young people’s natural but unfortunate and old-fashioned views can not only be influenced but vastly improved.  Seeing the severe and detrimental effect on African women and men, it is again inspiring to see people like Gil Harper and the S2C Programme transforming lives hugely, and actually giving human life a value. As well as this the empowering of young people to successfully carry on this work, not only is improving Africa, but also is leading on to improve the whole world by inspiring the Change Agents initiative.

After having talks and presentations from the likes of YMCA World Alliance CEO Johan Vilhelm Eltvik, and the YMCA Turkey Board Chair who had once worked with Martin Luther King, it makes you realise how big our voice can be, and how important constant new ideas are part of the improvement of not only the world movement, but also on a local level.

It has been an overwhelming and inspirational experience so far, absorbing practices from the wisest of people in the YMCA, and has left me itching to start using these in my work at home, but also to be a part of this on a global level.

So with so much to say and so little time, I will finish here for now, however watch this space to see a more cultural outlook of the conference and how it is possible to have three attempts of walking to Asia;)

For more info on anything I have learned so far, please contact me, as I would be most happy to share these experiences with you in more detail.

#IHaveWalkedToAsia… Well off the boat anyway…

 

 

The end is only the beginning...

Well, it has been a long (sometimes feeling never ending) week. I am exhausted, the days have been long with a lot of content to get in. Have I enjoyed myself? Yes, very much so! Would I change anything? Possibly, but despite these little things, the planning team and facilitators have done an amazing job in complicated and difficult circumstances.

Sticking to the theme of change, it seems right to start talking about today's session; change assessment. This to me looked very interesting on the programme and despite the lack of energy, I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I can see how some of the theories can be put into practice as well as some of the thought provoking concepts. Bruce started with a extremely good but provocative question; how do you know when good practice is good? I found this very interesting working a project that is always working for good practice it was difficult to answer! Can you? Change assessment is basically what it says on the tin: looking at ways of evaluating change. Were all the ways we talked about good? Personally, I think it very much depends on the context you are working. Some I will find really useful, some not so but then others may disagree with me. This is the great thing about working with people; we are not all the same and should embrace the diversity within groups. This is one amazing thing I have learnt about the YMCA Europe movement:. We may all be one continent but we all have a very diverse and interesting reality, within the YMCA and as countries. These experiences not only give you learning from the facilitators but from each other as well.

On reflection of today's feedback, we are treated as equals to all the people high up in the organisation, from conversations to dancing to traditional Turkish music. When will I know the impact of this seminar, who knows. I guess I will have to wait and see. Yet another great thing about the YMCA.

Who knows what next for the group here, will we Catch the Vision? Will we run with it? Will we change the world? Who knows, only time will tell.

I would like end with a quote we had today from Socrates; "The unexamined life is not worth listening." many discussions with a group of inspiring people from right at the very top of the organisation downtown the workers and non paid staff of local YMCAs.

East meets West!

My humble return to the blog after a year and a half, what a roller coaster!!!  My last blog took place at the peace work conference in Prague, and now I write to you live from Istanbul where East meets West!
Had someone told me that after someone stole my seat at the English National conference in 2011…that this would lead me to speaking with and asking the head of the world alliance questions in Istanbul I would have never believed it, but my friends I have done this! I’m living breathing evidence that the impact model works and I am indebted to those who have provided me that space so that I can transform myself and others and hopefully impact our movement somehow.

We are fresh off the world challenge and as the day finished in England I was still searching for a teapot to bring to Istanbul with me, after a long trip and a dash across London (something every northerner fears!) we arrived in Istanbul. I have been lucky enough to have represented England on a few occasions but I still had a culture shock, the fear of not knowing where you are or being unable to communicate well enough is frightening but at the same time exciting! I must confess as we arrived at the hotel and I took a glance at the Asian toilet I was struck with sheer panic! This really is where EAST meets WEST! Then there was the powdered milk along with trams and cars that can get very very close to you! There is something about being able to buy freshly squeezed juice for couple of lira on the street from a local vender that really puts into perspective how life works here.

What I always love about YMCA, and doesn’t matter if it’s on a local, national or international level is that it’s always like coming ‘home’ literally the entire conference met on the front street and there was hugs and handshakes… seeing old friends from countries far and wide and meeting new people, it’s just so inspiring.
Gerard and Johan led a session on the change agents, as we looked through the history of our sleeping giant, I felt privileged that plans and ideas were being discussed, I felt incredibly proud that the top man in our movement would thank me for my comment or contribution. There was some work done in our home groups about the roles and 'what is the change?' that agents should be making. A difficulty in my own home group was that we were so diverse and all came from different backgrounds and levels that everything was discussed from young trustees to visible young participation to waking up the giant! A difficult and at times daunting task… my own challenge to Johan was how was’ how do we choose these change agents?’ is someone wanting to be one enough? should leaders throughout Europe choose? or should we the youth nominate our peers or people who inspire us?… I will let you the readers make your own mind up on an answer. The one thing that was loud and clear from my home group was the need to ‘blend’ or ‘fuse’ together the experience of the older folk with the passion and belief of the younger guys.

We also had presentations from Africa on the subject to citizen project, from Canada on their work within the community and from YES about their changes and vision.

An inspiring and diverse day… this was topped off with the fact that at dinner I sat with friends from Kosovo, Holland, Russia, Iceland, Armenia, and Turkey just to name a few…. Inspired, challenged, excited… the world challenge may not have woke the giant completely but surely it’s a matter of time before he stops pressing the snooze button on the alarm clock!!!
Adi

Do no harm

We are on the second full day of work and there have been some heavy days and discussions, all very relevant and interesting! Today has been a day about looking at the Do No Harm matrix. You may ask what this is? It sounds complicated I thought, it is really not. Put really basically it is model to use in planning and evaluating any project. This project can be aid on an international level or local level, it has to be based in the realities of the community that the project is based in. This is a new tool that can be added to the tool box of ways to examine the way a project is set up to ensure that no harm is done. There is no such thing as a perfect project but this is a way to try and minimise the negative affects of any given project. There are a lot of resources online for this and there would be a lot to try and put all the information into one blog (especially when we have to deliver training on it when we return). What can I say about it? I have found it very interesting and will look forward to attempting to apply it to my project, where are the dividers? Where are the connectors? Are they balanced (a key part to the Do No Harm matrix)? It has been an interesting day, that I can say with certainty.

To end on a separate note, if you had asked me two and a bit years a go, when I joined the YMCA movement if I thought I would believe so passionately about the work it does globally, if I would have lunch with the head of YMCA Europe or if I would have the extreme privileged of listening to Juan (head of YMCA Europe) and the head of the global movement (World Alliance of the YMCA) I would have responded with, you must be joking. I work in a local community. This week I have had the privilege of this and many many more inspirational people from all over Europe and the world. The reason for my passion...well why not when you work for an organisation as big and awesome as the YMCA?

Stay tuned for more from Istanbul and the YMCA England delegates...

Where East Meets West, Istanbul

Well after a LONG and eventful journey, the English guys have all safely arrived in Istanbul. First night in the first hotel and I, can't speak for the others, am very excited for the week ahead. It's going to be a busy week but I am very much looking forward to it.

Stay tuned for the exciting stuff is yet to come!

Gaining insight into youth politics at the Summer University of the Council of Europe

by Marisa Vögele

I felt honoured to get the opportunity representing YMCA Europe at the Summer University organised by the Council of Europe (which is different from the European Union). On request of the other representative Ger­ard Tos­serams (YMCA Europe) two persons of the YMCA could take part in the conference.

This opportunity gave me the chance to meet representatives of different European youth organisations, as well as representatives of different ministries responsible for youth from the respective European countries.

The programme consisted of a great variety of activities. At the first day I got an induction into the work of the Council of Europe. The other days we learnt about Georgia and its policy regarding youth and Europe, while we visited different ministries and NGOs. In addition, we discussed the upcoming conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth (23.-25.09) in St.Petersburg. I found it especially interesting when we touched upon the new Combating Hate Speech online campaign and started collecting ideas.

All in all the most important thing I took away from the summer university is the impression and understanding how important it is that NGOs, like the YMCA, are represented on political level. Many of the people that take decisions directly affecting young people's lives have never engaged with youth work, nor do they have access to the reality of young people.

So people of the YMCA - interfere and get involved!

Change Agents!

I'm currently at the aiport waiting for my flight back to London after an interesting meeting in Long Beach. Our main tasks were to finalise the curriculum of the Change Agents and plan the first meeting where all the participants will come together - at the YMCA festival in Prague 2013 - andleading up to the World Council in 2014.

The programme will be an interesting mix of trainings at the local/national, area, and global level, adapted to the Change Agents' respective situations, using as much as possible the existing and planned seminars, trainings and good practices. The first get together of (part of) the Change Agents in Europe will be this September in Istanbul. In Europe we plan on strongly working together with the YES group. A call with the details will be send around this summer, make sure you don't miss this exciting opportunity!

And now - back to rainy London!

YMCA Change Agents Training Team training

Hi friends!

The  World Alliance of YMCAs has started a "programme of change" in order to increase the relevance and impact of the YMCA movement across the world. The YMCA beliefs that there is no one better than young people themselves to actually bring about this change. Therefore a group of so-called "change agents" will be trained to become a new generation of young YMCA leaders. This group will unite the YMCA movement under the umbrella of Youth Empowerment. 

The programme is not about creating new initiatives at the local level or generalising the work of the YMCAs all over the world, as we believe that adapting to local realities is vital to our work. Rather, it is about identifying key events for youth mobilisation and integrating them with this change model. World wide, about 200 of these change agents will take part. In due course more information will be available which is tailored to the European and national/local situations, you should consider becoming one of them!

As part of the Change Agent Training Team I am currently participating in a training at the YMCA in Long Beach, California as I will be involved in the coordination of the Change Agents in Europe.

I've just finished the first day, where we got to know each other and were introduced to the YMCA in Long Beach. Both the other participants and the programmes and staff in Long Beach were very inspiring. I'm looking forward to the rest of the training! Here you can find some more information about one of their signature programmes and a documentary of their work in Cambodia.

Youth Institute
Cambodia Documentary

Goodbye Zimbabwe

Sitting in Schipol Airport in Amsterdam reflecting on the last week spent in Kadoma, Zimbabwe. The week was really an inspiring time particularly when hearing about the great work being done by young people, most of whom are volunteers, all over the African continent "empowering young people for the African Renaissance" .

I have to admit that some of my preconceived ideas about serving young people and communities in Africa have been shattered and programmes such as Subject to Citizen really seems to be having a profound affect with young people's voices being heard from local to national levels advocating on behalf of others.

This was phase one of the training with phase two taking place at some point in February 2013 where the trainee ambassador's will continue their training.

I'm going home inspired, motivated and challenged about how I can help these voices be heard not just in Africa but across the globe.

There & Back Again

'Battersea Power Station, just one of the views from the Gatwick Express'

I am sat in a rather quiet and empty Pendelino Train back home now, and despite the glorious sunny evening, this past week has come around too fast. I cannot say that I could've done more... because I don't think I could have got much more involved in the project than I did.


I did it all! Got involved in all the activities, met crazy new friends, learnt new skills, shared my own skills, and pegged lots and lots... and lots of people. 


Cool Fact: Over 200 Pegs were used during the course of the week!!!

'Maybe this time next year pegs will be banned too!!!'

The weather was nice and hot all of the time I was there in Banska Bystrica to the envy of any of those who had rain.


I think the greatest thing I took away from this expedition has got to be inspiration.


I now have plans.


*evil laughter*


Just kidding, but I plan to put my media skills to much greater use within the YMCA in the near future.


Have a chuckle on me at the shots below:

'Some wore theirs with Pride'

'Some wore theirs as accessories'

'Some wore theirs without knowing'

'...and some should've kept one eye open'

Cheers

Alex D-B