An Inspiritional Journey

Peace Boat

After meeting Change Agents at the World Council last year I was thoroughly inspired to find out more about the programme and whether or not I could get involved and be part of the change. After an in depth chat with my CEO  and a Change Agent Adi Davies from the first cohort I decided I really wanted to participate and see how I could be a part of developing my YMCA and getting stuck in globally as well as having the opportunity to network and learn from others.
The first part of this 2 year journey was participating in the Regional training and I was lucky enough to be going to Zurich in Switzerland where we were thrown into a camping experience that I wont be forgetting anytime soon. Each day we were hiking through some beautiful landscape and talking and getting to know all the other participants from Europe, finding out about their roles in the YMCA and how they had made in on to the same path I had and how we were going to work together to inspire each other and be the change and make a difference. I came away from Zurich with lots of new friends and an excitement inside me that if I could communicate and learn from a group of 30 and come away with some new thoughts and ideas, then meeting 150 change agents on a boat from around the world was surely going to be something amazing........

Well I'm glad to say it was beyond anything I could have imagined, after a rocky start and having my luggage in Istanbul and me in Japan it didn't dampen my spirits after a short bus journey from the airport and we rocked up Yokahoma port to be greeted with the Peace Boat, and what a sight it was. For a person who hasn't been on a cruise ship before I was very impressed and looking forward to having a look around and it exceed all my expectations. The staff on board were so friendly and helpful and it was great to see some many other participants wandering around probably feeling similar to myself a mixture of excitement and nerves.
After everyone arrived a settled in, as much as you can on a moving boat, the programme began, and I will admit the first time I saw the programme I was blown away by how much was on it and how much we were going to learn and how engaged I would be through out it all.This is as for different parts of the programme we were in different groups, and doing it this way meant we met a variety of people from different countries and cultures and having smaller groups allowed us to all tell our stories and be able to give our inputs and be heard and acknowledged. In my small group the countries represented were, Dominican Republic, Lithuania, Zambia, Korea and China and having this diversity really allowed some very interesting discussions and we have come away with each others contact details and ready to keep in touch and share and be there for each other to support where necessary, which I believe is a key factor in this programme.
During the first 6 days there was a mixture of small group discussions, workshops and working groups, topics included strategic planning, fundraising, Christian identity, Japanese culture and movement strengthening, all which were very informative in there different ways. One of the group's projects was to plan an hour and half session for a group of 60 students we would be teaching at the Talisay City College in Cebu in the Philippines, our group again very diverse worked really well to come up with a plan of engaging the students in a range of leadership tasks as well as giving them the chance to tell us about their stories of injustice and giving them knowledge of the world YMCA and the Change Model. I was looking forward to seeing Cebu, for many reasons, a) it had been a while since I'd seen any land so was looking forward to it and b) I really wanted to see how the YMCA impacted a community completely different to my own.
The Philippines really didn't disappoint, it was actually the day that has had a lasting impact since I've been home and even though we only had 24 hours it was enough to see the great work the YMCA does. Arriving at the school we were made to feel like celebrities and entering the hall to a room full of students singing the YMCA was incredible and overwhelming and I believe a moment that will remain in the minds of all the Change Agents. Teaching the students was really humbling and hearing them share their stories of injustice was great and hopefully us being at the school will help the students to realise that they too can make a difference and feel empowered to do something about their communities. Leaving the school on a high we went to the city hall to watch a cultural performance, which was fantastic and seeing fellow Change agents perform as well was great and the icing on the cake was everyone dancing together at the end in celebration.
We had a comfortable stay in the Cebu YMCA and after a long day we had an early start the next day to see the feeding programme that the YMCA do. We were all woken in the morning to the YMCA being played 9 times and to the sight of the staff dancing with the children who were their to get some breakfast. Being able to take part in giving food out to children, women and men who were greatly in need was a strange feeling as we were told to be strict on what we gave out which was difficult when people clearly needed and wanted more, but a truly great insight into Filipino life.

 

The last part of a voyage was to Singapore and a great deal of time was put into musical rehearsals for The Untold story of the YMCA,I was involved in doing the choreography for the Happy dance, the finale of the show and through a lot of sweat and hard work we pulled of the performance and it was great fun. The whole musical was about presenting the true aspect of the YMCA's work in the form of the four pillars of civic engagement, employment, environment and health and it was performed to all the participants on the boat after a very interesting Japanese talent show. It was a really great way to end the trip and 'see you soons' were exchanged rather than goodbyes as meeting each other and creating partnerships is just the start and I am thoroughly committed and intrigued to see what the future brings.

Posted on behalf of Karina Barnett