Well it is Friday evening and what a week! By now you all probably know I have the best job in the World. This week started last Sunday when I boarded the afternoon flybe flight out of Leeds Bradford to Belfast. The wind was strong and the take off was bumpy to say the least. On arrival into Belfast I checked into the hotel that was reported to be the most bombed hotel in the World when I was growing up.
Probably the best part of my job is meeting and colliding with some of humanities best. I was going to spend a day with around 25 young people from Ireland, England, Kosovo and France who have organised themselves and were successful in securing a European Grant to build relationships and learn about cultures and communities from their respective countries. The President of the YMCA in Ireland is Andy Hamilton, he must be all of 27 and Chairing a National Board of the YMCA across two countries and two culture and the lead person responsible for the funding application which made this happen,
The guys who were leading on this were five extraordinary young YMCA Leaders. Adi Davies I met by chance at a YMCA conference in England, Andy Hamilton and Darryn Cosby who I met on an International Leadership Programme I was involved with. Rachel Dyne who at the time was working YMCA Tees Valley and I met interviewing her for a place on a Peace Work seminar in Bangladesh and Dorina Lluka Davies the National General Secretary if the YMCA in Kosovo who I met at a conference in San Francisco. Our lives were about to focus on where I grew up and my home town YMCA. Before that we would visit the so called Peace Walls in Belfast and memorials on both sides of the wall,
This was the second time I had met the full group. The last time I met them I recall sitting on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral in London telling these folks stories about the person who founded the YMCA some 170 years ago and showing them were he is buried alongside Duke of Wellington and Admiral Nelson in the crypt of St Paul's.
Darryn was picking me up at the hotel on Monday morning. As I was getting into the car Darryn lifted his Mayoral chain of the passengers seat and put it on the back seat. You see, Darryn, although still in his twenties, is also the Lord Mayor of one of the new super Councils in Northern Ireland and one of the first things he tells me is, he has an interview tomorrow for the CEO position in the YMCA in Portadown.
We travel to a Youth Centre in Belfast and are greeted buy this picture of faces that I last saw on the steps of St Paul's in London. None of the participants over 25 and I know that Rachel had recently returned from the United Nations in New York where she had moderated a panel on the YMCA's Global research, One Million Voices into the aspirations and dreams of young people across the World and Dorina who had also spoken at the UN about her experience of being a refugee in Kosovo during the recent conflict.
Along side is other participants who are, apprentices, living in YMCAs, volunteering in various leaderships position and at University, all with bright eyes, open faces and portraying something of the richness that comes from the young people who populate our communities, our world, when they feel safe and trust those around them
After a great introduction to the Belfast recent conflict and Peace Walls we went and visited the walls and memorial places and then off to Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly. After going through the security checks we enter this Iconic building. It seemed like out of nowhere the First Minister arrived and greeting Darryn with a hug and kiss on the cheek. Yes there were minders around and cameras but there was a a feeling of relaxation that comes when there is trust and relationships. It was clear we were welcome and trusted. The First Minister even collaborated in photo bombing a selfie with a lad from England and Ireland. We spent I guess 45 minutes with Arlene Foster MLA. First Minister for Norther Ireland. This I suspect was an experience that the full group will remember.
From there we had some time off and a coffee was in store, We then headed to my hometown and the YMCA where 49 years ago I went to the door and asked if I could come in, I was 11, they said you need to be 14 and here I was. Bradley and Rian from Carrick YMCA changed from being part of the group to being the hosts and you could see in their eyes and their faces what I will call pride. Absolutely beaming. We then had a fantastic evening. I have to say that I also had the sense that it was my hometown YMCA and Rian and Bradley and the whole of YMCA Carrick done good.
I traveled back to England on Tuesday morning and was in London on Wednesday and the rest of the week at my desk. I watched on social media the folks posting about their experience and travelling home and I think about the change we have all been through. When you are 60 like me I am still affected by such experiences but I also remember what is felt like years ago when I was in my teens and twenties and having such experiences. They are intense and those who have not experienced what we have will not always understand the change we have been through. Patients and Love helps that process.
The final gathering of the group will be in Kosovo and I am looking forward to going to spend another day with every one of these souls.
~standingontheshouldersofgiants
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