I was really nervous as he entered the venue and was
focussing on how to bow, shake hands and say the required protocol. We chatted
briefly about youth work, our partnership with YMCA England, opening the first
NGO shop in Kosovo and he stated 'what would we do without the YMCA?'
My
experience meeting The Prince of Wales was over before I had time to really
appreciate the magnitude of such a meeting. As I travelled back to my house that day in Gjakova... Kosovo,
I reflected on what had been an incredible 12-year journey with the YMCA that
had brought me to this very point. For those of you wondering who I am my name
is Adi Davies and I am an Englishman from Bolton, who lives in Kosovo and works
for the World YMCA in Switzerland. This is my story.
When I first walked into my hometown YMCA it had that air of
former greatness and looked like an organisation that had stood still in time as
the world changed around it. I sat on a broken sofa in a room with a different colour painted on
each wall and the interviews were running 30 minutes behind schedule, a thought
crossed my mind ‘should I just leave?’.
6 years later my role had increased from that first 4 hours
a week contract, I was now a full time youth worker and leading many initiatives,
volunteers and staff. Throughout the years I had also worked in many different
departments to try and increase my earnings, this had seen me work in administration,
cleaning, charity shops, children’s work and building management but my passion
was for youth work. I was very proud of the team and the work we had delivered
at Bolton YMCA this had included forming a Youth Council, work with the skating
community, a thriving youth café, Y Care projects and developing young trustees.
A chance meeting at the English national conference meant
that I found myself next to Ken Montgomery, suddenly the best kept secret in
the YMCA was out of the bag. There was this whole other international side of
things, down at the local level we had maybe done a movement induction course
but none of this seemed real or even a possibility. Like so many others my own
YMCA experience had started and ended with the four walls of my local YMCA. Next
started a chain of events nobody would have imagined.
As I headed to Kosovo I had zero idea about the challenges
and struggles that lay ahead. The movement had imploded due to the size it had
grown to so quickly after the war and this itself brought new challenges for a
young leadership team of under 30, it was almost as if the reset button had
just been hit as I arrived. I volunteered where needed as the team built and 3
years later the movement here is strong and has just been accepted as a full
members of YMCA Europe. Some great moments for me have been the opening of the
first NGO shop in Kosovo, national aid projects, running national youth
programs in 3 cities, young leaders travelling across the world and a
partnership with Ys Men Denmark that will see the first summer camp built in Kosovo in 2018.
The lessons I have learnt in Kosovo have been vital, working
in a different language and culture can be challenging but I still maintain
young people are young people wherever they are in the world. I can still be
found down at the YMCA centre in my town some weekends and evenings
volunteering. In the last year I have had to take a step back due to other responsibilities
but the future is very bright for this movement.
I was very fortunate to have been involved in YMCA Europe’s
Roots for Reconciliation project, I instantly fell in love with the
participants, the unifying fact that all these guys were from the YMCA and were
all looking forward instead of backwards was an inspiration. I have witnessed
in recent times young people from both sides of conflict come together, become
good friends and look forward together despite difficult circumstances. The
highlight of this work was when the Balkans tandem brought together all the Balkan
YMCAs in Kosovo for an incredible event. Being part of this group and at times
leading processes like the Council of Europe application were again huge stepping
stones for me and this work and project will always have a special place in my
heart. I often feel my role within European peace work is on hold but not
finished.
Around a year and a half ago I was informed about a position
at the World YMCA. I poured my heart and soul into the job application as I figured
working for the World Alliance is kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Then in January 2015 I started work on the programmes team, this meant Change
Agents, Environment work, Programme innovations and once again new
challenges for me. Until this point in my YMCA career I had conversations around working with 10’s even 100’s of people now I am sat in Geneva
talking about how we reach millions more young people worldwide. Some days I can be
waiting for different parts of the world to wake up so we can communicate and
quite often I find myself bouncing around the world speaking with participants and leaders in every continent
from the USA to Africa, from Peru to Hong Kong, from Ireland to Australia.
I have never been someone who enjoyed camping and performing
arts but recently I can be found at Scout meetings, sailing around oceans, leading the singing at camp fires, dancing or tensing, hiking around
Switzerland countryside and skiing backwards down the Alps… all thanks to the
YMCA and all in the name of youth empowerment!
As you can imagine the story is more detailed and much
longer but through every stage of my YMCA journey I have met incredible people
and made some of the best friends I have. I hope I have helped
and inspired a few people along the way and nowadays my passion is training and
developing young leaders and bringing opportunities to others. I said to a very
dear friend the other day..
“I came to Kosovo and helped build a movement, I just shook
hands with the Prince and I work for the World YMCA… not bad for a lad from
Bolton’
 |
| Some of my very best friends i have met through the YMCA |
