Youth Ambassador update at YES Seminar Madrid 2016

This is a 'Guest' post from the Youth Ambassador and YMCA staff member, Gerald Chifamba attending the YES (YMCA European Spectrum) Seminar and YMCA Europe General Assembly 2016 in Madrid.

The pilot announced temperatures of 17 degrees in Madrid. I was greeted with a scorching 23 degrees with no cloud in sight. I think it will be a good week. Our friends from the Catholic Scout movement have kindly hosted us in a beautiful hostel in the suburbs. We have a long history with the Scouts, their movement's first meeting was in a YMCA and how wonderful it is that the YMCA is having a meeting in a Catholic Scout Centre.

They are 26 YES members represented from 17 nations extending as far west as Iceland and as far east as Armenia. We have nations with one YMCA centre and others with hundreds, all meeting to represent the views of young people at the YMCA Europe General Assembly. The diversity of the YMCA never seizes to amaze me and in this short time I've learnt new things about the work of the YMCA and the extent of their influence.

We met on Monday night and as YMCA people, we quickly connected and made friendships that will outlive this seminar. Juan Iglesias, General Secretary of YMCA Europe, welcomed us as always with encouraging words and great anecdotes to inspire our time at the seminar. The group has some of the most accomplished young people in all of the YMCA including a member of the World Alliance Executive Committee and a Chairman of a national movement. We shared our experience of the YMCA and received an introduction to what YES is all about. The evening was capped with a brief tour of the neighbourhood and an opportunity to see Leicester win the title. 

YES Group members approving the name change

Now the real work begins. On Tuesday, we focused on the meaning of advocacy and what role we play as young YMCA leaders and YES members in advocating for young people at the highest level of decision making in Europe. In focus groups, we discussed in more detail these concepts and also what projects we can develop to increase the influence of YES group and better advocate for young people. We also had to give a brief presentation about our nation and the work of our YMCAs. Needless to say, the YMCA do amazing work around Europe and my list of destination to visit has increased substantially.  

It was a long day of discussion, learning and sharing which warranted an excursion. To celebrate the birthday of our fellow YES member and YMCA England ambassador Alice Firbank, we explored the neighbourhood and indulged in local food and drink. It was a great evening that allowed for further discussion and bonding.

Day three and I woke up empowered to tackle the strategy proposed by YMCA Europe and take a closer look at the priorities, key objectives and expected outcomes outlined. We reviewed the strategy as a group and broke up to into smaller group to produce concrete comments to bring to the general assembly. We were fortunate to have Ed Eggink, President of  YMCA Europe Executive Committee, come and share his wisdom around governance and more. His talk was very inspirational as he described in great detail, the framework of governance at European level and also his own journey in the YMCA. One thing that stood out to me was his mention of responsibility, young people must take responsibility in the YMCA and in their life. It is simple but very important to the work of YES and within youth empowerment.

                                                            

Finally, I met very interesting people. In the pictures above, I was laughing with Kristina Mirsalimova, Chairman of YMCA Belarus. She is a very interesting lady and told me if I ever visit Belarus, I should not expect people to smile. Besides her, in Belarus people do not smile. I also met Karolin Jogel from Estonia. She is the last person (according to her) with the family name Jogel  in the world. 

As always, YMCA gatherings offer an opportunity to learn, connect and share and the YES seminar is no different. I hope to bring my knowledge from this experience to the General Assembly in the next few days and back to our national and local YMCA. 

Gerald Chifamba 
Youth Ambassador