World YMCA Change Agent Global Gathering 2 - Pre-programme Adventure.

It is now fourteen days ago that I finally purchased flights to Thailand to participate in the second Global Gathering of YMCA Change Agents, some 120 of us will be here from 50 countries to further develop our leadership qualities with a view to transform and impact not only our local communities but to come together to share information and to advocate the views and needs of young people in every corner of the world.

Why so late to join the party? Well I will admit it has been a difficult few months for the YMCA that I am Chair of, and perhaps the timing of the programme isn’t ideal which did insert doubts whether my participation would be appropriate and justified. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh on myself? Maybe not. That, together with it being the first year in 3 I haven’t fundraised for the trip, meaning the “bank of Mum” has been initiated and it may take several months to square up with her. Nevertheless with support from other Change Agents, trustees, YMCA England and family I’m toasting away in my hotel room some 700 kilometres north of Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand.

The program itself doesn’t start until tomorrow (Tuesday) but I have been lucky enough to have planned my journey to arrive on Sunday morning with friends from England, Iceland and fellow compatriot Ashleigh from Swansea in Wales. At this point only a handful of delegates were here but you could already sense the anticipation towards what I’m positive will be a great ten days.

The journey over was purposefully adventurous involving cars, coaches, planes, “tuk-tuks”, trains and taxis over the course of 47 hours. The journey to Bangkok was pleasant and I was grateful to meet up with people and share time in the City before boarding an overnight train to Chiang Mai. The train, formerly used in Japan, was comfortable enough albeit not quite adaptive to a larger male figure on board, but when you think that the 14 hour transit cost just £18 pounds with some wonderful scenery thrown in, it was a really special experience, yet still one that I was glad concluded when arriving in Chiang Mai on Sunday morning.

Staying on yesterday, we immediately bumped in to many of the Australian contingent; and as we had the day free, decided to walk in to town past the countless temples and street food huts, feeling grateful that I went back to my room to apply some factor 30. The Australians namely Bec, Steph, Emma and James got word of a canyon on the outskirts of town and after an hour suggested we hire scooters to go and check it out.

“Hire a scooter, over here – are you mad!?” was the toned-down version of my initial response, but I knew fully well from last year how mischievous certain Australian ladies can be and within 15 minutes there I was, helmeted up trying to ignite the engine. I thought to myself that this is going to be one of those trips where you really don’t want to be saying no and so far – in hindsight – I’m ever so pleased I haven’t. The scooting itself was surprisingly easy, and (more unbelievably than surprisingly!) safe. The drivers seem to respect their follow nippier road users and in the sweltering heat it was blissful to have the wind in your hair as we travelled to the canyon.

We arrived at the canyon shortly after 2pm and the initial reaction was that it was a scene out of an Indiana Jones film. Steep cliffs surrounding a calm green lake, with a peaceful echo of people having fun. As we squeezed our belongings in to a locker and headed towards the cliff edge we pondered at who was going to be first to get rather soggy. We had hardly come to a conclusion before Emma from Adelaide YMCA was stripped off ready to take the plunge. I refer back to my aforementioned “just say yes” attitude I had earlier in the day and there I was next to her in front of 40 or so eyes running towards the edge. And down we went.

It wasn’t until my trailing foot left land did I realise that perhaps this wasn’t the brightest idea but it was too late to reconsider. The instant moment felt like an age as gravity had its course before hitting the water. Another life experience and for the time being I have the bruises to show it. Elegant it was not.

After several hours enjoying the lake and returning home, we were back out in town at the Chiang Mai Sunday evening market with more people from Australia, Ashleigh and Isak from Iceland. 

You ‘couldn’t swing a cat’ as tourists and locals alike scuttled along the narrow streets, admiring the outstanding array of handmade crafts and artworks. Should anyone have any tips of getting a 3x4 elephant canvas print home to Wales in one piece before next weeks’ market please don’t be shy! A flavour of the many food stalls was concluded by a couple of Singha beers, to look back at a day where although the programme has yet to start, the adventure has already surpassed lift-off.

Today wasn’t quite as adventurous as we neutralise the jet-lag. As I sit here now the bulk of participants are flooding in and young people are being re-united in most cases for the first time since departing Singapore 12 months ago.

Tomorrow morning will begin with a programme catch up and introduction before we go in to a session on One Million Voices; a global research initiative to gather the views and to better understand the needs of young people. This is something that YMCA’s in Wales contributed to and is just one example of how the global YMCA reaches out to its 58 million members and beneficiaries worldwide.

The programme runs from 8am to 11pm each day so which proves the banter off friends of it being a ‘jolly’ is rather unjustified (although I’m sure they’re just winding me up!). What am I most looking forward to? Probably that over the weekend we split in to working groups that will be volunteering in the community. The one I have chosen consists of visiting a village in the mountains that has a population of just 347 people. After learning about their community, we will help other local young people preserve the dam built to provide water to the inhabitants. The current vagueness of the project only adds to the anticipation but there will be a lot to cover before then.

Apologies that this initial blog is ten times longer than intended, I’ll be in touch either tomorrow or Wednesday with a – hopefully shorter – update to how the programme progresses.

Chris