My first YMCA Change Agent experience

It's quite difficult to find appropriate words to articulate my experiences from Avignon, France; however as a Communications Officer for YMCA England & Wales, I will try my best. As many a blog on this website will tell you, and for some reading this, a YMCA international experience is incredibly powerful – especially your first - and something you will never forget.

Joining up with trainee Change Agents and YMCA France volunteers to explore the city of Avignon.

In unfamiliar territories, with people who are often strangers, from vast cultural backgrounds and far removed from the realms of our comfort zones – one unifying theme becomes apparent quite imminently: a will to empower young people.

These last few days marked the start of a two year journey to become a YMCA Change Agent, and I’m feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information there is to digest and process as I return home.

Change Agent trainees Tom Truman, YMCA Birmingham and Jerahl Hall, YMCA North Staffordshire in the garden at YMCA Avi

Joining me were young colleagues from our national office, YMCAs across England, volunteers and staff from across Europe, Kosovo, Palestine and Russia. In total 22 nations were represented.

As a global leadership programme for young people we covered many subject areas that would enable us to develop, plan and deliver new projects to reach more young people in our communities, YMCAs and countries.

Discussing politics in our respective countries and the impact it has on young people.

This wasn't just a series of PowerPoints and lectures though, as the schedule was full of self-facilitation, delivery by inspiring participants and graduate Change Agents, management of our own learning, and through conversations that would start in the scheduled agenda and often end up continuing until all hours of the night.

However, I believe one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal as agents of change is the art of storytelling. Our first full day began with two hours on the subject. To both share our stories and with space to contemplate how we develop an emotional connection to them - that in turn can, and does, drive change.

Dren, from YMCA Kosovo, and myself.

And so I listened to the stories of what motivates those around me, who and what inspires them and their personal experiences of being a young person in their countries. I learned of political oppression and dictatorships, of fear to speak out, triumph over adversity, of those individuals who we have loved and lost that drives us forward every day.

These anecdotes continued into every aspect of the training, and I'm sure will continue for a long time to come. Stories that truly humbled me, and at times left me shocked, but helped me to develop a much deeper understanding of the diversity and differences in our world.

Change Agents and YMCA France volunteers together

I look forward to new-found friendships growing in the coming months as we now look ahead to our global gathering in Portugal where our Africa, Asia and Pacific counterparts will also join us.

I will return to our National Council offices with pages of notes, a renewed sense of vigour and motivation, ideas for collaboration with new friends by my side, and confident in YMCA’s global potential to be a movement for immeasurable societal change.

Cedric, YMCA France, supported by Adi, World YMCA, to 'Surf the Change' in an exercise of trust led by Change Agents and volunteers from YMCA France.

Be the change.

Communicate the vision.

Inspire impact.

If you want to read stories of young people working with YMCA in England and Wales, head to our website. Discover more about World YMCA’s Change Agents programme. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram.

Experience Penang

 ‘Experience Penang’ is one of the Global Alternative Tourism programmes organised by the Global YMCA in conjunction with their local partners and in this case it was with Penang YMCA.

I spent seven days being immersed in the Penang culture. I experiences floral, forna, food, sights and sounds in a truly wonderful place with quite wonderful hosts.

On my arrival at Penang airport I was met by two super people, Michael Cheong, Programme Executive and Rhona from the programme department who took me to Penang YMCA where I would be staying for the next seven nights. On arrival I was quickly checked into my very comfortable room, got the free Wi Fi codes for the week and was then taken to a local venue were we had some wine. A very welcome rest after some eighteen hours travel.

Although this was a holiday for me, I want to share one person’s experience of the tourism opportunities available through YMCA that at the same time supports the work of local YMCAs. In this blog I don’t want to list everything we did on the holiday but maybe just illustrate some of the highlights.

The Food was abundant. I don’t think I have been offered so much variety of food. Mainly eating from street vendors in local cafes and restaurants. 

My hosts were really keen to offer me as much of a food experience as I could handle. Their kindness was incredible, especially as I am on a mission to lose weight. They were really very patient with me considering the number of times I had to say no.

Even though we mainly ate food from street vendors I did not experience and tummy upsets at all.

In terms of highlights, next to the food was the day spent in Penang Hill. Here we took a vernacular railway up through the clouds and spent the day taking photos of flora and forna.

We ended the day watching the moon rise and capturing the Cityscape with an incredible range of colours in the sky.

On our first full day there was two major religious festivals taking place and in the morning we went to the places where preparations and floats for a procession were being prepared. Later in the evening we watched a cacophony of colour and light pass just outside the YMCA.

During the day and on many of the other days we visited countless temples and museums which really gave me a wonderful exposure to the diversity of cultures and faiths that make up the community that is Penang.

The benefit of being hosted by young people from local YMCAs is you get a first-hand authentic experience from people who live in the communities and whose only agenda is you give you a wonderful experience of their home. They are not in it for commercial gain.

They are not restricted by regulations that doesn’t allow them to take you to certain places or where there is commercial gain if they take you to certain places like restaurants or bars.

It also gives the opportunity to share some of each other’s culture. Michael introduced me to a wonderful little wine bar and I was able to treat him to ‘Afternoon Tea’ at the top of Penang Hill.

We had seven full days of visits at a very easy pace. It truly enabled me to ‘Experience Penang’.

On the last evening we joined a group of volunteers who, every week, feed homeless people on the streets of Penang. It felt a privilege to be given the opportunity to participate.

Finally it was time to depart. I have been involved in YMCA almost all my life, certainly for more than forty years. I should know by now that YMCA attracts wonderful people to work and serve at all levels. Penang was no different. We had been hosted for a special dinner with the Board of Penang YMCA, the CEO gave up an enormous amount of time to ensure I had a great experience and sampled the culture and life of Penang, Janice and Rhona from the Programme department also contributed to the experience I had.

The gem in the whole experience was Michael Cheong, the Programme Executive with Penang YMCA. This is a young man who has been with YMCA in a professional capacity for just three years and personifies everything I have grown to know and love in the people I have met in YMCAs across the Globe. He was there to pick me up at the airport, he was with me every day of my visit, he greeted me every day with the same bright welcoming smile, he introduced me Penang in a way were I felt safe and relaxed and it was very enjoyable. He gave me a number of tutorials on photography and made sure I never ran out of wine. And then bid me farewell at the airport as I was leaving.
#standingontheshouldersofgiants

It is people like Michael Cheong, Mrs Ong, the CEO, Janice Chong that, together with thousands of others around the world that make YMCA probably the greatest movement that exists today.

The World YMCA runs a series of Global Alternative Tourism experiences each year. Why not jump on board and check these out for yourself. They are open to anyone and not just ‘YMCA’ people.

You will not be disappointed and at the same time you will be supporting the work of local YMCAs

You can get more information here http://www.ymca.org.uk/global-alternative-tourism

Finally, during my visit I went to the War Museum and was reminded of some of the wicked things people do to others. Even today we see that happening on a daily basis across the world.

Within YMCA I have found people with good human values who share love and  respect for others. I witnessed this in Penang YMCA. It is people like my hosts on ‘Experience Penang’ who work to make the world a better place.

Thank You!

USA to Europe and Beyond

Since starting with YMCA in my hometown of Houston, Texas, USA, I’ve had a desire to learn more about the movement from a global perspective and see where I might be able to play a role in empowering young people around the world. Thanks to my role at YMCA England and the great people I work with, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the YMCA Europe General Assembly (GA) in Edinburgh, Scotland; taking the first step toward achieving this goal.

There I interacted with and learned from YMCAs from across the continent. From camping services offered in Germany to the PlusOne mentoring programme run by YMCA Scotland, I’m continuously fascinated by the diversity of our services and the variety of vehicles we’re using to engage young people. I was exceptionally proud to learn of the work YMCA of the USA did with Romania in regards to restoring a presence of YMCA in the country, which happens to be the birthplace of my wife. 

Not enough can be said about the staff and volunteers from YMCA Scotland for arranging activities outside of the General Assembly to bring us all together as a family. The highlight of which was arranging a private performance of the Soul and the Machine, a production following the life of Sir George Williams and the beginning of YMCA, for the delegation at beautiful Palmerston Church (great name!).

A truly humbling experience came on Day 2 when the national secretary of YMCA The Netherlands asked me to lunch to discuss my work in brand relations at Y-USA and YMCA England and Wales. It was a conversation that would continue throughout the GA and expand to include delegates from Sweden, Norway and Germany.

My favourite part of the GA was attending the Youth Empowerment Space (YES) meetings. The young people gathered here showed where the real strength of YMCA lies. Members put forth ideas and debated how young people can play a larger role in future GAs, not only in regards to overall participation, but governance as well.

Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a more rewarding experience. It further ignited by desire to serve the movement globally and I hope to have the opportunity to interact with new friends and colleagues in the future.

Palmer Hestley

YMCA England and Wales
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