After a long journey with not much feeling left in my pins & needles legs and not much sleep either it was all made better by a simple beaming smile from one of YMCA’s Chiang Mai’s volunteers greeting me as I walked through airport arrivals. The realisation struck me that I had arrived to the 19th World Council, something I had been looking forward to for so many months.
A short hop down the road I arrived at a grand Hotel and was grateful to start to settle into what is going to be my home for the next week. The next day quickly came and before I knew it, it was time for me to put my glam-rags on, grab my name badge and head off to the Opening Ceremony.
As I turned the last corner to the Centre doors I was instantly taken back by the large queue. Not by the size of the queue because of course us English love a queue, but by the wide range of coloured t-shirts representing so many YMCAs, 120 countries to be exact!
The atmosphere was buzzing as I walked through the large glass entrance doors, people smiling, hugging old YMCA friends, and just as important people introducing themselves to new faces, new friends. I strolled around the exhibition section speaking to YMCAs such as YMCA Kenya & YMCA Sri Lanka. YMCAs thousands of miles apart but all here for the same reason Youth Empowerment.
I took my seat in the main hall as the countries were introduced, each stood proudly, while everybody else across the world clapped and cheered loudly. Each country was of course announced by World YMCA President Peter Posner & Secretary General of the World YMCA Johan Vilhelm Eltvik. They were fantastic, their speeches informative and uplifting. They created fun & laughter as they later took to the stage, through the crowd in true Thailand style in small Tuk Tuk’s, creating YMCA’s very own Ant & Dec entrance!
However my favourite part was the Change Agents who flew us back in time and took us forward on a journey, explaining how Youth Empowerment was first set as a key YMCA priority for the future. How to action this is by YMCAs unifying for a collective impact to reach the 1.8 billion young people on the planet today and to turn the giant cog to build a World that empowers present & future generations. Of course this message was done a lot better than me, words on a screen. This was clever, vibrant performances of song, dance & acting that kept everybody engaged, spirits high and truly excited for the future.
Finally was the meal and as I came down the escalators I watched the world break bread together and in that moment was overwhelmed with pride & happiness that I was part of an incredible movement!
A short hop down the road I arrived at a grand Hotel and was grateful to start to settle into what is going to be my home for the next week. The next day quickly came and before I knew it, it was time for me to put my glam-rags on, grab my name badge and head off to the Opening Ceremony.
As I turned the last corner to the Centre doors I was instantly taken back by the large queue. Not by the size of the queue because of course us English love a queue, but by the wide range of coloured t-shirts representing so many YMCAs, 120 countries to be exact!
The atmosphere was buzzing as I walked through the large glass entrance doors, people smiling, hugging old YMCA friends, and just as important people introducing themselves to new faces, new friends. I strolled around the exhibition section speaking to YMCAs such as YMCA Kenya & YMCA Sri Lanka. YMCAs thousands of miles apart but all here for the same reason Youth Empowerment.
I took my seat in the main hall as the countries were introduced, each stood proudly, while everybody else across the world clapped and cheered loudly. Each country was of course announced by World YMCA President Peter Posner & Secretary General of the World YMCA Johan Vilhelm Eltvik. They were fantastic, their speeches informative and uplifting. They created fun & laughter as they later took to the stage, through the crowd in true Thailand style in small Tuk Tuk’s, creating YMCA’s very own Ant & Dec entrance!
However my favourite part was the Change Agents who flew us back in time and took us forward on a journey, explaining how Youth Empowerment was first set as a key YMCA priority for the future. How to action this is by YMCAs unifying for a collective impact to reach the 1.8 billion young people on the planet today and to turn the giant cog to build a World that empowers present & future generations. Of course this message was done a lot better than me, words on a screen. This was clever, vibrant performances of song, dance & acting that kept everybody engaged, spirits high and truly excited for the future.
Finally was the meal and as I came down the escalators I watched the world break bread together and in that moment was overwhelmed with pride & happiness that I was part of an incredible movement!
Emma this is fantastic, you have set the bar high for everyone else during the week. Thankyou.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ken
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