My first YMCA World Council

Written by Richard Hughes

YMCA World Council is a difficult to thing to express in words. But I’m going to give it a try, so here it goes.

The sheer size and scale of the YMCA is truly phenomenal.

I often find myself going through the motions of writing down in reports that we are largest and oldest youth charity in the world and talking about the millions of people we work with each year.

But it is only when you come to World Council that these words truly come to life.

In what other spaces in the world can you sit with colleagues from Liberia to talk about your different experiences of developing a youth manifesto for an election?

In what other spaces in the world can you catch up with colleagues in Uruguay to talk about the stigma that still surrounds mental health difficulties?

And in what other spaces in the world can these conversations happen within a few minutes of each other?

Of course every country faces their own unique circumstances.

But what has been both eye-opening and amazing from World Council so far has been uncovering the common issues and challenges that young people face across the world.

The more conversations I have with my colleagues around the world, the more determined I am to do more.

The next few days I just need to work out how!

Richard