Overqualified? #yestonia2015

British special forces and high end intelligence work serving in the Far East, Middle East, and Northern Ireland; Strategic Security advisor in Bosnia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Palestine; Guest facilitator at YMCA YES seminar.

Until you read the last point you may have believed I was describing myself - not so. This is my second YES seminar as a participant and Philip Wilkinson is the guest facilitator with a more than impressive bio. Strategic planning has been the theme of the event as YMCA Europe is in the closing year of its most recent 5 year strategic plan and looks forward to creating a strategy for 2016-2020. 

Philip has driven the design and implementation of strategies in difficult contexts such as Rwanda and Afghanistan with all sorts of complexities and desires and needs, and history - well some might say he's a bit overqualified for guiding a discussion about the strategic planning of YMCA Europe - although I'd say we're a pretty complex reality ourselves! His stories were fascinating - from objectives to take paramilitary targets in Northern Ireland by any means possible and years later having a pint with that same target who is now a political leader; to having a close relationship with Paul Kagame and the success story of strategic planning in Rwanda.

So far the seminar has been really engaging - the YES board have obviously put much time into ensuring participants get the most out of this week and have kept it fresh with quirky activities including the problem and solution wall, Q&A session energy prep, a new spin on our cultural evening, and peer partners. 

As for now the strategic plan is to get through to 4pm and then enjoy a free afternoon and evening in Tallinn!

#YoungLeadersEurope

It doesn't feel quite so exotic when your journey to a YMCA international event is just an hours drive up the road from where you live, especially now I've just spent the last 45 minutes engrossed in the blog posts from Colorado! Nonetheless, I had a great experience at Greenhill YMCA in Northern Ireland for the International Youth Leaders Camp this past week, and we had some stunning views of our own.

Seventy seven young leaders from YMCAs in Spain, Portugal, Russia, England, Scotland, Czech Republic, Germany and Ireland (North and South) met together to share experiences and learning of work with young people through our movement.

The programme was jam packed with plenary sessions, workshops, challenges, outdoor activities and we even managed to make it to the Festival of Flight held in the town showcasing an impressive fleet of RAF planes rounded off with an awe-inspiring display of the Red Arrows. But I like to think it was our YMCA street cheer performances that stole the show on the day!

For me the most inspiring message I took from the week concerned our passion, why we do what we do and how we do it. This message was reinforced through the week as I participated in activities including a values workshop led by Diana from Czech Republic; exploring how to handle challenging behaviour of young people through role play led by Bonny and Kiaralee from Scotland; and a detached youth work challenge led by Stevie from Northern Ireland where we had a thought provoking conversation on the purpose and reality of detached youth work.

The plenary sessions were equally powerful with inputs on building connections, knowing yourself, being a leader, creating change locally and creating change globally. I was also struck by Jools' inputs as he brought biblical stories to life and for evening devotions told tales around the campfire of misunderstood giants and lonely porcupines and the rest with heart warming messages of faith and friendship.

Again, as always my highlight is the new friends I've made, the laughter we had and the conversations we shared. And a massive encouragement for me was seeing four young people from Northern Ireland embark on their first international experience with the YMCA - the tears and the long goodbyes this morning spoke volumes of the significance this past week has had for them, for all of us.

Bridges For The Future

Andy here sitting in Pristina International Airport reflecting on how I ended up here. Sure, I’m glad I made it in one piece to Kosovo after a turbulent Aer Lingus flight early on Friday morning, at that point I was wondering why I had ever gambled with gravity in the first place and I may have developed a minor phobia of flying. But here I am with an hour ‘til I fly home with no regrets.

Two years ago I’d never heard of Kosovo, much less think I’d ever end up there. Through my involvement in the YMCA and ILP I’ve found myself with opportunities and experiences that had never been on my radar. Now I’m intrigued by this place Kosovo having learnt something of the country’s history and struggles and culture. Furthermore I’ve met a few of the country’s finest young leaders like Dorina and Orbis both with compelling and inspiring stories and much to offer not just Kosovo but the world.

I was here for the weekend as part of the planning team for our ‘Bridges for the Future’ seminar scheduled for 6-11^th September in Pristina. The seminar is a product of YMCA Europe’s Roots For Reconciliation project. Yesterday we confirmed 35 participants from 10 countries for September and have an exciting programme lined up including; visiting Ferizaj where a Catholic Church and Mosque sit side by side in the same garden; a cultural evening with a difference; inputs from various Balkan YMCAs and YMCA Ireland and Cyprus on peace work and co-existence; and having Samuel Diaz from the World Alliance supporting participants to create powerful messages concerning ‘peace’ during the week and maximizing the potential of social media. We skyped Samuel yesterday and after speaking with him I am really looking forward to what we will all learn from his expertise in media and particularly social media – this will undoubtedly be learning beneficial to the national movements involved.

Well, not long now ‘til I board my flight home. I look forward to coming back here in September joined by some friends from YMCA Ireland. Bridges For the Future promises to be an engaging, challenging and inspiring seminar, already our friends in Kosovo Adi and Dorina have set the bar with the accommodation – a hotel that boasts having a pool, a sauna, a world record breaking bean mosaic, and Snoop Dogg as one of it’s former guests – and that’s before we even get the seminar started!

The Roads to Freedom....

Chris again here, ILP and YES member.

Firstly, apologies to stick this in the middle of the fantastic blogs coming in this week from Strasbourg… I think that ILP members branching out into other YMCA groups and events great for our group as a whole.

My blog today focuses on the trip the YES Group made to Gdansk last Wednesday (27 November). We made the short journey from Gdynia to the ‘Road to Freedom’ museum.

We first knew we had reached the underground exhibition when we were greeted by three pieces of the Berlin Wall, with multi-language “road to freedom” directions on the pavement. I felt quite embarrassed that I knew so little about Communism in general across Eastern Europe before the trip, especially with so many participators from affected countries.

The first piece we seen of the tour was a typical shop under a communist regime. The few items such as bread, cheese and milk that were available were in very short supply. Across the hall was a mock up of a toilet block, and the first thing to notice was that newspaper lay where a toilet roll should. It was not just food that was barely sought.

We moved through the small walkways and one thing I immediately recognised was that a lot of the exhibits were not behind glass like you see in so many other museums, you could touch practically everything which gave me a realisation that this was still in the recent memory for so many people.

Several videos and multimedia resources aided the flow. Colour videos of high quality… videos of the public of all ages getting beaten by police, just for wanting, pleading for a voice.

The final part of the museum was an educating video outlining the timeframe of which the dozen countries broke free. What really hit me here is that Ukraine only achieved this in 2004, just ten years ago. There were people I was walking around with who had experienced these times themselves. This was real. This was their life.

Outside a short walk away from the museum now stand three huge pillars in the middle of a square to represent Gdynia, Gdansk and Sopot where the revolution began. There are plans well under way to build a huge education centre right by the memorial that will give users a freedom to learn and progress for years to come, while still well aware of the sacrifices that were made to make this a possibility. 

Building up to the Gdynia YES Seminar

Post by Chris Richards. 
ILP member, YMCA Wales trustee, Newport YMCA board member and YES member.

For my first involvement with the YES group, I am currently in Gdynia, northern Poland. It is not as cold as you would imagine, and the jokes that were shared about bringing swimming attire (the hotel is very close to the sea) may not seem to be as dumbfounded as first described. Still, I think I will pass.

We are meeting to discuss youth empowerment for social transformation. This is of high interest to me, as I deal with an extensive array of young individuals who are currently facing tough times, and are desperate to get out of a recurring circle of drugs, crime, jail and poverty that they live every day, looked down on and having no light at the end of the tunnel – no opportunities. I have a number of instances and questions I would like to put to the participants here in Gdynia, and hopefully through sharing experiences I will return to Wales with both focus and knowledge on how socially excluded young people can rebuild and look to the future.

Not only do I find these seminars knowledgeable and insightful with so many great young people, it really does give me that extra passion and drive to make an impact – no matter how big or small – for my people when I return home. I will keep you updated.

I haven't had chance to take a lot of photographs, but this is one after dinner on the eve of the seminar. 

YE Festival 2013: I love to live for this stuff

In 2007 when I was asked to attend the Prague festival I was not in a position to go. After being involved in our movement for years and having been to international experiences that helped shape who I was, I had turned my back on the YMCA in favour of a hedonistic passage into my 20's, I was doing my own thing and that was that.

In the weeks after that festival, friends who returned were beaming from their week in the Czech Republic, seeing friends old and new and experiencing something that perhaps they couldn't fully put into words. I knew I had missed out.

Some years later things had become hectic for me in London, I was working in a job going nowhere with no real qualifications to draw on so I decided to leave London and come back to Newcastle. On my second day "home" I paid a visit to my old YMCA and spoke to my youth worker about volunteering and getting back into youth work. A few meetings that flew over my head and a chance conversation later, I landed a job in YMCA England and have been involved in the movement ever since and now work for Y Care International as well as being part of ILP and GLYN.

When the time and opportunity came to attend the 2013 Prague festival, I signed up. I was sure that I wouldn't miss out this time.  So after looking though the photos and reliving the experience that happened just a few weeks ago, I've realised I live for this stuff. I love to live for this stuff. I’m not going to give you a day by day account but more of the feeling I took from the festival.

A typical day might consist of seeing an old friend who has been nothing but a status update or an uploaded photo for the past five years and finally hugging them and catching up. On my way to lunch I’d maybe see a young group of Colombians facing off on a basketball court against a group from the US. If I got thirsty, I’d throw some shapes and get a refreshing mocktail from the Calypso bar. If I needed a pick me up I’d head over to the café and get a quick espresso and find myself chatting to the wonderful and industrious team. And on any given day I’d side step countless faces recognising me as "the Y's best talent guy", I mean not everyone said hello but sometimes seeing a celebrity in the flesh can phase people...they're only human ;)

In seriousness this festival has embodies the YMCA, sure we are in a bubble, sure it's sunny and it's a great time but something nuanced is threading through all of this. Some collective spirit, being on the same page, being supportive of each other, that all comes from an innate human nature and doesn't stop or start in the festival.

I understand now why those friends in 2007 couldn't put into words what they had experienced in Prague, because I can't quite either. But everyone feels something. Perhaps the reason we have a shared and mutual sense of our lives being altered is that through this experience, we see the world in a different way and so in turn we see ourselves in a different way. We don’t have to describe it. Just know that new possibilities await, possibilities that transcend culture or language. Keep the momentum going. I'll be looking out for that young Robbie who doesn't think it's for them and telling them that they missed out. 

Particular thanks to

The teenage Russian rock band on the Forest Stage
Cedric dancing like a mad man in cross bar
Tom and Ian smashing countless Big Macs
Vladi directing me and Y’s Best Talent
Ken making me us like a giant
Ben wearing that bandanna and just being himself
Romulo dressing up as a Village Person who doesn't really exist (seriously.. where is the sailor in the YMCA video?!)
The thunderstorm
You

An Un-passable Opportunity

15 months ago I was a relative newcomer to the YMCA. I started volunteering in my local Y the year before (North Down YMCA http://www.northdownymca.org) and had coincidentally ended up in a YMCA in America for a 10 week uni placement (Rockford YMCA http://www.rockfordymca.org).  It was then that Stephen Turner, the National Secretary of YMCA Ireland, suggested I apply for the ILP programme.

I wasn’t 100% sure what I was signing up for but from my few years experience I knew that the YMCA had a commitment to and a rich tradition of international youth work, a commitment that sets it apart from other youth organisations. As someone who is passionate about youth work and loves to travel and learn from other cultures, the opportunity to be part of a YMCA International Leadership Programme was a very appealing opportunity and one I did not pass up on.

So 15 months down the line, what have I experienced? What have I learned?

Being part of this group and getting to know leaders from the other 3 national movements has been great and has been a forum for us to question and debate what the YMCA is all about and how we can make the most of international opportunities.

Last year we attended the European Assembly in Prague and I was part of the YES group. Ken and others could talk endlessly about the role and function of these meetings but nothing compares to experiencing something for yourself. I would be lying if I said I understand fully the workings of YMCA Europe, but compared to 15months ago, I now know it exists, I now see the value of overarching priorities that European national movements agree with and commit to, I now know the encouragement that comes from making friends with people from all over Europe, united by the shared vision of the YMCA, I now know that I can influence the future direction of our organization at a National and European level.

I’ve learned more about the structures of the YMCA and now sit as a trustee on the board of YMCA Ireland. I’m still learning about how Local, National, European and World all connect. I’m keen to use my learning and opportunities I get through ILP to benefit my national and indeed my local YMCA. Just this weekend I’ve learned that this kind of benefit need only start with a conversation and sharing of experience with young people in my local YM to generate an excitement and enthusiasm of what possibilities exist, something I need to get better at!

Andy

ILP First Year

Three words would sum up my involvement and first year with ILP (international leaders Project)

Opportunity, Pride and Confidence

Now I have to admit that when I first rocked up to the first gathering I was a bit worried, there was some incredible talent around the cabin along with some very influential people in our movement and I remember thinking ‘what have I let myself into’  The task that stands out from that weekend was to stand up and read a document we had never seen before, and as I watched my ILP colleagues get up and reel off the readings I was honestly in ore and felt well out of my depth. Well that weekend in Ireland just over a year ago seems a long way away, as I sit here now reflecting I’d like to share one or two moments and learning from my journey.

During this journey I have had the opportunity to attend the European general assembly in Prague where I was voted onto the nomination committee for the executive. What an absolute honor and having to stand up and pitch myself to over 200 people from 20 countries is a steep learning curve in public speaking. I was also chosen by the World Alliance to complete a research paper on issues facing young people across Europe, again a huge honor considering I was from a YMCA in the North West of England that didn't really do International work. I was also asked to speak at YMCA Derbyshire’s 100^th year anniversary on behalf of the National movement and to promote the World Challenge, what a huge privilege to be part of such celebrations and the feedback I received afterwards from young and older people was fantastic.  

To say the project had just changed me wouldn't be accurate and I would hope that everything I did transferred down to my local work; it helped me link into networks and have contacts in other countries so much so that my local YMCA partnered up with YMCA France for a live Skype on World Challenge day. I personally have much more confidence; I believe in my own ability now and am proud to be part of such a huge movement. I think the project also renewed my passion for our movement after 8 years working at a local level it gave us another direction and provided the whole organization with excitement. I have been inspired by other like-minded leaders and youth from across the movement and I am very grateful to those who gave me the opportunity and my friends on ILP whom are all destined for great things within this movement. 

Goodbye Zimbabwe

Sitting in Schipol Airport in Amsterdam reflecting on the last week spent in Kadoma, Zimbabwe. The week was really an inspiring time particularly when hearing about the great work being done by young people, most of whom are volunteers, all over the African continent "empowering young people for the African Renaissance" .

I have to admit that some of my preconceived ideas about serving young people and communities in Africa have been shattered and programmes such as Subject to Citizen really seems to be having a profound affect with young people's voices being heard from local to national levels advocating on behalf of others.

This was phase one of the training with phase two taking place at some point in February 2013 where the trainee ambassador's will continue their training.

I'm going home inspired, motivated and challenged about how I can help these voices be heard not just in Africa but across the globe.

Day 4 African Alliance Youth Summit

Day 4 of the Youth Summit saw the end of Phase 1 of training for the S2C programme. The group looked at how to effect change using press releases, group statements, social media and more... There was also sessions looking at what was expected of an S2C Ambassador and what supported they would need from their local and national YMCA's.

While attending the Summit we have been inspired and challenged by the S2C (Subject to Citizen) programme which seeks to empower and equip the young people in Africa and it's partnering countries to have at first a voice. By this we mean giving them the skills and confidence to articulate opinions, viewpoints and meaningful contribution to public debate. Secondly it aims to give the young people the space to be heard in appropriate places whether that's regionally, nationally or internationally. And finally the ability to influence by making a positive impact on decision making that improves the situation for young people in Africa and its partnering countries.

We believe that this programme could make a huge difference in tackling the way young people all around the world both think, act and influence the changes that need implementing within their retrospective countries. This is evidenced by the numerous success stories that we heard from the graduating ambassadors, who's voices have been heard in influencing the policies and strategies throughout Africa, even in the face of contravercy and resistance. Making the transition from subject to citizen has made such a dramatic change within their lives and the lives of those who live within their communities

We're looking forward to the closing ceremony in the capital city of Harare tomorrow night... more details on the S2C programme and Youth Summit can be found at www.africaymca.org

Day 2 - African Youth Summit

Today has been an inspiration from start to finish. Throughout the day we have been reminded of why we continue to be a part of this glorious organisation that is the YMCA.

The day started out with devotions brought to us by the southern African participants of the summit.

We then learned more about the thinking and practice of the well established S2C (Subject 2 Citizens) programme, which has been running for he last 3 years across Africa.

This afternoon we were split into small groups where we were asked to discuss and identify the 3 most important issues that were affecting the young people across Africa today. From that we realised that even though the young people here are from all over the world the issues affecting them were the same issues that the young people in UK are facing, the lack of employment and affordable further education.

Then to close out the day we heard a very moving and motivating personal account of what it is like to work your way out of poverty and the courage it takes to return to the slums with which one came, to fight the current injustices that continue to run rife.

It is a testament to the African Alliance of YMCA's that we finished the day as we started. Motivated, inspired and energised to continue the legacy that is the YMCA in our retrospective countries.

Tune in tomorrow for day 3 of the African Youth Summit.

Toni and Dave

Opening of AAY Youth Summit 2012

The opening of the African Alliance Youth Summit has just taken place in Kadoma, Zimbabwe with presentations from the participating countries, local politicians and business men and local poetry and entertainment.

This afternoon will begin the official Subject to Citizen Training which will continue throughout the week.

Dave Bremner and Toni Cowan

Preparations For African Alliance YMCA's Youth Summit

I am excitedly getting packed and prepared for what should be an eye opening experience attending the African Alliance of YMCA's Youth Summit in Zimbabwe starting this weekend for one week.

This is a Youth Summit dealing specifically with African issues such as a single currency for Africa, the concern around climate change and looking at the possibility of a united campaign against poverty.

I'm sure that my preconceived ideas and stereotypes about African culture will be quickly squashed and can't wait to share ideas and stories in such a culturally diverse environment with a group who have the welfare of young people at the heart of all they say and do.