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.

An Englishman Abroad

I was really nervous as he entered the venue and was focussing on how to bow, shake hands and say the required protocol. We chatted briefly about youth work, our partnership with YMCA England, opening the first NGO shop in Kosovo and he stated 'what would we do without the YMCA?'

 

 My experience meeting The Prince of Wales was over before I had time to really appreciate the magnitude of such a meeting. As I travelled back to my house that day in Gjakova... Kosovo, I reflected on what had been an incredible 12-year journey with the YMCA that had brought me to this very point. For those of you wondering who I am my name is Adi Davies and I am an Englishman from Bolton, who lives in Kosovo and works for the World YMCA in Switzerland. This is my story.

When I first walked into my hometown YMCA it had that air of former greatness and looked like an organisation that had stood still in time as the world changed around it. I sat on a broken sofa in a room with a different colour painted on each wall and the interviews were running 30 minutes behind schedule, a thought crossed my mind ‘should I just leave?’. 

6 years later my role had increased from that first 4 hours a week contract, I was now a full time youth worker and leading many initiatives, volunteers and staff. Throughout the years I had also worked in many different departments to try and increase my earnings, this had seen me work in administration, cleaning, charity shops, children’s work and building management but my passion was for youth work. I was very proud of the team and the work we had delivered at Bolton YMCA this had included forming a Youth Council, work with the skating community, a thriving youth café, Y Care projects and developing young trustees. 

 A chance meeting at the English national conference meant that I found myself next to Ken Montgomery, suddenly the best kept secret in the YMCA was out of the bag. There was this whole other international side of things, down at the local level we had maybe done a movement induction course but none of this seemed real or even a possibility. Like so many others my own YMCA experience had started and ended with the four walls of my local YMCA. Next started a chain of events nobody would have imagined. 

Internationally doors started opening not only for me but for other participants at Bolton. I soon found myself involved in YMCA Europe’s peace institute, I had a place on YMCA England’s International leadership program, I was attending the European and national Assemblies where I then found myself on YMCA Europe’s nomination committee. An incredible few years and I made many dear friends but because my personal network and universe was expanding, something was wrong at the local level. Differences of opinion on what I believed I could do and what the management believed were different and this led to one of the hardest decisions in my life, to leave my hometown YMCA which I did in December 2012 but not before I claimed YMCA England’s Youth Worker of the year award.

As I headed to Kosovo I had zero idea about the challenges and struggles that lay ahead. The movement had imploded due to the size it had grown to so quickly after the war and this itself brought new challenges for a young leadership team of under 30, it was almost as if the reset button had just been hit as I arrived. I volunteered where needed as the team built and 3 years later the movement here is strong and has just been accepted as a full members of YMCA Europe. Some great moments for me have been the opening of the first NGO shop in Kosovo, national aid projects, running national youth programs in 3 cities, young leaders travelling across the world and a partnership with Ys Men Denmark that will see the first summer camp built in Kosovo in 2018.

The lessons I have learnt in Kosovo have been vital, working in a different language and culture can be challenging but I still maintain young people are young people wherever they are in the world. I can still be found down at the YMCA centre in my town some weekends and evenings volunteering. In the last year I have had to take a step back due to other responsibilities but the future is very bright for this movement.

I was very fortunate to have been involved in YMCA Europe’s Roots for Reconciliation project, I instantly fell in love with the participants, the unifying fact that all these guys were from the YMCA and were all looking forward instead of backwards was an inspiration. I have witnessed in recent times young people from both sides of conflict come together, become good friends and look forward together despite difficult circumstances. The highlight of this work was when the Balkans tandem brought together all the Balkan YMCAs in Kosovo for an incredible event. Being part of this group and at times leading processes like the Council of Europe application were again huge stepping stones for me and this work and project will always have a special place in my heart. I often feel my role within European peace work is on hold but not finished. 

Around a year and a half ago I was informed about a position at the World YMCA. I poured my heart and soul into the job application as I figured working for the World Alliance is kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity. Then in January 2015 I started work on the programmes team, this meant Change Agents, Environment work, Programme innovations and once again new challenges for me. Until this point in my YMCA career I had conversations around working with 10’s even 100’s of people now I am sat in Geneva talking about how we reach millions more young people worldwide. Some days I can be waiting for different parts of the world to wake up so we can communicate and quite often I find myself bouncing around the world speaking with participants and leaders in every continent from the USA to Africa, from Peru to Hong Kong, from Ireland to Australia.

 I have never been someone who enjoyed camping and performing arts but recently I can be found at Scout meetings, sailing around oceans, leading the singing at camp fires, dancing or tensing, hiking around Switzerland countryside and skiing backwards down the Alps… all thanks to the YMCA and all in the name of youth empowerment!

As you can imagine the story is more detailed and much longer but through every stage of my YMCA journey I have met incredible people and made some of the best friends I have. I hope I have helped and inspired a few people along the way and nowadays my passion is training and developing young leaders and bringing opportunities to others. I said to a very dear friend the other day..

“I came to Kosovo and helped build a movement, I just shook hands with the Prince and I work for the World YMCA… not bad for a lad from Bolton’

Some of my very best friends i have met through the YMCA