RE: Next Week in Germany

Hello there,

I'm one of the people who will be attending and writing about the ETS (European Ten Sing) Festival next week, which I have been waiting very eagerly for during the year!

I am expecting it to be one of the best festivals that I will be attending so far during my time with Ten Sing and I am hoping to have a fun time with other Ten Singers from across Europe! From what I've seen from their website and photos on Facebook it looks like it will be!

Today I haven't much to say, but expect bucket loads more from me next week!
See you soon!

Game over? its just the start!

Team Davies arrived back late last night. As I walked out of the airport I felt tired, emotional, hungry and very thankful for meeting so many amazing people.

 My year has been a very difficult one with illness, threat of redundancy and family problems, but a fluke meeting with a certain Ken Montgomary at this year’s National conference has changed my life. I need to publically thank him for what he has done for me, my YMCA and my youth and the faith he has in me and I look forward to visiting him soon to thank him personally and sharing food and stories with him. Thank you Ken!

I didn’t want to blog yesterday as tears and lack of sleep left me an emotional mess as I stayed up till 5am to wave the first people off. I also wanted time to let the experience sink in.

I was back at work today and as my Chief Executive greeted me with a hug I felt very proud as colleagues told me how he had followed me on this blog. My first day back at work was a good one with new funding, new hope and the start of our summer scheme. I found myself slipping off back to Prague and my new friends at times but their inspiration will carry me on through the week and I have already spoke to a group of youth about Prague 2013 and raised the issue at the managers meeting!

WATCH OUT PRAGUE! BOLTON IS COMING!!!!

I have learnt many things but as always the people on the conference have taught me the most, I have been inspired and touched deeply by people’s comments and actions. I just want to share a story with you that really touched me. I met a girl called Edita, she couldn’t believe I didn’t have facebook (that is correct Twitter is the future!) she was so worried that I couldn’t keep in contact with her that she bought me a book of stamps and gave me her address asking if I would write to her and keep in touch. It’s amazing that she went to that length and I will write to her, and I was very touched.

It was also encouraging to hear others comments about myself, I wont share these as they are personal and feel very honoured people feel this way about me. Proud to be chosen and proud to represent England, we all did well.

Just to finish the entire conference was playing the circle game by the end of the week, including the facilitators. Me and Santiago did it... the point is it just takes one person to want change and if you try hard enough others will follow.

This is Adi Davies signing off. Thanks for reading

Day of REFLECTION!

Today was defined by reflecting on all the positive and amazing work every young person put into the YMCA Europe Peace Seminar in Prague 2011! I reflected on many things e.g. All the Laughs, Jokes,The beautiful people,Wonderful Prague and how quick we became a family. I keep looking through all the hundreds of photos I took and they make me feel so many emotions, I feel at PEACE whilst I am looking through them. All the memories of this seminar will be with me forever. I and all of the other young people will still be working and communicating together on our facebook group that is called YMCA Europe Peace Work Seminar Prague 2011.(Click link) http://www.facebook.com/groups/136458056440441

I know I would be answering on everyone's behalf and say, if you ever have the opportunity to attend a seminar in Prague amongst 18 different nations and be so fortunate, then you would be a FOOL to say "NO".

All of us will still be working towards a PEACEFUL future and hoping many others will be too. Once again I am so grateful for everyone who made this happen for me and this has impacted on me so much. "THANK YOU" ("Dekuji" in Czech) I have came away with so much knowledge about all different cultures and how all YMCA's are all so beautifully different in many ways!

I would personally like to say thank you to Ken Montgomery for all the work you have done and into the organising and the blog. Very grateful.

As well to all my NEW family who attended this Seminar;

1. Adrian Davies
2. Misha Guskov
3. Andrada Deatcu
4. Vardan Hambardzumyan
5. Amanda Blasius
6. Solomon B. Samuel
7. Antti Saarelma
8. Selma Zaidi
9. Belen Otero
10. Michal Szymanczak
11. Camelia-Adela Padureanu
12. Martina Hudcovska
13. Dorina Lluka
14. Juan Simoes Iglesias
15. Edita Taida Djakoualnova
16. Gerard Tosserams
17. Frah Saeed
18. Gerhard Gruhler
19. Ian Boyd
20. Viktoria Pilinko
21. Jack Ahearn
22. Sarah McMunn
23. Josefina Smolkova
24. Santiago Negro
25. Luisine Vardanyan
26. Sandro Samadbegishvili
27. Maria Pronina
28. Qendrim Lluka
29. Maria Vardanyan
30. Matthew Cook
31. Maria Verwoerd

THANK YOU ALL!!!

We will all meet again...

I will leave you with a poem I received from work today and it ties in with all what we work for in PEACE.

Yours

Lewis Barkway North Staffordshire YMCA

1. The version found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

-this version is credited to Mother Teresa

Next Week in Germany

Next week it will be the YMCA European Ten Sing Festival in Germany. I am not actually going. When I said in an earlier post 'Next Week we are off to Germany' I didn't actually mean me I meant the Blog. Four young people who will be attending from England have agreed to act as Blog correspondents for the Festival so watch out for their posts.

Back in Blighty

I'm sat here back on my sofa in london on the first morning back after prague and I'm thinking about everything that has happened over the last week. many things are running through my mind. i have have experience a lot and learnt a lot too. I know an aweful lot more about certain parts of the world, countries in eastern Europe that I'm ashamed to admit I had lumped together before. But now I know a little more about them they are very much separate, different, yet linked through a shared history. The more I have learned about certain parts of the world, the more i have realised I know very little.

Back on camp around this time we would have just finished breakfast and be starting our lectures. Right now I have just put my daughter to bed and am thinking about the very different routines. Its very simple to fall back into our own rhythm at home. I do want to do that, but I do not want to lose the feelings and memories from the past week. There are many inspirational stories I have been lucky enough to hear over the past week and I want to try and remember those and harness them as I go back to my own little part of the world.

Catching up with all the news, local and international since coming home and its very sad to hear about the tragedy in Oslo and the death of Amy Winehouse. Both stories seem to be linked by the death of young people. Many people too young for a normal death have had their lives cut short for different reasons. My heart goes out to all the people and families of Norway. We did get the headlines while we were away, but now we are catching up with the details and they are just chilling. To me it feels really surreal, as they were taking part in a youth camp in Europe, and where have I just come back from? ..... a youth camp in Europe! I could not imagine that happening....

On a lighter note, I'd like to say thank you to all the many wonderful people I have met over the past week. The other YMCA members from across Europe, the facilitators and guest speakers and especially the other guys from the UK. We made a good group I think, and I cant remember the last time I have laughed so much. I really miss the sound of laughter this morning!!

Thank you to Prague, thank you to my new friends, thank you to YMCA Europe. Lets all go back and serve God in our own little ways as he really is #bossofyouall !! :)

@cityymca_london
@boydicuss

Next week we are off to Germany - until then

Waiting to leave

I’m sat in the hotel lobby, belem from Argentina is teaching cards to Qendrim from Kosovo, Santiago from Spain and our own Jack. Adi is rounding up the people remaining on his interview wishlist and everyone else is chilling out eating the chocolate yoghurt we have for breakfast and marvelling at the genius of spoons made of plastic that look like metal (Lewis and I couldn’t believe it). It’s amazing that such a diverse group of people who had never met seven days ago are now laughing like old friends. Some people here have lived through war, others have gone to war, while some of us have been lucky enough to only see conflict through the media. Some of us have been tear gassed, some of us have been shot at and some of us have witnessed the effect of domestic violence. Despite all of this everyone shares in common the hope for a better future.

I feel really privileged and honoured to have shared in this experience with everyone here, I’ve had an amazing time and such good fun. This probably won’t be my last post but I’d like to say that everyone here has been genuinely awesome both socialising and swapping icebreaker games (though the moo game being played in the distance was very distracting J ). I’m definitely using the fisherman game back home (like wink murder but faster and with more people involved at once). The presentations have been fantastic and I have learn so much about other countries and the good work that the YMCA does in them. But more importantly I have continually inspired by the personal stories and passion for peace evident in everything that has been said in conversation both planned and informal (definitely worth staying up to 4AM every day to get in as much conversation as possible). I was also embarrassed by how good everyone’s English is though even as a natural speaker I cannot find the words to express how grateful I am and I only hope that the stories and methods I bring back are worthy of the trust and time that people have invested in me. Thank you everyone

-Matt.