Discovery Visit to India

Getting geared up to our first Discovery Visit to the YMCA in South India. This is part of our International Plan integrating with our Leadership Development Programme.

There will be eight of us in the group, including CEOs and Senior Staff from local YMCAs accross England. We will spend twelve days discovering what YMCA is doing in Cities, town, villages and communities across South India. With the exception of myself, almost all are new to experiencing the International YMCA.

The key learning outcome I would like to achieve is to  be able to explore if it may be possible to develop long distance partnerships between individuals and groups that are developmental for all concerned.

My colleagues on the visit have agreed to post to the blog during our time in India so during the next two weeks expect an abundance of views, experiences and emotions as we 'Discover' YMCA in interesting places.

Hopefully we will also be able to share some of the sights we encounter along the way.

Lessons for life

Here we have Frah Abdi at the Mountainous region of ‪#‎NagornoKarabakh‬ on a hilltop near the town of ‪#‎Shushi‬, ‪#‎Armenia‬.

Frah is a YMCA Staff Member at North London YMCA.

"My parents were among the many who had to make one of the hardest decisions of their lives. To send their child away to safety and hope for a better future. I was one of many Somali children to leave in such circumstances, leaving behind your entire family with the knowledge of sacrifice, intention of betterment and the reality of life's struggles. Growing up in a foreign country without the presence and guidance of your parents comes with a lot of obstacles and challenges. At 16, I ran away from home and I remember being in the park the whole day with friends like nothing was wrong. As it got darker people started to leave until I was the only person left in the park. That’s when I realised I had no home to go to. These challenges taught me that the only thing you can absolutely control in life is how you react to things out of your control, and there’s a lot you can’t control so the better you adapt to this reality, the more powerful your highs will be, and the more quickly you’ll be able to bounce back from the lows. Everything that happens to you in life is either an opportunity to learn and grow or an obstacle that keeps you stuck. You get to choose. My life’s experiences whilst growing up has led me to see the value in young people and provide opportunities for them that wasn’t available to me. Alhamdulillah I work for the biggest youth organisation in the world which enables me to do the job I love and lets me travel the world. So my brothers and sisters when life hits rock bottom, Take a deep breath; it’s going to be ok, maybe not today, but eventually. There will be times when it seems like everything that could possibly go wrong is going wrong, You might feel like you will be stuck in this rut forever, but you won’t. Sure the sun stops shining sometimes, and you may get a huge thunderstorm or two, but eventually the sun will come out to shine. Sometimes it’s just a matter of us staying as positive as possible in order to make it to see the sunshine break through the clouds again and remember Allah won’t put you through more than you can bear, he might let you bend but he won’t let you break". ‪#‎SomaliSideways‬.

Interaction

We have only one life. I forgot this fact. I wont expend it with a negatived mentality. No today. Probably I cant change the world, but maybe I can my day, maybe yours. YMCA has something special which pushes you to change, and this is the feeling I was looking for..

When the Future is in your hands.

The Peace Power

09/Sep/2014 Pristina, Kosovo 

6 a.m.  Heathrow airport, London. I am taking a flight to Kosovo: excited, nerves, exhausted. I have been texting Karina the whole week; I don't know who she is, what she looks like, but we are going to have an incredible journey together.

She is a YMCA staff member working in Day Camps in Fairthrore Group, UK, and she has been chosen to be part of Bridges of the Future for a week in Pristina, Kosovo.

This project is dedicated to train young people from 'Balkan Countries' (with the collaboration of YMCA England and Ireland) to run topics and plans to promote Peace.

But, what is? How can we get it? What can I do?

Peace is an easy word which you can hear all the time in news and songs… But is hard to get the answer, it's difficult to get it between people with historical conflicts; and maybe, this projects could be the first step to creating links between young people from the different sides of the problem.

"The conference will be basically, eat, sleep… Share a full week with people from the other part of the conflict"

Adrian Sheremeti, a Kosovo leader, said.

YMCA Europe proposed that these young leaders, use different media tools to show what peace means to them; the 36 leaders are splitter in 6 groups to explain their ideas using videos, articles, etc.

One of these groups is 'New Beginning' in which Karina is involved as well as Eglantina, Razvan-Victor, Liora and Kristian. He is a Serbian volunteer for the YMCA who is directing their video looking for to answer 'What does Peace mean"

"Peace has lots of meaning, but what is important... is what you do to get it"               

His conversation was fluent and I could feel his pain speaking about the rivalry in the Serbian population.

It was a wonderful experience to talk with the whole group; although they are from varied countries, with different ages, they considerate themselves as a great team, having a massive support and connection into the team. Every idea was considered by the group, disputed and decided as team.

So we can consider that YMCA Europe with the 'Bridges for the future' project have realized their expectation:

opening minds to promote Peace and projecting experiences as opinions about the conflict, and above of all… about Peace.

World Peace is a big step, probably we will never get it, probably we will never understand each other, therefore, all of us must make an effort day by day to change the conflict, to change the situation, and maybe, changing ourselves, being empathic with the opposite opinion, being more realistic and respect that the world is huge and we need diversity to have our personal idea. 

"In countries where there is peace, people take it for granted" 

So maybe the solution is as easy as we think, maybe it is in ourselves, having happy and good energy, sharing

positive messages and promoting the understanding in our communities and families… And at the end, give our personal meaning for Peace. 

Sofia Herranz

PUBS Productions articule

First of it's kind Peace Conference in Kosovo

[Blog post from Craig Martin, Northern Ireland, who had his first international experience with the YMCA this week]

10 different countries collaborate in a first of its kind youth orientated peace conference in hope that it can build bridges for the future.

Nations across Europe, many of them who have experienced conflict either with each other or with other outside countries have been brought together in a YMCA Europe project in the Capital of The Newborn state of Kosovo. Between the 5th and the 11th of September, the conference has brought a new approach to community relations in the hope that the future will bring positive diplomatic relations between and within the countries. Nations involved such as Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania could have never of seen this happening as recently as 10 years ago. Also countries such as Ireland, Cyprus and Macedonia all came together to share about their counties internal affairs, foreign affairs, culture and solutions for peace in the future.

The conference has provided an opportunity for the attending nations youth to gain many new experiences and information to take back to their homelands, Mlanden from Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that the conference has given him "new information about the attending countries cultures," Giving him more experience of, "Youth Activism and new ways of brining peace to conflicting nations" but most of all he believes he can go home having gained a "new network of friends across Europe."

In many ways, the conference has been a complete success. Participants have gained great life experiences and motivation to continue with this kind of work, building strong bridges for the future. The nations involved have YMCA Europe to thank for an incredible conference and hope similar conferences will be funded and organized so the message of peace can be enhanced across the Balkans and indeed all of Europe.

Martine from Ireland, when asked what her message to potential funders of similar projects was, "To build a stronger future for our young people across Europe we must create opportunities to bring them together and explore their cultural backgrounds and socio-political & religious differences. In this way, barriers are broken down and young people become better equipped to promote peace and reconciliation in their context."

Bridges For the Future

It was an epic showdown - YMCA Serbia, Ireland, Romanian and Kosovo all fighting to keep their seat at the table. Looks of disgust were exchanged and manic cheers of glee erupted at the failure of another. It was a game of cards on the back of the bus as we travelled together to see more of the sights, sounds and beauty of this wonderful place, Kosovo.

That image captures much of what the YMCA has to celebrate - young people from countries all over the world laughing and joking together, building friendships which hold infinite possibilities still to be written. It's one of the many unmeasurable outcomes from the week long Bridges for the Future peace work conference here in Prishtina.

Personally it has been a new experience and challenge being part of the facilitation team. 28 participants from 10 different countries all with their own individual hopes and fears that accompany taking part in an international YMCA event. I've really enjoyed the challenge of having a greater awareness of how the group is getting on and taking on responsibilities to help with the smooth running of the conference. In this respect I've been learning much from the rest of the facilitators.

This afternoon 6 groups presented their work from the past couple of days, the result of which was journalist articles and short videos on the theme 'what does peace mean to us?'. Incredible work - more of which you will see appearing online soon if you follow the ymcaeurope and roots hashtags.

Tomorrow is the closing day of the conference but not the last day in Kosovo for me. Three years ago at my first international YMCA event I met a bold and ambitious youth worker - Adi Davies. At that event we became friends, three years on and he has invited me to visit and stay with him and his fiancé Dorina for a couple of extra days in their hometown of Gjakova. Dorina, Adi and their team of young people from Kosovo have been incredible hosts throughout the conference and I'm incredibly excited about hanging out with them over the next couple of days!

Inspiring awareness to act for the future

On Saturday 6th September 36 young people from 10 different countries came together in Prishtina, Kosovo to communicate to the world about peace. A topic that has varying degress of impact on different countries and individuals, even for the 10 countries present there was a great difference in experience and knowledge of peace around the world. This diversity created an incredible learning and sharing environment for people where everyone was free to express and discover.


The task set was to present a media project of 'what peace means to us' and all the young people were split into groups of 4 or 5 and given a short period of time with deadlines to produce their findings. One of the groups concluding statement was "I will Wake up, I will stand up and I will act for the future". This quote came from a group of participants from Albania, England, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia all who's participants admitted that personally they have not experienced much conflict within their countries but they all felt that young people who have not been affected by conflict shouldn't ignore it and do nothing. They should be able to act to make a difference... however it is not always that simple! There are steps that need to take place, such as being educated in global issues and given the understanding that we are all in this together, we should all care.

Instilling support which can help young people to first find peace and balance within themselves is also very important. How can we ask young people to promote and act upon peace if they have not found it in themselves? But its not just young people how many of us can actually say you have found peace within yourself? There may be some activities that we take part in such as dance that might be our safe haven and during these beautiful moments we feel safe and tranquil, if only we had that feeling all the time.We all know that it is not that simple and that there are everyday conflicts within our lives that make it difficult, but what if we take a step forward and unite together what impact can our actions have? Even if the action is sharing a post on Facebook, using Instagram to get a picture out there, tweeting/retweeting global issues, these things can take seconds but yet done properly and at the right time can be so powerful, and simple and guess what: anyone can do it!

So the question is 'How can you make a difference', an example of how to be involved is through youth organisations coming together in projects such as Bridges for the Future. This can provide the tools for young leaders to ignite the passion, spread hope and inspire others to be more aware. Everyone should take a minute and ask themselves...

What can I do and how can I do it?

Everyone wants to feel peace, we want to have a safe haven, everyone wants to have a purpose so lets spread the passion and 'Act for the Future!'



Article written for 'Bridges for the Future' media simulation