Good Mornin from Prague

Well it is a great big good morning from downtown Prague. Surprised how quickly I slip into the zone. Arrived yesterday evening at 8.30pm and by 9.00 I was thinking about the ambience of the various venues I will be co-ordinating at the YMCA Prague Festival 2013.

I have the privilege of being line manager for all the food, beverage and merchandise at the festival. Broadly that means that anything that is sold on site at the festival comes via my sourcing. I have a small army of volunteers to deliver on this.

So today and tomorrow I will be sourcing everything from tee shirts to bottled water to ice creams to teddy bears to nachos to pizzas to pin badges to coffee to cakes..... and the list goes on. Some serious judgements to make.

Ukraine - here I come...

What do I know about Ukraine? Well a bit.. as I am originally from Kyrgyzstan and both countries  used to be in the USSR. Hence our past connection. Also I speak Russian which is still prevalent in Ukraine just like in Kyrgyzstan. Funnily enough made lots of Ukrainian friends while in London. At West London YMCA we had international volunteers from Ukraine about 4 years in a row, Natalia, Katja, Maxim and Marina. I became good friends with all of them considering our ‘soviet’ link and also their home stay happened to be with Jan, our marketing manager who kept inviting me every year to welcome dinners to help them acclimatise to London. I didn’t mind as loved her cooking and of course invited them back to mine for a Kyrgyz cuisine too! I remember Michael our pastor was a bit apprehensive about eating with his fingers. :-)

 

However I never been to Ukraine so this is a great chance to visit and explore more how the country is recovering from the 70 odd years of soviet rule. It will also be great to learn about small youth centres in another post-soviet country, as I set up a youth NGO – Centre of Youth Initiatives ‘Jash Ordo’ (literal translation is youth centre) in my student years back in 1999. I oversaw it’s growth into one of the leading youth movements in Kyrgyzstan, delivered over 50 social projects covering a wide range of themes such as democracy, human rights, human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, elections, poverty, national strategy and many others. Hence my interest in taking part in this study tour!

 

I hope I would be able to learn and share my experiences with the all participants who are very international as from England, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.  Can’t wait!

I'm off to Ukraine to make new YMCA friends!

On 1st June 2013 with 8 people from YMCAs in England - people that I've never met - I am off to Ukraine on a Study Tour!  Now, I never been to Ukraine, nor have I ever been on a Study Tour.  So watch this space - you might learn something (but only if I learn it first) - about Ukraine, study tours (whatever they are) and the YMCA.  As a bonus, you may get to know a bit about Belarus and Moldova as there will be folks coming to Ukraine from there too #excited #can'twait #iloveymca

European General Assembly

After a long weekend in Manchester I arrived back at work very tired but still buzzing with ideas, to start yesterday at work it took me a while to get my head back in the game so to speak as I found all these inspiring conversations from young people, from people leading the movement, ideas of what could be taken back to the local level and used in some of the programmes running in England, all of this buzzing round my head. My local YMCA will be pleased to hear, I did get my head back in the game but I am still buzzing.

From listening to the brave and inspiring words of Andre, Chair of YES to listening to Juan's message in a bottle, to talking to the different projects on the table talks, to hearing about the One Million Voices Project from Romulo, I am always amazed and in awe of individuals in this movement I call home. We have some amazing talent in the pool and at times I feel like I am beaming with pride that I am part of it. Personally, I feel we shine. We shine because we are addressing local issues in our communities but we also have something in common with the YMCA's all over the world, we empower young people.

There have been times when the young people in the movement have challenged the leaders to step up, when listening to these young people speak I am in awe of their bravery, passion and belief in the YMCA. It is that that makes us unique.

Since leaving the GA I am feeling re-vitalized and re-energized to take these ideas and thoughts back to the areas that I work in. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of those people that made the GA such a special event for me, as a first timer. Together we are YMCA. 

After being nagged by Ken for the best part of a year, I have finally got around to adding a blog post!

I, along with 6 other colleagues have just finished our fourth International Leadership Programme (ILP) meeting in Darlington. With only two weeks to go until (as a group) our second General Assembly it was great to catch up with friends and organise a few events. People have been busy sorting out the English evening on the Saturday night and if you do not already know what is planned you are in for a pleasant surprise. As an ILP we will be holding a traditional ‘tombola’ where every entrant wins a prize. We hope to have a few good prizes on offer including a Kindle Fire and some bespoke pieces of YMCA memorabilia.

As a group I think the aim will be to chat to other nations a bit more. Last year in Prague was our debut so we were a bit reserved but now we have a lot more to say and I am sure you will speak to a few of us during your stay in Manchester.

We all know that the festival will be soon upon us. This is my first visit so I am really excited to witness the atmosphere I have a lot about. It seemed that before I even got off my flight last night I have been asked if I would be interested in driving a stock van to Prague, which is around a 1,400 mile round trip from South Wales. I was unsure at first - especially after consulting the girlfriend - but then I thought to myself; it’s not often you get to travel the continent with hundreds of t-shirts, pin badges and whatever else they can fit into a transit van! Please can the van have automatic gears…

So, as my laptop battery is nearly extinguished, we hope to talk to as much of you as possible at the GA. We will surely be helping out Ken with the tombola and the events planned for the Saturday evening.

Chris Richards

Newport YMCA, YMCA Wales

YMCA International Leadership Programme

Arif Hussain

Introducing Arif

darryn causby

Introducing Darryn