No-Way it's Norway! #WorldYMCA

If I may, I will open up this blog with this....

EMPOWERED or what? (Yes a bit of chalk found under a table at 3am in the morning can produce something as artistic as this, also loving the Macbook's)

I am in Norway and nope I am not Norwegian as off yet but I do like the sound of breakfast and lunch being the same mostly everyday...Yummy can't get away from the slice of bread pure genius!

But there I go again rambling on....SO back to the EMPOWERMENT part! This video might do so, for that I am grateful to be a part if it because we are a movement that never stops in the eyes of many and will continue on doing so for years to come. We are the future of LEADERSHIP and a LINK to bind forever faith in global UNDERSTANDING and to IMPACT on LOCAL youth within YMCA England.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Let's go back to Norway now and the experiences I and many others have felt over the last 10 days, yes guys I did say TEN....These lucky ones nowadays exploring the worldwide movement and engaging with passion through their work, who can blame them!??? Ken M?

Me myself and the rude eye! 

Whilst being in Norway since the 20th-30th June through the "Change Agent's" project in connection with the "Global Week" and the "Global TT Festival" I HAVE BASICALLY EXPERIENCED SO FREAKING MUCH (So I do my best for you to digest images and the odd word or two from this blog, to get a insight to my excitement whilst being here and for how much I will takeaway.... =)

Norwegian lock (So exciting) 

And Unlocking all this is when you reflect...
Reflecting, being a part of 10 days that will impact my work life for the greater good and for me then to impact on others, creating a chain of motivation and driving them on to experiences for a better change!

10m what can go wrong? (Norwegian Lake after the Global RUN)

Norway is the wettest of places (maybe only on this experience) but it has so much to give and has such a strong Youth Movement. The power of the KFUK-KFUM (Ywca & Ymca) can be felt and the craze, the passion and the kids have for it is just pleasing on the eye and wonderful to hear!
The actual statement I am in need to make is, they have unlocked a potential that I hope we can, as YMCA England. Creating a focus on positivity and constantly patting them on the back until their cheeks do kill of smiling. Being a part of the Global TT Festival, this being a Young Persons festival as ages of 14-15 going onto having their confirmation and into their summer holidays. It just has the presence of FAITH in the most joyful of ways and the most encouraging FRIENDSHIP.
I made some more unique friendships and also linking from the past, actually the General Secretary of YWCA & YMCA Norway Adelheid Hvambsal who I met in my first ever International experience in Palestine 2010. (Where actually my journey began)

After you jump, be inspired and inspire others to do the same! (Outside the Opera in Norway)

I would say I can fly....(We all should give it ago)

Since being here in Norway, having the odd 2 hour journey to places that blow your mind away and forever will never shut you up because it's something that will change your life, is just a blessing!

 The Global content and physically meeting young people from over the world, over 20+ countries, from the hardship of GAZA YMCA to the newly blossoming KOSOVO YMCA 

in Norway YWCA-YMCA .

(Didn't saying YMCA, YWCA too many times do your head in?) Well I am glad it did not....As we will be out there sooner than later in the peak of our ways and gaining the attention it so deserves from them 58 million people more and so on.

So get the YMCA blood pumping and get out there and search for all our hidden talents within the worldwide movement!

Being a part of something....

"STOP POVERTY" Campaign = We will eradicate poverty by 2030!!!

 Please visit link and find out how and why this is the CAMPAIGN to be apart off;
http://www.kfuk-kfum-global.no/no/English/We+will+eradicate+poverty+by+2030.b7C_wlfW38.ips
We have been working on this throughout the week too and I could explain but I think the website does it for me! So get an insight and meaning of what a BIG challenge it is, but most of all the BIGGEST CHANGE ever to be a part off.

Be this LOGO and be a PART of CHANGING THE WORLD!

And also OUR first ever GOOGLE/Skypey thingy ma jiggy....

(Was a success involving Change Agents)

Resource Group for the Environment (RGE) a part of Y-Action

See below, throughout the week the time we were in Norway (Change Agent's) took part in a first Video call via Google+...It was a real insight to another side to what the YMCA stands for too.

So please spare: 55 minutes & 16 Seconds and embrace the impact and the future of calls!

Or 

Please check this link for more info on their great work:

http://action.ymca.int/google-hangout-norway/

In this small picture we are doing work!

We work & Train...

Something tells me from all my blog so far it don't show any work, well tadaaar! Here is evidence>>>

Having the inspiration around us, that all the young people within one room want to make an impact on changing for the better makes the project of "Waking the Sleeping Giant up!" becomes much more powerful and determined. 

So the "STOP POVERTY" will gain momentum and create change in 2030, we as "Change Agent's" will implement goals/projects to affect on a local level spreading out across the globe.

It's about the beauty of the EYE and the way you  use them! (Change Agent's Training, Gjovik School)

My farewell from the lens and my tired fingers from Norway....

I have met some fantastic people over these days and been a part of something that I am most grateful to be involved in. Having and sustaining a LINK, GLOBALLY is such a treasured credit to work with. Having the experiences and becoming part of something as leaders and leading onto the next youthful future.
So Norway what of you from the school of Gjovik where we stand most of the time, then few days in Oslo in the youth hostel called "Haraldsheim" to the bonding of young people around the world.
I thank you in all the English ways we do but this time I will leave you with it in Norwegian; 

"takk"

A photo for you to guess where they all are from!!! (Change Agents & Participant's from Global week)

Signing out...Lewis Barkway Ymca North Staffordshire Youth Campus from Norway!

International Viewers

Today people read Toms first post on the blog, in the USA, UK. Germany, China, Japan,Poland, France, Indonesia, India and Netherlands.

Hi All,

Well it’s my first time writing on the blog and as I sit here in ‘Meriden’ in Birmingham Airport with my overpriced Full English Breakfast and Latte I can really start to look forward to the coming days as I head to Berlin for the EU Youth Policy Seminar.

When Ken asked me at the GA back in May if I would be interested I felt really privileged and really excited for the chance to not only learn about Youth Policy and Politics in Europe but also to visit a different country I had never travelled to before!

It will be the first time I meet Alex Taylor in Berlin and I am looking forward to having a chat about all the brilliant work she has been doing at her YMCA and talk about her trip to Northern Ireland and Pakistan. We have sorted out what we are providing for our cultural evening but that can be explained in another blog over the next few days! 

Turning to the Seminar, I don’t necessarily have any background or experience in Youth Policy but as I mentioned in my application and on the Facebook Page I believe Youth Policy and Politics is definitely a subject that I believe not enough young people understand and choose to ignore. It is a subject that with current economic climate more young people need to learn about and that is one of the reasons I chose to attend this seminar to learn more about it and take this back to Worcestershire YMCA.

A personal aim of mine over the coming few months with everything going on across England is to spread the message about Youth Policy, Politics and Democracy in England so that Young people have the chance to understand all aspects of it and not stereotype it as something that they would not enjoy or be able to understand.

This was only a quick post as I am heading to the gate in about 10 minutes but I look forward to the 5 days ahead in Berlin and can’t wait to share my experiences with you all.

Speak Soon!

Tom

We are the Change by Jack Ahearn

Hi Guys,

Here I am in Gjorvik, Oslo, Norway, reporting from the Change Agent Training held in Gjorvik School.

Can I first express how truly inspiring it is to finally be around fellow agents of change, hearing stories, sharing practices, creating projects, all acting as one. For months now I have been anticipating what the role of change agents will be, and how we will implement our job role, so it is great to grasp what we are all part of.

I have developed new friendships, which I hope and know will become stronger and stronger, as we are all on the same page with the same common goals and beliefs. It has confirmed for me that all involved with the YMCA share a unique outlook, with the passion to carry on the wonderful work of the YMCA.

It has been informative as well as extremely powerful for me to share and grasp the Change Agent programme with these amazing people, and join initiatives to produce the most creative ideas for change.

As well as making it more clear what our job description and journey will entail over the next few years, we have had training in other vital areas to help pack our toolkit with the essentials, to carry out our mission. These include leadership and communication methods, as well as how to have a deeper worldwide impact in the day to day work we do. What was really interesting was a group activity we participated in to create and plan a project with real and positive effective outcomes, with the intention to attract the attention of George Soares. However, the task was that each member of the group had a disability, which limited the communication of the group. It was a challenge, but fun to work with as it tested all senses, finding ways to prepare a project and presentation between a group of blind, deaf, mute and paralysed people.

This represents the difficulty of engaging YMCA’s on a worldwide scale, due to various issues like barriers to access and communication. It shows we need to find the proper way to include, convey and agree the common YMCA message to the whole world movement, which is about inclusion.

It enforces the message as leaders we have to pay attention and respect these limitations, like we do in our everyday work, to have that positive balance. An example used by another Change Agent was, the sleeping giant is just waking up and a bit groggy, so to start running would not only be too much of a challenge but could also damage the reputations and relationships the YMCA have took 169 years to implement.

The incredible work of the YMCA hit home today, discussing personal journeys and stories through the YMCA. It brought me back to first contact with the YMCA, and where I have come over the last 4 years. This of course would not have had anywhere near the amount of impact without the YMCA. After hearing others personal experiences, I have also learned that even though each individual movement is so diverse with the work it does, it is always similar situations which bring people to the YMCA, no matter the background or the nation. We are all part of something so special, that is growing like the universe, but no matter the distance between us, we all have something that keep us together.

After discussing groups today where the YMCA will be in 2018, may I finish by saying in many Change Agents words: see you at the YMCA Olympics, on YTV, at the opening of YMCA North Pole, and optimistically at the presence of the first YMCA flag on the moon!

We are the change!

Jack Ahearn

Change Agents in Norway

I am here in Norway, we are 4 "change agents" from the UK (3 from England, 1 from Scotland). For those of you who don't know what "change agents" are, we are young people from around the world working on a World Alliance of YMCA programme. This training will help us look at what the change agents are and how we will implement our job description. We have only just started officially today and this training is being delivered at the same time as Norway's Global Week so as well as change agents from across Europe and the Middle East, we have participants from YMCA and YWCA's in Europe, Asia and Africa. It proves to be a very interesting week with plenty of participants to learn from.

We have had a day of the change model and looking at ways we could possibly implement this in our local and national YMCA's, this will be an ongoing theme throughout the week. We have also had a fantastic presentation on the Youth in Action funding and I have many ideas about what I can bring back to my local and national movement, I have to try and find time to organise these ideas and do some research about all of this.

So tonight, we watched a film called "When the boys come home" a documentary about the occupation in Palestine. The film was about the Israeli soldiers arresting boys (all children or minors) for throwing stones and the work that is being done by the YMCA / YWCA to try and support these young boys in very difficult occupation. It was a challenge to me to hear this story as I was not fully aware of this situation. On a personal level, having some awareness about the situation in Israel and Palestine I am very aware that it was partly caused by the British. This violence then felt personal. I very much appreciate the story telling of the participants from Palestine and Jordan.

Well it is late so I will end here. I would recommend looking for this documentary to have a look at it! 

Shot of reality

Rachel has done a great job reporting on the content of the conference so perhaps I can share some personal thoughts and challenges from the week. I'm also inspired to write more as I received an email from YMCA Europe’s president saying he enjoyed my last blog. I guess I'd say to you (the readers) please leave comments and keep us inspired!

After the success of the tea party, I will be honest and say the digital activism totally left me feeling flat. A lot of time wasted on things that don’t take much time at all and no clear vision took the shine of this part of the training for me personally.

There was one session that moved me to the point of tears and it was when we looked at issues in our own countries on the scale of conflict. I have much respect for the youth and participants from Georgia, Russia and Cyprus who shared what mattered to them, they were open, honest and real but it was my friend from Karabagh who moved me to tears as she said,

“We are not at war, but sometimes it feels like it”

It was a touching moment, and a real shot of reality for me. One of the other participants caught that I had tears in my eyes and she approached me later to say that she was touched someone from the west could react this way. Through all the jokes and energisers it’s the moments like this that set the peace institute apart from other projects in my humble opinion and why I love being involved.

As part of the project we are split into areas to work towards tandem grants for post conflicting countries, I find myself representing Kosovo and in the Balkans tandem grant group. One thing we all agreed on and saw as an extra to the project was building leaders/capacity for our own YMCA movements. I got the unfortunate task of feeding back to everyone and was quickly shot down by the leadership; this led to a debate over what were “YMCA people?” One theory was ‘everyone is YMCA, they just don't know it’ others mainly from the east side of Europe told me they didn't get the concept of a movement and that it seemed a rather closed concept.

Now I'm not mentioning this to start a mass debate or argument I just found the concept interesting, as a Change Agent I understand that globally we are waking up the giant and that also transfers down to local and national movements. Surely if ‘everyone was YMCA’ we wouldn't need these Agents? Perhaps this also begins to explain why sometimes people I meet on training have only a few weeks or months in the movement? It will be interesting to see this process and how an Englishman operates in this tandem grant group so watch this space!

In conclusion I’ve had a very challenging week but not in the way I thought it would be, I'm now questioning my role here on the other side of Europe and how I view/do things. I'm also wondering about the effectiveness of a giant that has two arms doing two completely things? As we move onto the festival it’s a time for strong leaders and leadership, I look forward to being challenged and at the same time challenging. So no inspirational quote or thought to end this blog… just a man, humbled and challenged, lost in his thoughts but determined to succeed.

My Last Blog About my Experience in Ukraine :)

Claire Edensor :)    The Gang we had the pleasure of meeting and getting to no :)

On the study visit I have learnt a lot I have learnt all about the Ukraine YMCA and Moldova and Belarus. It is all very different to here in the UK but there are some similarities such as the way the social services work and how they help children. I have learnt that here in the UK we are very lucky to have what we have as from what I have seen and heard about other places are very short of things. Ukraine have people who are leaving there city to move to other cities where there are jobs and there population in decreasing as many people do not have children as this is expensive and alot of children are being adopted or fostered and getting an education and moving away.

In Moldova their city is very different their YMCA is based around the historical times and they try to bring them times back. They are very physical and really enjoy and respect their marital arts. They try to get young people involved in what they do the best way they can they have a website to encourage young people to join. 10 years ago they had a lot of crime and since then and all the programmes and events they do and get children involved has dropt dramatically. They have 70 professionals who work with them in their sports area. And they are also self-funded and are co-operative with the youth government. They believe that the best way to progress is to through their martial arts YMCA.

In Belarus they only have volunteers who work with them and have to find their own money to keep their YMCA going they also only have one organisation that helps them. They also do not get paid for what they do they all work to the best of their abilities for nothing as they believe to give children help and support even if they do not get a salary. They also did a triangle game with us that they use back in Belarus where, you are in a circle and you have to pick 2 people without letting anyone know and everyone does this and in silence they walk around trying to get a triangle with themselves and the 2 people they have picked. This was a really good way of focusing and using your brain to figure out how you can keep your triangle.

Overall my experience here has been the best of my life I have learnt more than I thought I could. I really enjoyed meeting all the new people and seeing the different schools and colleges and how they work and they are different to the UK. Also the mines I found that really educational because we used to have the mines here in Ashington and I never really new anything about them but now I do. I have really enjoyed this trip and hope we see everyone again.

Blogger out :)