To not double up on information the English contingent have divided the days of this conference between us and if you would allow me to comment on the Turkish evening, I would be most grateful. The common tourist attitude to the Turkish Culture is that the men hang around outside shops trying to entice the women, while the women dress in burka’s and are completely covered. During our evening meal we were treated to a taste of Eastern entertainment, there was the ‘whirling Derbyshire’s’ which were four Turkish men praying and while in a trance they span around with such grace and beauty for such a long time… it was breath taking, we then had a belly dancer and what struck me was this total reverse in roles for the genders. The men were dressed in smart white robes which fanned out while they span and the girl wore very little and was a complete contrast from the women in the street. Then what followed can only be described as breath-taking as Juan followed by the participants all took to the dance floor and we were treated to an alternative but explosive different style by Dorina form Kosovo and Vicktor from Macedonia. This was a very special evening indeed and I felt very privileged to see behind the curtain and look deeper at the culture of this country.
Rachel has already mentioned the change assessment, so I cannot really add anything rather than the fact this long training ended with much pride and joy as teams created their own evaluation questions which were used in the conclusion this morning. I would like to add that when we talk about impact, this cannot be measured until some considerable time has passed after the event, with this in mind I can see the impact from the peace seminar last July in Prague with 7 young leaders attending this training and showing a hunger and desire for the YMCA’s peace work programme…this is really special.
Just to try and explain a little about the conference venue, we are using the old YMCA Turkey building which needs much love and attention but has a certain historical and unique quality to it, the hotel is around 10 minutes away and offers very little social space, Basti from Germany showed great leadership by arranging a games night on the final evening, although many people chose to not attend around 12 of us went and shared games and fun together giving us this close conference feel and a chance to bond which had been missing. I have to be completely honest with you, some music was played as the participants danced but the last thing I expected to see was around 7 young ladies from the Nederland’s all the way to Turkey all dancing and singing to the spice girls! Certainly proud to be British here but felt a little surreal….
Now as I mentioned the lack of space was an issue however…. The last thing I imagined would happen at this conference was an English Tea party in the street of Istanbul…. Yes readers you read that right!!!
…. AN ENGLISH TEA PARTY IN THE STREETS OF ISTANBUL!!!
I’m not quite sure if I am qualified to speak on behalf of the queen, but this morning I thanked this special group of people for participating in this one off event… if this is not where West meets East then I don’t know what is! As I mentioned I brought a teapot, Rachel brought teabags and Frah brought some shortbread biscuits. It’s hard to describe how it all happened… however Rachel catered for everyone making them tea and there was much debate over adding milk or not. Let me tell you this people from England, Russia, Kosovo, Serbia, Germany, Holland, Czech Republic, Armenia, Turkey, and Georgia sat drinking tea in the streets of Istanbul and it was a very special, unifying moment!
Lastly I would like to comment on the change agents; in my last blog I briefly spoke about my challenge to Johan and left you the readers to make your own mind up on who should be a change agent and how they should be picked. Well after letting this marinade for a few days in my mind the simple response is… “We are all change agents” young or old, experienced or new, we are all working for the common good of our movement. The world challenge and this conference have shown me that people are willing to take ownership and unite for what we stand for, what we have been doing throughout history and what we are still doing to this day! For any younger folk reading this blog, don’t get too hung up on whether you are a recognised change agent or not and remember its local people who have a global impact, we need everyone to wake this giant!
This really has been a culture shock and a learning curve for me, supported by friends and surrounded with a variety of experience, expertise and passion. For me this was where East meets West but the truth is "together we are YMCA!"
