Sunday 3 March 2013

A bit late...Sorry! The last of Northern Ireland...

Hi everyone, sorry about this being so late. I am aware this is supposed to be written in real time but after dropping Alex, Dillon, Hannah and Chelsea at the airport, I traveled to Carrickfergus to visit my family over there. The trip to Northern Ireland with the group was very interesting. There was plenty of opportunities that I had never done in all the time I have spent in Northern Ireland. Crumlin Road Goal, the tour of the City Hall, seeing the flag protest and the city bus tour gave us a good insight into the context that we were looking at.
The trip to North Down YMCA (Bangor) was amazing, the youth club was a great experience. The idea of Young Leaders running the youth club and all taking responsibilities in running the show is something I can see working in any setting of the YMCA and something I will be working on putting in place in my local YMCA. I had some very inspiring conversations with the young people. It was very interesting to hear what they had to say about the troubles and their views. They differed greatly between the young people but even so it was interesting to hear their views on it all and it gave me hope that Northern Ireland has a future in peace. They don't want Northern Ireland to go back to how it was with the troubles, they want a peaceful society and the work the YMCA is doing there, there is hope. One girl, Amy, spoke to me in detail about her experiences with the YMCA and the Friends Forever experience in America. She found it a life changing experience and now has a very different attitude to the differences that appear in Bangor and Northern Ireland. Thanks to the YMCA she now has best friends that are Catholics and no longer judges people based on first appearance.
The experiences we had with Andy and Martine were worthwhile and enjoyable. We had the opportunity to meet people and do things that I, personally have never had when been over in Northern Ireland and I thank Andy and Martine for all their hard work in pulling it together. We all had something to bring to the table and not only did we learn from them but they learnt from us and as a group, we all learned from each other. Something unique about the YMCA and I love it!
Thanks to everyone's hard work to make the trip a success and a very enjoyable one. Can't wait to hear what happens in the future for the YMCA's in Northern Ireland.

Saturday 2 March 2013

Sinrise comes early

For the first time in a long time it has happened. The sun has risen before me!

Well I am writing a blog post so it must mean I am not at home because the blog is intended for people to post real time experiences when they are on International programmes organised through YMCA England.

It is 7.30am (6.30 UK time) and I am writing from my Hotel room in a little known town called Litomysil in Eastern Bohrminia(Czech Republic).

I traveled to Prague on Thirsday and had a meeting with some YMCA staff about sourcing items for sale at our YMCA Festival which will be held in Prague later in August.

Had a quiet evening in Prague Thursday evening and then set out on an adventure early Friday morning. Taking the train (2hours) to a place called Ceska Trebova from where I caught a bus to take me to my destination.

There I checked into a hotel where not only the internet access was free, the wine in the bar in the evening was also free!

I am at a YMCA meeting discussing how we can strengthen the YMCA National Movements across Europe to enable them to more adequitely enable them to serve the young people in communities across the continent. We are a small group consisting of representatives from Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Iceland, Scotland, Armenia and England.

At our meeting yesterday we discussed how the YMCA Movement across Europe meets in General Assembly, how we fundraise and how we remain true to our mission.

Today we will have further discussions about Young people's empowerment, how we work in diverse communities and plans for our Festival in Prague were we hope to have some 10,000 young people from around the world at a gig that will offer some life changing experiences for young people.

Breakfast and the start of a whole new day is calling, so this is Ken, viewing the local Castle from my hotel window in Eastern Bohemia signing off.