YE staff is blogging
Report from a visit to YüCEL Cultural Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey
From January 6-11, 2010, Michal Szymanczak and I visited Yücel Cultural Foundation in Istanbul, Turkey representing YMCA Europe. The first meeting between YMCA Europe and Yücel Cultural Foundation (YCF) took place in Prague August 17-18, 2009.
IT TRAINING IN LITOMYSL
YMCA Europe Training Centre in Litomysl has been very busy over the last days. On Thursday November 5 the staff came in and our staff meeting started. We continued next day while the different members of the Movement Development group were coming in to our brilliant Training Centre. Friday afternoon the MD meeting started and we had inspirational reports from the different corners of Europe where our development initiatives are going on, from Nagorno Karabagh to the Albanian mountains, from Barnaul in Siberia to our newest YMCA in Serbia.
The members of the Executive Committee came in during Friday to participate in the Movement Development discussions.
YMCA Plans
As for the YMCA in Shkoder: It was founded in 2001 and has been actively serving the local community since. The main program is serving the Roma (gypsy) community that lives predominantly on the outskirts of town across the one lane bridge traversing the Buna River, on the edge of Lake Shkoder. In this part of town, the poverty is desperate. Water is hand-pumped, children in various states of clothing play games in the street or rummage through mounds of trash at the side of the road in the hope of finding something of value. Value is of course relative. I have seen children, wide-grinned with delight to find a plastic ‘scooter', and carry it home, despite the fact it is cracked, has no wheels and to you and I would be utterly worthless.
The move to Shkoder
I have now moved to Shkoder, a medium sized, attractive city in the northern Albania. It is considered the cultural capital of Albania and boasts the largest Mosque in the country and the biggest Catholic Church in the Balkans. In a region of such ethnic intolerance, Shkoder (Albania in general) could provide a lesson in living together respectfully. Shkoder is also one of the rare cities in the world that have both lakeside and mountain climates side-by-side: The city sits on Lake Shkoder, the largest lake in the Balkans, and is overlooked by the western end of the Accursed Mountains.
An Englishman in Albania
Where to start? I arrived in Albania, to work for YMCA Europe, 4 months ago. I have been frustrated, excited, challenged, perplexed, and stuck out like a sore thumb during that time. Life here can be summed up in two words: Not boring.
Has anyone ever asked you ...
what actually YMCA does and what it is all about?
The other day I came up with the excellent summary of the YMCA work that may - in whole or particular parts - apply to any country in Europe:
Blogging and Storming
It says on the Web: My favorite activity is writing a diary - talking about the pressure....... I've decided to start by reserching the Web and to my not so nice surprise I found out that blogging is quite different from writing a diary, not so much in form, but definitely in content.
Going to USA
Last week on Tuesday 9th I travelled to Chicago to meet with the new leader, Chief Executive Officer, of the YMCA of the USA, Niel Nickols. We had a good meeting and Niel is interested in visiting the Festival in Prague in August 2008. I also met with Selma Zaidi, Sam Evans, Jerry Prado Shaw and all the staff of the International Group.
