Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, the friends of YMCA Europe! If you are following our media channels even every once in a while, you most probably have read about the “Roots for Reconciliation” project. The year of 2017 is a special year for the “Roots” – it has just turned 10 years old!

I have had the privilege and luck to have been involved in this project from the very beginning. it was a snowy December day in Yerevan, Armenia back in 2006 when the leaders of Armenian, Georgian & Nagorno Karabakh YMCAs got together with Vardan Hambardzumyan – The Executive Secretary of YMCA Europe and the author of the project, to discuss the future roadmap of 2007-2010 “Roots for Reconciliation” – as it turned out, just the first stage of the project…

And I was there – we were all enthusiastic, full of energy & ideas, eager to make a change that we all believed was long due in our countries, and the entire South Caucasus region. But, when I look back and reflect, none of us would believe that 10 years would pass and “Roots” would be still around… And not just around, but with lot more of beneficiaries, vision, impact and geography.

Since the first event within the project in Spring 2007 when the only participants were from Armenia, Georgia and Nagorno Karabakh; dozens of activities took part all across the European Continent with beneficiaries ranging from US to Bangladesh, Iceland to South Africa.

Things were learnt; great friendships were made; lives were forever changed…

And the journey of the “Roots” continues…

By Rezi Shavladze