Peace and Love

I am sitting here, torn between wanting to blog about how wonderful the Peace Work Institute conference has already been or how beautiful Strasbourg is, or how fortunate and honored I am to be part of such an extraordinary conference that has the potential to inspire the world and bring change and hope once again.

We took a long and cold walk to explore Strasbourg city yesterday. Strasbourg, France Christmas Market (Christkindelsmärik, capitale de Noël in French) is the oldest one in France. It far exceeded my expectations…All of the buildings had some sort of decoration on them and there were banners leading down streets to other markets.

Strasbourg is a beautiful city with so much to see and the Christmas decorations made it all the more wonderful. As the sun set, the smells of street food and mulled wine embalmed the air while a million tiny twinkling lights set the city off.

Today we starting working in our tandem groups on our projects “study visit to Karabakh” which is going well so far so good, the context of the project coming together and will have a great potential for both parties.

Young people can make a difference if they come together,reflect and share and act on there ideas, first thing is to change ourselves, then the others will look to us for inspiration and will act. Human potential is amazing… We have the capacity to create a world that is peaceful…one that spreads kindness and love rather than hatred. If we believe it to be so, it will be our truth, and we will create it.

I will leave you with a little saying ” Leave the world a little bit better than you came in to “ Peace and love !

By Frah Saeed

Bridges for the future

Two years ago I’d never heard of Kosovo, much less think I’d ever end up there. Through my involvement in the YMCA and ILP I’ve found myself with opportunities and experiences that had never been on my radar. Now I’m intrigued by this place Kosovo having learnt something of the country’s history and struggles and culture. Furthermore I’ve met a few of the country’s finest young leaders like Dorina and Orbis both with compelling and inspiring stories and much to offer not just Kosovo but the world.

I was here for the weekend as part of the planning team for our ‘Bridges for the Future’ seminar scheduled for 6-11^th September in Pristina. The seminar is a product of YMCA Europe’s Roots For Reconciliation project. Yesterday we confirmed 35 participants from 10 countries for September and have an exciting programme lined up including; visiting Ferizaj where a Catholic Church and Mosque sit side by side in the same garden; a cultural evening with a difference; inputs from various Balkan YMCAs and YMCA Ireland and Cyprus on peace work and co-existence; and having Samuel Diaz from the World Alliance supporting participants to create powerful messages concerning ‘peace’ during the week and maximizing the potential of social media. We skyped Samuel yesterday and after speaking with him I am really looking forward to what we will all learn from his expertise in media and particularly social media – this will undoubtedly be learning beneficial to the national movements involved.

Well, not long now ‘til I board my flight home. I look forward to coming back here in September joined by some friends from YMCA Ireland. Bridges For the Future promises to be an engaging, challenging and inspiring seminar, already our friends in Kosovo Adi and Dorina have set the bar with the accommodation – a hotel that boasts having a pool, a sauna, a world record breaking bean mosaic, and Snoop Dogg as one of it’s former guests – and that’s before we even get the seminar started!

By Andy Hamilton

The peace power

6 a.m. Heathrow airport, London. I am taking a flight to Kosovo: excited, nerves, exhausted. I have been texting Karina the whole week; I don’t know who she is, what she looks like, but we are going to have an incredible journey together.

She is a YMCA staff member working in Day Camps in Fairthrore Group, UK, and she has been chosen to be part of Bridges of the Future for a week in Pristina, Kosovo.

This project is dedicated to train young people from ‘Balkan Countries’ (with the collaboration of YMCA England and Ireland) to run topics and plans to promote Peace.

But, what is? How can we get it? What can I do?

Peace is an easy word which you can hear all the time in news and songs… But is hard to get the answer, it’s difficult to get it between people with historical conflicts; and maybe, this projects could be the first step to creating links between young people from the different sides of the problem.

“The conference will be basically, eat, sleep… Share a full week with people from the other part of the conflict” Adrian Sheremeti, a Kosovo leader, said.

YMCA Europe proposed that these young leaders, use different media tools to show what peace means to them; the 36 leaders are splitter in 6 groups to explain their ideas using videos, articles, etc.

One of these groups is ‘New Beginning’ in which Karina is involved as well as Eglantina, Razvan-Victor, Liora and Kristian. He is a Serbian volunteer for the YMCA who is directing their video looking for to answer ‘What does Peace mean”

“Peace has lots of meaning, but what is important… is what you do to get it”

His conversation was fluent and I could feel his pain speaking about the rivalry in the Serbian population.

It was a wonderful experience to talk with the whole group; although they are from varied countries, with different ages, they considerate themselves as a great team, having a massive support and connection into the team. Every idea was considered by the group, disputed and decided as team.

So we can consider that YMCA Europe with the ‘Bridges for the future’ project have realized their expectation: opening minds to promote Peace and projecting experiences as opinions about the conflict, and above of all… about Peace.

World Peace is a big step, probably we will never get it, probably we will never understand each other, therefore, all of us must make an effort day by day to change the conflict, to change the situation, and maybe, changing ourselves, being empathic with the opposite opinion, being more realistic and respect that the world is huge and we need diversity to have our personal idea.

“In countries where there is peace, people take it for granted”

So maybe the solution is as easy as we think, maybe it is in ourselves, having happy and good energy, sharing positive messages and promoting the understanding in our communities and families… And at the end, give our personal meaning for Peace.

By Sofie Kerouac

Bringing peace home

This summer, I spent a week in the Republic of Georgia with young YMCA leaders from the Southern Caucasus area as part of the Roots for Reconciliation project. Participants were present from the USA, Armenia, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia. For those of you unfamiliar, the Southern Caucasus area is an area that has long standing historical conflicts. All participating countries were a part of the former Soviet Union and some participating countries (i.e. Ukraine and Russia) have current or very recent histories of conflict with each other.

Let me stop there with the history of the region—because the point of the trip and the program was not to learn about historical and present conflicts. The point was this: to bring young leaders together and to build peace by giving them the opportunity to build relationships with each other.

What I saw and what I experienced were people learning to see each other as people—not as stereotypes and not as the country they are from. On day one, when 50 of us had just arrived from 5 different countries speaking 5 different languages, we all went to the beach. We were friendly with each other, but I noticed that we mostly kept to the people we came with. By day 5, an entire peace-building workshop later, I could no longer even tell you who was from where. We were all mixed up, and they were all my friends and my inspiration.

What I learned through the workshop is this: Peace is a process of baby steps. And peace starts with relationships. Because relationships allow us the powerful experience of knowing someone beyond our preconceived notions of who they are and what they represent.

Now, let me bring this message home. Often, when we say “peace” people instantly think global. But as I stood discussing peace with leaders from countries currently at war, I found myself trying to explain to them that we, Americans, are still actively struggling for peace, reconciliation, and understanding in our own country and communities.

Currently, I live in one of the most racially segregated cities in the country. The lines of race and social economic status are clearly visible in my city. The stereotypes people hold about those who are different from themselves are real. They are real, they are damaging, and they are limiting to our ability to build peace.

I came home from my trip to Georgia, after a week of talking about peace, to find that my community was struggling for peace. While I was gone, an unarmed black man was shot and killed by a police officer. My city was on the verge of chaos and unrest with racial tensions boiling. It is a storyline that is becoming too familiar and unfortunately, is not a storyline that my city is unfamiliar with.

I came home to reality. And I had to ask myself some serious questions. I consider myself a leader for our YMCA in Diversity, Inclusion, and Global work. I now have a sharpened understanding of how building relationships can contribute to peace. I work hard each day to empower young people, of all different backgrounds and circumstances, to be their best selves. But what am I actually doing to build peace? What am I actually doing to get the youth in my city to walk across lines, stereotypes, and cultural boundaries and learn to see each other as people? It sounds so small and trivial, and yet it may be what saves us. That one at a time, we teach our young people to respect each other for their differences and similarities, by pursuing opportunities for them to build relationships. I came home from my trip and this is what I wrote in my journal and what I would like to ask you:

Will you join me? Will you join me in teaching our young people to love one another? Will you join me in helping them learn to overcome differences? Are you willing to sacrifice your own feelings, biases, and fear to act only as a catalyst for their well being? I think I am ready, but I cannot walk alone. I have watched others walk the path of commitment to social justice and peace. I have learned that this commitment is a part of the YMCA. We are here to serve our community. Our community needs peace. We can build that peace through young people with enough energy being put into it. But it has to start with us and our hearts. And the understanding that this is our problem and it is our work. Peace is a part of the YMCA mission.

What are you doing to build peace and understanding in your community and city? What are you doing to build bridges between the people in our city and help us to work past conflict and misunderstanding? It’s easy to hide behind excuses and politics. It’s easy to place blame. It’s hard to step out of your comfort zone and do something. But I’m inviting you to join me and to support each other in doing something bold to build peace and social justice in your city. I believe that you can do it. I believe that WE can do it.

By Kristi Rohrkasse

ITS MY CAMP PROFEST

The current refugee crisis that modern Europe is facing affects all of us living on the continent. The sight of thousands of desperate women, men, children and elderly desperately fleeing homes and looking for safety once again highlights the most significant factor that is essential for all the people around the globe in order to live in dignity – peace…

YMCA Europe has been addressing this issue actively for quite a long time. The International Project “Roots for Reconciliation” started in 2007 and at the moment is going through the second stage of implementation. During this period, hundreds of young people ranging from Hawaii to Bangladesh, from Kaliningrad to Johannesburg have taken part in various seminars, workshops, event and activities – promoting one very important notion: PEACE…

Program Festival “it’s mY camp” held in Ureki, Georgia at YMCA Georgia Resource Center “Camp Orange” was yet another of events with same message to all – on July 22-28, 2015 more than 50 young people from YMCAs of Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Nagorno Karabakh and United States got together to spend together one week of learning, sharing, fun and music.

The main subject of the Festival was camping program and most of the learning part of the event focused on this component – members of US delegation sharing the rich culture of camping programs in United States and the best practices obtained during all this period; other delegations provided their own inputs and experiences in the field – all underlining the role and importance of camping programs in developing YMCA movement in general – serving youth, growing leaders, building partnerships and generating income – all together it makes a successful YMCA.

But, however important camping programs can indeed be to build successful YMCA, perhaps this program component was not the most important part of the ProFest… Maybe what impacted most was that long hike in the National Park; The beautiful song of Ukrainian girls that brought tears in the eyes of everyone; energetic US dances and songs that got all of us off feet and dancing; Russian cultural evening that left nobody uninvolved; electric jam-sessions of young Georgian and Armenian musicians every evening and the mere sight of everybody being there, together, happy, smiling and at peace…

PEACE WORK INSTITUTE REUNION

The Peace Work Institute – within the YMCA Europe Rots for Reconciliation project was a series of 3 one-week-long residential training sessions. The first session was held in Istanbul October 2012), second in Yerevan (June 2013) and the last one in Strasbourg (December 2013). The aim of the Peace Work Institute predominantly was in line with the second outcome indicator of the Roots for Reconciliation project, which is: empowering youth opinion leaders coming from conflict-affected areas of Europe to act for change in their sending organisations and respective communities as multipliers of peace culture and cross-border dialogue.

The aim of the Peace Work Institute alumni Reunion was to be a relevant concluding activity within the scheme, where the results are evaluated and best practises shared. On the other hand, in our vision, this event have bridged the Peace Work Institute with the Roots for Reconciliation Outcome Evaluation and Impact Assessment process, serving as a planning workshop for it, as well as key data collection and focus group forum.

The whole Peace Work Institute was designed as an experiential learning scheme. The knowledge, skills and attitude gained by the participants at the residential sessions were put into practice through homework tasks and by the follow-up projects. During the session, variety of educational tools have been applied when delivering the training modules, including plenary inputs and discussion, small group discussions and exercises, games and role plays, personal reflections and individual work, evaluations, etc.

During the PWI Alumni Reunion session, the following activities were delivered:

1. The PWI and Tandem Grant projects evaluation workshop as integral part of the overall project outcome evaluation and impact assessment process. To achieve the best results, the preparatory team prepared homework for the participants prior to the session itself.

2. The presentation of the PWI curriculum, and the Safe Space approach. This was the main deliverable and heritage of our PWI pilot scheme to be transferred to the next PWI generations.

3. Workshops on Digital Activism Plan (with focus on social media as a powerful tool, promoting mutual- awareness and respect, peace culture and dialogue ) as a step forward for the new actions and activities of the graduates and as base for further actions of the next PWI generations.

This week helped to understand the feelings of different people (different nationalities) who are in the conflict situations. By building the cross – border communication we come to understandings of the realities and new ideas of cooperation’s between nations/countries/NGOs.

Iuliia, Ukraine

I’ve personally been inspired by the individual stories and YMCA movements activities. They give me motivations to deeper my involvement in the NGO sector and shine a light on the materialistic of commercial sphere I live in. The program and people in it inspired me to think about where I would like to focus my work on and reset my life goals.

Ivana, Serbia

Making a change isn’t that easy and it requires effort. And I worked from that model of reality. Being more informed about objective of the YMCA RfR, I managed to implement some of my new acquired skills in my organisation. I gave my suggestions to others and they found it interesting and applicable. I started to work on the topic of peace and I realised that making a change isn’t that easy and it will require effort.

Aleksandra, Macedonia

YMCA gave me the opportunity to enter into a world surrounding with the words of peace, love, patient and solutions in the conflicts all the countries faced.

Christina, Cyprus

EXCHANGE VISIT TO ISTANBUL

The graduates of the Roots for Reconciliation Peace Work Institute series elaborated these initiatives aiming at peace culture education and cross-border dialogue. First in the timeline was the study visit to Nagorno Karabagh (August 23 – 29), then the ‘Bridges for the Future’ regional Balkan event in Pristina, Kosovo (September 6 – 11), and recently Armenian group exchange visit to Istanbul, Turkey.

October 20 – 26, some 20 Armenian and Turkish young people gathered together in Istanbul to establish amiable relations and get empowered to act for improved mutual trust and understanding.

In order to understand the context, and the prominence, of this Tandem Grant Tool initiative within YMCA Europe Roots for Reconciliation project, we would like to remind you that there are no diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, and the boarder between these neighbouring countries remains closed.

Notwithstanding, the young people were not challenged to focus on those and many other dividers, but rather they were focused on search of connectors and shared positive values. And they managed to find many!

The event was hosted by YKV-Turkey and had an added value in refreshing their project partnership with YMCA Europe.

Photo gallery

BRIDGES FOR THE FUTURE

The idea for the “Bridges for the future” project was designed by graduates from previous `YMCA Europe Roots for Reconciliation` Peace Work Institute events (Istanbul, Yerevan, Prague, Strasbourg). The only way to shed the “Balkans melting pot” reference is to dispel myths and start at a grass roots level with the youth. The added value of doing this on an International level is for young people from post conflict areas to realize they are not alone, to provide a greater support network and also to share responsibility for the common fate of Europe.

Using an innovative new format, the “Bridges for the Future” Seminar pushed participants to work as creative production studios where they were expected to simulate a professional creative process by pitching their project idea, establishing a workflow plan, writing out a creative brief and creating other deliverables during the course of the week. The following article was presented during the project by one of the “interest groups” called “Arrow Productions”.

They are staying in the region with history plagued with conflicts and wars among each other during past decades. But first, look at the group of young leaders, sipping coffee and checking their smart during a break and you wouldn’t differentiate between them would you?

Throughout the week (6th to 11th September) the young people have had an intense program laced with expert lectures on media management and communication. Other meetings and discussions relating to complex topics such as religion, co-existence and diversity have provided rich learning for all the participants. Above the experience has provided opportunities to meet with other young people and make friends from around the World.

“We have to keep together, promote peace and teach other people how YMCA does this. Balkan young people don’t know what real peace is, they are lost about it, they lose hope – we need to remind them that Peace means hope, love and people working together,” Christina from Cyprus said. Once she returns home, she intends to teach how easy peace can be reached – and spread more knowledge of the YMCA.

Katarina from Macedonia added “I have learned about different cultures and how other people live. All young people from the region are essentially the same, and their cultures are very similar – more than we actually realize,” Concluding she said “I am happy to get to network and expand my contacts around the world and now I have a platform for future work.”

It was only several years ago that Kosovo was in the middle of a war for independence with Serbia; a few years further back in the 90’s devastating wars between several Balkan countries took thousands of lives. Tensions and occasional displays of violence are still present in some participating countries. It is without doubt many of the young people attending the seminar have been directly impacted by the Wars in the Region. With that in mind it has made the seminar a real challenge and has enriched the learning experience for all of the participants.

The YMCA organizers have handled this challenge with great skill and professionalism ensuring that all participants remain comfortable discussing difficult issues in a safe environment. The seminar has included morning sessions with powerful messages of peace and understanding and the days continued with lively discussions on peace building both in theory and in practice, including input from participants (young activists/leaders) who shared their personal experiences.

Several dedicated time slots were also allocated for participants to learn about social media and groups of participants then undertook a media project to promote a message of Peace. Working together the participants took on various roles and responsibilities and they then worked together to produce their message, some used video and others used pictures, commenting Martina from “Arrow Productions” said “the home groups were a great opportunity for the participants to learn new skills in media production and communication. It was an effective method of team building and cohesion allowing young leaders from several countries to work towards a common goal”.

Having seen the disasters of wars and conflicts, the young people instead of giving in to despair, feel the future is in their hands and they can make a big change in their home countries. With seminars like this they have had the chance not only to make personal friendships but have also learned from each other.

On concluding the week the young leaders have clearly developed a renewed sense of hope and passion with their eyes fixed on changing their present and shaping their future.

YMCA Europe Peace Work Institute III Strasbourg

It is the third and final event of the series of 3 one-week-long residential sessions within the YMCA Europe Roots for Reconciliation project.

The aim of this initiative is to empower youth opinion leaders coming from conflict-affected areas all over Europe to act for change in their sending organisations and respective communities as multipliers of peace culture and cross-border dialogue.

The first session within this series took place in Istanbul, Turkey (October 2012), the second one – in Yerevan, Armenia (June 2013). At the session in Strasbourg the YMCA Europe plans to bring together over 30 participants, facilitators and guests coming from 15 European countries. Most of them have attended the sessions in Istanbul and Yerevan.

As part of the YMCA Europe Roots for Reconciliation project implementation plan in 2014, 3 – 4 follow-up projects will be implemented by the graduates of the Peace Work Institute.

They will be clustered in tandem groups, which are designed to bring together young people representing different sides of conflicts. In 2015 the Roots for Reconciliation project also considers Peace Work Institute Reunion for evaluating the results of the tandem projects.

`I am sitting here, torn between wanting to blog about how wonderful the Peace Work Institute conference has already been or how beautiful Strasbourg is, or how fortunate and honoured I am to be part of such an extraordinary conference that has the potential to inspire the world and bring change and hope once again.

We took a long and cold walk to explore Strasbourg city yesterday. Strasbourg, France Christmas Market (Christkindelsmärik, capitale de Noël in French) is the oldest one in France. It far exceeded my expectations…All of the buildings had some sort of decoration on them and there were banners leading down streets to other markets. Strasbourg is a beautiful city with so much to see and the Christmas decorations made it all the more wonderful. As the sun set, the smells of street food and mulled wine embalmed the air while a million tiny twinkling lights set the city off.

Today we starting working in our tandem groups on our projects “study visit to Karabakh” which is going well so far so good, the context of the project coming together and will have a great potential for both parties.

Young people can make a difference if they come together, reflect and share and act on there ideas, first thing is to change ourselves, then the others will look to us for inspiration and will act. Human potential is amazing… We have the capacity to create a world that is peaceful…one that spreads kindness and love rather than hatred. If we believe it to be so, it will be our truth, and we will create it.

I will leave you with a little saying ” Leave the world a little bit better than you came in to “

Peace and love!`

Frah Saeed, England

Peace Work Institute – Session II Yerevan

The event in Yerevan enrolled 30 participants and facilitators representing 14 YMCA movements and partner organisations from all over Europe.

Digital Activism, Reflective Peace Practices, Areas of Peace Work and Case Statements for Tandem Projects were the main educational modules of this session. Resultant YMCA Europe Roots for Reconciliation online communication platforms were created or tailored to keep the Team PWI effectively interacting in between the residential session, and to enable extensive outreach of the project’s message to wider public.

Draft case statements were elaborated to start the planning process of Tandem Projects within the Roots for Reconciliation portfolio, projects which are to be initiated and led by the PWI graduates in 2014.

Those especially consider cross-border initiatives between young people from Georgia and Russia, Armenia and Turkey, in the Balkans and Nagorno Karabagh. And most importantly, all these outputs and outcomes were achieved thanks to excellent group dynamics created and maintained through the whole week. Every single participant and facilitator has his/her unique contribution here – like Rachel from England…

My name is Rachel and I am from the North East of England. I attended both Peace Work Institute in Istanbul and Yerevan. I started in Peace Work through the Asia Pacific Alliance of YMCA and was asked to share my experiences with the European Peace Movement.

As well as sharing my experiences I attend the Peace Work Institute as a participant. In Yerevan I was very honoured to be asked to be part of the planning team for Strasbourg. I feel privileged to be a member of the peace work institute when its main aims are around the Balkans and Caucasus and the post conflict, reconciliation work that is going on there. I am not from this region nor did I have a good understanding of the conflict in Eastern Europe until recently, until the Peace Work Institute. To be part of the process and part of the peace work in Europe, for me, is not only about this level of peace but peace on all levels; between people and within people.

It is often said that England and participants from England represent a neutral country in all the situations. For me, this cannot be true. To be neutral, you take the side of the oppressor. Being neutral is to painful for me, when I hear the stories of the brave and inspiring participants, friends of Peace Work Institute, England is not neutral, I am not neutral. I do feel that, as English participants, we can bring something to the table. In Yerevan, being part of the Tandem Grant for Nagorno Karabagh was an honor and I admire the bravery of the participants and friends of those that told their story. I still carry it with me daily and imagine I will carry it with me for a long time to come.

Peace is not a destination but a journey and one I have already traveled far on it thanks to the Peace Work Institute. I work with young people on a daily basis and the learning from the PWI has enabled me to share that with them so that they can live their life in a do no harm manner and start on that journey of peace.

It is thanks to the facilitators and participants, my friends, that make the PWI an inspiring place to be and I leave feeling energised and motivated and dread that conference come down! Thank you to YMCA Europe and England for the opportunity and experience.