One day til showtime....

Wow. it is hard to believe that it has already been three weeks here on the Sunshine coast.  Soooo much has happend and every day is full of training.  We spent our first week in Vancouver and got to enjoy a lot that it has to offer.  I went to the Vancouver Aquarium which is a beautiful huge place.  And also went for bike rides around stanley park among many other activities.  These things were all strategically placed inbetween hours and hours of trainings.  We had intercultural communication training (we still are all struggling with it :) The array of accents and literal vocabulary make for some interesting miscommunications at times.  But, usually its all very funny.  We also had some conflict resolution training and then headed off to camp Elphinstone.

We have now been at YMCA Camp Elphinstone for two weeks.  Two solid weeks of training.  We have met the staff which are all great but are also children.  The camp operates with volunteers and staff. The volunteers are all 17 years old and most of them have worked through the camp program and are now "training" to be paid staff next year.  I'm by far the old lady on the block.  at least 2 years older than the next oldest. ha.  A girl actually said to me yesterday, "you are 11 years older than me, holy crap" nothing like making an old girl feel older.  Plus, i was talking about Bobby's World and some childhood cartoons and non of these youngsters had a clue what i was talking about.  Times are achangin' 

But, I've learned a lot, and the leadership and maturity (for the most part) is very impressive.  The camp does an amazing job turning youth into leaders.  Which brings me to my first assignment.  I will be a group leader for the two week camp of LD1 which is the Leadership Development first group.  This is the older kids who dont reallly got to traditional camp anymore.  we work on things like hard skills, outdoor living, How to teach archery, canoeing, kayaking etc and not just how to do it.  I'm pretty honored to be a leader for the leadership program right off the bat.  It will be a blast and include a 3 day out trip where we will camp and canoe somewhere around Gambier Island. 

After that two weeks I'll be on my "learning week" so i'll head back to Vancouver for a week and begin my meetings and volunteering with local non profits.  I'm really looking forward to this week and hope to learn a ton about YMCA programs in Vancouver. 

The YPN'ers are all good.  They seem to be struggling a bit with some of the language barriers.  But, they like to have me around to explain stuff in a little clearer and slower pace.  Its amazing to realize how fast and poorly people talk until your with 13 non english speakers and they all look at me after someone says something.  But, they all hold their own.  We're pretty excited to do our global education to the youth.  We have some great ideas and have learned some very interesting ways of teaching. 

We did lose a YPN participant who had to leave because his father was ill. its really sad because he was from Kosovo and I was sooo looking forward to learning about the history of Kosovo.  He lived through the war and had some pretty interesting stories about life before, during and after.  Lets just say he is a big fan of Bill Clinton. He will be very greatly missed.

Everythign else is pretty good.  I'm excited to get into camp. We will have Camp Moomba which is a special camp for HIV/Aids youth adn people affected by it.  I'm really interested in being a part of this camp.  I'll have more info about it later.  Also, I may have the chance to go to another camp waaaay up north about 8 hours from vancouver.  well see on that too.

I'll post more soon.  Its very hard to get to a computer since we have 1 for about 100 staff and the WiFi goes in and out.  But, I'll try to post more often.

Miss everyone and see you soon!

Introducing YPN 2012!!

Well, I have arrived in Vancouver.  And so has everyone else with their versions of flight stories.  Delays, cancellations, person next to them fainting on the plane.  You know, the usual. We have all made it.  Representing YPN 2012 this year is:

Zenia- Lebanon
Julia- Argentina
Gigi- Senegal
Edita- Czech Republic
Kristina- Ukraine
Yoanna- Colombia
Cecilia- Ecuador
Edgar- Mexico
Chen- China
Jenny- Phillipines
Mo cha- Hong Kong
Artan- Kosovo
Andrea- United States
Robyn- Canada

I was so excited to learn where people were coming from.  I of course, am the oldest...probably be the mother hen around the city.  and Mo cha our spit fire Hong Kong girl is the youngest at 20.  We're just getting to know each other which isnt too hard when four of us are cramped in a tiny hostel room. But, i dont think it will take too long.  We have a looooooooooooot of training over the next three weeks. 

I'll have more to post with pictures and introductions to the program and participants as soon as I can get a bit more time on a computer. 

Chao for now!

Youth they are important EVERYWHERE.

Lakota Instructions for Living

Friend do it this way - that is,
whatever you do in life,
do the very best you can
with both your heart and mind.

And if you do it that way,
the Power Of The Universe
will come to your assistance,
if your heart and mind are in Unity.

When one sits in the Hoop Of The People,
one must be responsible because
All of Creation is related.
And the hurt of one is the hurt of all.
And the honor of one is the honor of all.
And whatever we do effects everything in the universe.

If you do it that way - that is,
if you truly join your heart and mind
as One - whatever you ask for,
that's the Way It's Going To Be.

passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman

A year ago I got the opportunity to go to the Sioux YMCA for two weeks on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.  For 6 years, the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities have been sending staff to run summer youth programs in partnership with the Sioux YMCA in Dupree, SD in the smaller communities on the reservation.  We went in groups of 3 and each day would go to two different communities in a van loaded with basketballs, baseball equipment, arts and crafts, and whatever else we could fit besides ourselves.  It is an excellent staff development and cultural peice as well as one more layer to the vastness of how the Y is dedicated to communities. 

The Cheyenne River Reservation is a beautiful, magical place besides the extreme poverty of the communities and social problems they face.  The "amber waves of grain" really come to life here.  And the spirit of the youth is unlike anything.  In this world of young people "needing" the latest fashion, video games, movies etc. the youth on the reservation have giant smiles and they may not have shoes.  They are a joy to see everyday. 

So this year, when I got a  phone call from my teammate from last year who is there again this year, that one of our kids (they are "our" kids by the time you leave, because you kind of want to steal them) had committed suicide last fall it really hit me.  Royce, a 14 year old leader, and one of the older kids in the community had started to dabble in alcohol and drugs.  A reality that is too common for the young people on the reservation.  He must have found his life too hard, and chose to end it.  I can't put into words the saddness that overcomes me when I think of this kid, a great athlete, with big smiles playing softball with us found this world too hard. 

No young person should find this world to hard. 

On another note, I got to hear from some of the kids i met last year with from my former team mate.  They say "hi" they miss me and actually remember me. Wow, if that doesn't make you warm and fuzzy. 

The work is important in this forgotten land.  These are young people with just as much potential and are the exact same as the kids as in the inner city or down the street.  They just need nurturing and the avenue and support to be successful.  The Cheyenne River Reservation is not done yet.  Let the healing begin.

Here are a few pictures of the reservation and kids:

To learn more about the YMCA Sioux Y Initiative check out their blog at http://siouxymcainitiative.blogspot.com/ or to make a donation to the Sioux YMCA  http://www.siouxymca.org/

View from the Ferry

Here is an email I received today.  Its getting really close to V-Day.....

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I was out visiting the Camp Elphinstone (where you will be this summer). To get there from Vancouver you need to take a 40 min ferry ride and it was a beautiful sunny day for the trip. The view of the mountains from the ferry was lovely so I took this photo and thought I’d share with you:-)

All the best!

Robyn

--
Robyn Heath | Program Director - Community Operations
YMCA of Greater Vancouver

You Are Free by Mates of State

Stop telling me the right way to go
I'm on my own
You're selling our old ways
Stop telling me the right way to go

You are free
You are free
Living things need to be free
You are free
Like everything wants to be

"You Are Free" by Mates of State

I heard a funny joke by a Daily Show corrispondant John Oliver talking about how in America he saw in the store window a floating grill.  It was a grill with foam or whatever to keep it floating so you could grill WHILE you are swimming.  He said, "If that isnt the epitome of freedom, I dont know what is. You are free if you can grill while swimming"
He has a pretty funny view of Americans and American values (very left wing) but undeniable even to right wingers in Comedy Central special called "Terrifying Times" It's pretty funny if you have the time.

That stand up routine and then Mates of State coming up on my iPod as well as the meeting of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom meeting I attended this weekend made me think about consumerism and how good we Americans are at it.  Its amazing the amount of junk we can consume. It really is the epitome of freedom.  John Oliver also said, "Can Americans make the floating grill? Yes. Will Americans buy the floating grill? Yes.  Can China make the floating grill? Yes.  Will China buy the floating grill? NO." We as consumers are the only people who can change our current economic state, change politics and really be free.  Free from the junk and ideas that we NEED things.  Just because we can doesn't mean we should!

Challenge #1: Do not buy something new if the old still works.  i.e. I just said the other day, "I should get some new kitchen garbage bins." Why? "They are old and kinda smell" Really?? Wash them Andrea.  they are fine. 

Challenge #2: Buy local.  Not just in your neighborhood cause lots of times even that stuff is imported.  Really buy local, it might cost a buck or two more but if everyone did that our local economy would be stimulated and everyone would win.  And, we could rely less on imports and in turn rely LESS ON GOVERNMENT.  Personally, I dont want to ever get to the point that everything in my life is affected by the man.  I'll spend the extra $0.30 on the lettuce to try to move toward that. 

Challenge #3: Do something that makes you uncomfortable every day.  Being uncomfortable leads to growth.  And everyone can afford to keep growing.

"You Are Free" by Mates of State via YouTube

(Not the best recording but still good)

Ignorance and Furr

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”
- Stephan Hawking

 

Ignorance.  Isn't everyone ignorant? You could be one of the smartest, most worldly, culturaly savvy people and still be ignorant.  There are tons of intelligent ignorant people.  Many times its the inability to question the things that are heard and people believing everything told to them. Thinking that you've learned enough.  Being set in your ways, traditions, ideals.  Things change and if you think you have more knowledge then everyone else, you have a lot to learn. 

I love learning anything and everything I can.  Someday I'll be wise.  But, I'll still have a lot to learn.  The Youth Peace Network will teach me a lot about a lot. I just realized yesterday that I leave in under a month and its the first time I'm nervous and scared.  I've been stressed out and I'm so close to hitting my fundraising goal and having things figured out.  So much to do, so little time. Plus, I'll leave and not see my sister for a year when she goes to Korea to teach English. But, its worth it. 

If I can erase even a little bit of ignorance in myself and then in others it will be totally worth it. 

Here is a song by Blitzen Trapper, a great band that I spend a lot of time singing to in the car.  Here is one of their best singles, Furr from the album Furr.  It is to me a song that talks about the changes from youth, running free and doing what you want, to adulthood and growing up; changing from "fur to skin".  Its a cool catchy tune and a band to check out. 

Do you know what a peace pole really means?

“Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The actions that we do always have a reaction, a cause and effect.  I've been noticing this more and more in recent months.  Its how one day you see your life in one direction and the next you're pushed/embraced/pulled/thrown in another direction.  How one deals with the eminant change is a tribute to their charactor. 

Cause and effect is constant.  For me, it is the blossoming opportunities by meeting groups of people who are inspiring and interesting to say the least.  I sent out a letter, to organizations who work toward peace.  In turn i was contacted by a few and got to meet people who have a mission that most have been committed to for years. One of these is a group  recently went to meet with  called World Citizen and the Foundation for Global Citizens.  They were a group of about 10 people who get together twice a month and discuss the world. They put on events and speakers and this meeting I was invited.  One of the World Citizen goals is to educate people about local Peace Sites.  Which many of the YMCA's in the Twin Cities are. According to the Peace Pole Project, a Peace Pole is an internationally-recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the entire human family, standing vigil in silent prayer for peace on earth. Each Peace Pole bears the message May Peace Prevail on Earth in different languages on each of its four or six sides. There tens of thousands of Peace Poles in nearly every country in the world dedicated as monuments to peace.

International Peace Sites often have a "peace pole" that looks like this:

Of course, our peace pole at the Y does not have a beach in the background.  But, it does mean the same thing no matter where you are. 

Peace Sites are committed to:

• Seek peace within yourself and others
• Reach out in service
• Protect the environment
• Promote intercultural understanding and celebrate diversity
• Be a responsible citizen of the world

So now you know what it means when you see one of these.  (effect)

The other cause and effect situation I've found myself in is with the organization WILPF.  You may remember this organization from an earlier post.  The Women's International League for Peace & Freedom has invited me to be guest speaker at their "Coffee and Discussion" event. 

PEACE?

JUSTICE?

or . . . ?

WILPF  Coffee With Discussion

The Peace Movement:

            Hopes, Prospects, Priorities

Brainstorm with a panel of members on program ideas from US & International WILPF.

Plus hear a voice from a new generation—

Special guest Andrea Lewis, US Representative to the 2012 Youth Peace Network, a 3-month program this summer in Vancouver, BC, sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency & the Vancouver YMCA.

SATURDAY, MAY 12, 10 am–noon

Van Cleve Community Ctr., 901 15^th Ave. SE, Mpls

Refreshments, free, everyone welcome!

MN Metro Branch

Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (www.wilpfmn.org); 612-922-7993

I may not know anything about the future of the peace movement, but I may be living it so I guess I can just speak to what I know. 

Everything I have done to date has had a cause and effect.  Deciding I could never be a Banker, led me to Non Profit work. The YMCA led me to Vancouver. Who knows where Vancouver could lead. 

Side Note: Congrats to my sister Alicia Lewis who is graduating from college this weekend.  I'm so proud of her.  Now she has the degree (cause) and the effect is to be determined, but I know it will be great!