Adi in Yerevan

Dear friends, let me first thank everyone within our movement for trusting me to represent them. It’s no secret that Kosovo has been involved in the peace institute for years, even hosting a conference back in 2007. When I first met young people from Kosovo it was during a peace conference in Prague and now 2 years later I find myself speaking on behalf of our movement.

Before i arrived in Yerevan i was told it was similar to Kosovo, but that was not the impression i got. Like Kosovo it has stunning scenery and there is rich history. There is plenty of new buildings being developed and the backdrop of mountains again left me breathless. Armenia doesn't accept the Kosovo passport so there was extra pressure on myself to speak on behalf of our movement, this will one day change but brings home the reality we face as a movement in Kosovo about giving our youth international opportunities.

The training in Yerevan was the second stage in the current process, after Istanbul in October Dorina Artan and myself had all delivered ‘Do No Harm’ workshops in Fushe Kosovo and Gjakova with mixed results. Following on from this the plan now is to work towards joint projects with neighbouring movements. So in 2014 we will join Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia YMCA’s in delivering some conference/camp or event for our young people. Watch this space!

One of the other tasks was presenting Kosovo at the intercultural night which included a tea party. I decided to take camomile tea and Lemons and some countries really enjoyed the tea and asked to take some home with them. I shared a video made by US Aid which showed off some of our wonderful scenery, towns, culture and food. The video can be found on our website.


It was a very tiring week and I'm glad to be back home in Pristina now! I’m very thankful I was given this opportunity. I now continue working on bringing opportunities to our youth and we look forward to the festival and a potential training in Iceland later in the year.

Comments

  1. Unknown22 June 2013 at 19:50

    Hi Adi,

    It looks like you are doing amazing work out in Kosovo! Really inspired, and still shocked that the situation is like that with Armenia.

    Keep up the good work, England is missing you... met a young person from Bolton who knew and spoke very highly of you at AsOne Festival last week :) keep up the great work!

    Jack Ahearn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adi Davies23 June 2013 at 09:36

      Dear Jack,

      Thanks for the message. Kosovo is a very young country, it recently celebrated its 5th year independence and there are still lots of countries who don't recognise it. Don't be shocked that Armenia is one, they have their own realities and issues and in no means was this blog written to put them in a bad light.

      Both the Balkans and the Caucasus regions have a along way to go, we are proud as a movement that YMCA Europe is tackling these issues and working on initiatives like the tandem grants for cross country cooperation.

      I guess also i would say being British we don't think about these things, we have a luxury where we don't require visas for a lot of countries. This like i said is one of our biggest challenges as a movement, to ensure our youth get the international opportunities.

      Delete

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