YMCA in Kosovo Blog

I’m Anila Mati, 15 years old from Gjakova. For the past few years I’ve been part of the YMCA in Kosovo. I heard about YMCA from my friends and I was curious to be part of it. At first I started in the Leadership program with the Community module which is the first level, now I’m on the last level which is the 5th one. I’ve also attended the Y Woman program, “Podium”, “Upshift” (UNICEF projects) and now I’m a peer trainer in the Leadership project. Anila with friends during Y Women training I’ve created unforgettable memories and that’s why I can’t even decide which one is my favorite. Recently I’ve been very interested in the “Mental Health” program and I can’t wait to join that next! In general YMCA helped me a lot in different ways. I became more socialized with new people which I’m very close with now, I did volunteer work, I became a leader etc. Now I’m very open to try new things such as different programs in YMCA and meet new people. YMCA is like my second home because i...

My name is Rumejsa Zeka, and I am 15 years old. I go to Bedri Pejani Gymnasium in the Municipality of Peja. Rumejsa at Gjakova Y Lately I started to be part of this organisation, as every beginner I am attending Leadership training and Y Woman program. I feel great at the Y, the first thing to note is that I have to thank the people who recommended me to go there.Until now everything went really well and all the sessions for both programs were a success and I am more than pleased. I think going to different activities or training is very important for each individual. Rumejsa during Y Women training For myself, I really wanted to go to Y Woman because of seeing how it has affected my feelings and my self-esteem increases with more desire to get there. Every topic, every activity that has been discussed there affects the human being. Y Woman is a group or otherwise training that has influenced my mind development and my abilities. So from this gender equality training I h...

I'm Elsa Gashi, and I participate in programs: Leadership, Building Bridges and Y-Woman. Elsa Gashi In each of these programs I have had various experiences that have inspired me to join other training, which I do with great pleasure and which brings me a lot of positivity and gives me the space to express my thoughts and ideas freely. After coming to this centre I am fed with knowledge about different topics which after each session I just become curious to know more, to say what I think, to hear what others think, I look forward to next time I come to the YMCA! Elsa and her friends during Y Woman training My experience at Y Woman has just begun and I love every session more and more. There are topics that many of us need more information about, where the many activities we do are contributing to quench our thirst and at the same time increase our thirst for knowledge. My favorite topic from this program so far is "Prejudice and Stereotypes". The reason w...

I'm Adonis Babuni, a 16 years old boy from Gjakova. I attended many YMCA training sessions including: Tensing Vlogging, Leadership and Y Woman... Adonis at the Gjakova Y The fact that everyone here comes with a smile and leaves with one too is just awesome. I feel to express myself and also happy to listen to my trainers and friends. I had a desire to do volunteer work somewhere, sometimes, but the YMCA makes that desire stand out.To be honest I heard very little about the Y Woman project and what is SDG 5 is, so I'm happy I came here and learned all this new stuff. The thing is that it’s different from school, and here we also have fun! As a guy I honestly didn't expect to have so much fun learning about gender equality. I'm glad that there are other guys with the same thoughts about the Y Woman project as me, and other groups with guys as well. I learned that gender equality isn't something only one gender should know, that's why it's called gen...

A short but memorable visit... This month August 2019 the YMCA celebrated its 175th birthday, which was held in London. We volunteered at this 4-day event, where our goal was to represent Kosovo and tell about our work at the YMCA. Dea with YMCA Kosovo delegation at the YMCA 175 In addition to participating in the workshops, we also had the honor of leading our own workshops, sharing our culture with other people. Not only did we share our culture, we also got to know many other cultures from around the world, where we also had the opportunity to make friends with other young people who were part of the event. Dea with her new friend  And finally, we took a stroll through London visiting some of the many tourist sites and museums. Dea with YMCA Kosovo Delegation visiting London

A trip to London… The journey we undertook had a purpose: Attending the YMCA175 event, where we as a delegation from Kosovo had the honor of sharing the beautiful work of our youth with the world, how they help the community, empower youth and how it has impacted and continues to impact, influence. The YMCA is a place where young people can make a difference and feel valued in their community. Diona with the YMCA Kosovo Delegation in the YMCA 175 event I am fortunate to have the honor and privilege to be part of leading one of the many workshops of that event where I had the opportunity to share our culture and the role of young people from my country in empowering youth and changing socializing with people who were eagerly attending and involved in the session we had prepared! Diona during her workshop  Also, during this time I had the opportunity to participate in various workshops where I had the opportunity to get to know a large number of people from all over th...

Hello everyone. I’m Inesa Nikoliqi and I have been part of YMCA Kosova since 2015. Being part of   YMCA Kosovo has given me the best experiences for these years, I learned how to change things for good starting from myself to my society. Inesa with her friends  I started from Leadership training to a lot of other trainings like Y Woman, SDG, Scouts,  etc. And now I’m a Peer Trainer of a Leadership group. So being part of these groups YMCA gave me the chance to visit YMCA France to meet new people and let me know about different cultures from different places. Inesa during the activities in YMCA France camp We have been trained on the topic of "Integration of Migrants in Europe" , where through discussions, different activities and games we have learned about the migrants' struggles and how difficult it is for them to leave their country because of the wars, schooling or the economic reasons. Inesa and her friends at the European Counci...

To be honest, I had never heard about SDG’s or anything like this in my life. The reason why I wanted to be a part of this training was that I knew that the YMCA has always something valuable to tell us, something we would need through our entire lives...   And I wasn’t wrong! Diona and other participants on SDG training The first day of the training was a little bit confusing for me because we talked about things I     never heard before. However, I did not regret even a second of joining, because I knew from the beginning that the time that I would spend there it would be precious and interesting. SDG training had something that everyone could relate to or think about but the topics are huge and this meant our groups sometimes didn’t know how to express themselves or how to see things from a different viewpoint. In this project, we found a place where we could speak openly or what we thought about the different sustainable development topics in the world and...

The SDGs are a collection of 17 goals set by the United Nations. The broad goals interrelated but each one has its own targets to achieve!! The total number of targets is 169. SDGs cover a broad range of social and economic development issues. These include: poverty, hunger, health, education, climate, change, gender equality, energy, urbanization, environment and social justice. The SDGs are also knows as 'worlds transformation in 2030'. In YMCA we promote SDGs whith a focus on SDG 4 within Kosovo. This project is training over 60 young people with a specially curriculum in Peja & Gjakova. We were trained about three months. Where we did various activities about SDG 4. Then we separated the goals in the cities of Kosovo where we thought we should work harder to achieve these goals But we are focused more on SDG 4 that is Quality Education. We all gave our ideas about how we are going to achieve this goal till 2030. Rina during her SDG 4 trai...

My name is Lira Shabi ,I’m 19 years old and I come from Peja, I joined Y MCA 3 years ago and I’ve been part of Leadership training also I’ve been a peer trainer and an Youth ambassador. Lira during her SDG Training After hearing that there will be another training in my city about SDG   I was very happy because , I would be even more engaged in YMCA. I have   the right to say that I haven’t heard about SDGs before and about their function in the world . After my training, I was filled with a lot of knowledge about the goals of United Nations to stabilize the world in different aspects and in many areas. Each of the areas of the SDG has it’s importance. During the training we focused more on the education field because it is one of the main problems affecting the Kosovo state because of the results shown in the research conducted by Pisa also a lot of illiteracy in Kosovo. Training was done in different ways and  it  was very creative, those things made ...

The SDG program, in the YMCA, enabled us to raise some higher degrees and learn something new. During these weeks we were part of the program, the many activities open up our thinking about  the change that we can bring if we pursue the goals which has been presented by the UN, inspired by results that preceded. The experience at SDG, at YMCA in Kosovo  How will we make our country a better place to live? Well, the activity that took place in one of the sessions gave each of us an opportunity to think about how we would change our country, in accordance with UN goals, the SDGs. SDG Quiz SDG 4 Quality Education What do we need to develop more in our country? Education. One of the most profitable sessions. Since education is the main pillar of human development, in their best. From this session we came out with some big ideas and full knowledge, about that what we learned in SDG Program, we became unique. We created our game which is called SDG Ch...