YMCA in Kosovo Blog

Hi dear friends! I want to tell you guys of how the YMCA helped me to evolve as a person and also directed me in new interesting paths in my life. I spent most of my life outside of Kosovo. In 2002, my family decided to move back after living 9 years in Switzerland. I ended up spending 5 years in Kosovo end I can easily say that those were the happiest years of my life, even if we didn’t have the best financial situation as a lot of other kids in my town, we still managed to have a lot of fun and in the same time we did learn how to love and help each other. Me and my friends were engaged in a lot of programs and organizations in my town like the local youth center and the red cross, so when my family decided to move to Sweden in 2007, this was not really happy news for me, because of the fact that it was really sad to leave all these amazing people behind and the whole project that we worked so hard for. So the first days in Sweden were really hard and I missed everyt...

Dear YMCA friends, I had the opportunity to be in WAY training in Norway as an 'Agent of Change'.   The experience was great and every time we go through these International trainings it makes me more aware of how big the YMCA World is and it that it leaves you inspired and feeling so good! We stayed in Oslo for one night and then moved to Gjovik for the rest of training. It is was an inspiration to see youth from different YMCA’s and the diversity of the ways they contribute to their institutions and local/national movements. At times I was had a feeling that some of agents where seeing communication with their CEOs a big challenge, which made me think how can I can contribute to this process. I think in the next NGSs (National General Secretary’s) meeting I will have to say something about this and maybe share with an open letter to everyone the importance of having around 50 youth from Europe who voluntary contribute to help awake the sleeping giant and are ...

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 O...

I am Martin part of GWY team in Gjakova. Yesterday I visited YMCA Kolleg in and YMCA University in Kassel, Germany. Also I had some meeting with officers in YMCA Germany. It was a pleasure to see students learning on an institute of real education, spirit and physical preparation. I hope soon people from GWY will have the opportunity to join schools like this one in a short future. It is so important to break the ice of communication and one day to have some cooperation. Greetings from Burgdorf, Germany!

Hi everybody ! My name is Arber Beqiri and I am a board member in my local YWCA-YMCA in Västerås ,Sweden. I work mostly with art programs within the YMCA, like Street art, graffiti and screen printing but I am also in charge of the web administration and the graphic design production for the organization. I meet Adrian at the General Assembly in Manchester and I was amazed of what a great job you guys were doing in Kosovo. I was born in Kosovo, Mitrovica but I've lived mostly outside the country, I did not really know that there was a YMCA in Kosovo until I meet Adrian at the GA, but now I know and I would love to keep in touch with you guys. I would love to blog sometimes about what we are doing here in Sweden, because I feel that in that way we can inspire and motivate each other in the best way . I will take part in the festival in Prague this year, so I look forward to meet some of you there ! Blessings, Arber

Posted on Behalf of Orbis. Hello My dear YMCA family. I’m Orbis Rexha and I’m a volunteer at the YMCA in Kosovo . I had the chance to be a participant of The training Named “Fighting youth unemployment through empowerment” in Macedonia.  It was a great experience for me especially getting to know new people from different cultures and breaking down all kinds of stereotypes. The other participants were from all over Balkans and Europe so the diversity was big but when we started to work together we became one!  The Program was great at first we learned theory but we had the chance to express ourselves later on and did much research and practice. The trainers were great and very flexible ,tolerant and very professional. It was a little bit sad that none of the participants and even the trainers didn't know what YMCA is or anything about it , but that gave me the great pleasure of telling them about our Family and our great work that we do and ...

Welcome! The George Williams Youth Association is the YMCA in Kosovo! Here on this blog we will have testimonies and stories from staff, trustees, volunteers and young people. We will try and capture our projects and International experiences.  We are always looking for friends and participants to blog to all our friends in Kosovo and around the world so if you feel you have something to contribute please get in touch! The blog will at times contain thoughts and feelings of individuals and service users and do not necessarily express the organisation or the further movements position or stance. Please try and respect peoples writing and any comments should be positive and add value to whats written. This blog was created for us to share our learning, journey and experiences as we journey together. TOGETHER WE ARE YMCA