Moving Forward: Y - M - C - A Style

Ahhh another week, and another blog. Its a weird feeling of time going by so fast, and yet at the same time so slowly, but I keep moving forward.

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to attend a session about the Y Care International. This is the larger organization that the West Bromwich YMCA is a part of in the United Kingdom. Y Care links West Brom to the bigger picture of what is going on in the rest of the UK and the rest of the world, actually. This session was about how do we incorporate what is going on abroad with what is going on at home (isn't this always the question foreign policy vs. domestic?). The YMCA is the proud owner of the largest Young Peoples Movement in the world, and they want to bring some of that social justice momentum to my (yes, my) residents in West Brom. They want the residents here to take ownership of not only their environment here, but realize that they are the future, and they can make a difference. (Yes, I must admit, my heart was racing throughout the whole session. FINALLY, someone speaking my language, CHANGE and ACTION!). We learned about young peoples' rights, and what programs the Y Care provides to help create these movements; programs like visiting Parliament and speaking to MP's (Members of Parliament), and also creating letter writing campaigns.... Finally we were given a task, we were made aware of some of the atrocities of what is happening to young people in the Honduras, and how we can support their movement. Their humanity needs to be acknowledged, they need to be recognized as people and not just gang members. To help support them as they take on the task of battling with their government for fair treatment, and to stop the unlawful killings of young people in their prisons. (for more information please click on the above link).

Now the question is how do we accomplish this task? And the light bulb clicked on...we already have in place a group of residents who want to take some ownership of their home here, so why not add this on as an activity, after all it only takes a spark.....Now we just have to get them interested, and battle the question of why would one (Y residents) want to help people so far away when there are their own problems right back here at home? My answer is, through helping others you can help yourself. We are all in this together (to paraphrase the great MLK). Now all I have to do is convince them :-)

I also wanted to share with you a little history of where I am living. West Bromwich is a part of what is called the Black Country, this is a part of England, which was at one time very industrial and home to lots of coal mines. The story goes, that Queen Victoria was riding on the train, and when she arrived in the Black Country she requested to have her drapes drawn, for she thought it was too ugly to look out of her window. While the Black Country may not be the prettiest part of the country, I disagree with Queen Victoria, its def worth looking out your window. The culture, history, and language (the dialect of the Black Country is the same as that of William Shakespeare and Chaucer, it may sound funny, but its the original English) here is a small part of what makes England great. And I had the opportunity to learn a lot more by visiting the Black Country Living Museum. I had a chance to experience a 1900 village (which actually does look a lot like present day West Brom) go down into a coal mine and have the coal miners experience, and play on an early 1900's fairground. It was fun, to take a trip into the past, and have a better understanding of where I am. (to see pics, check out the pictures link in the sidebar)

Cheers!