Quieres ir a Mexcio? Colombia? You can!

Alex in a Sombrero? Have my prayers been answered?

Wait... This picture comes with a disclaimer:

"Now, we understand that a fundamental principle of our organization is to not promote cultural stereotypes and we're aware that some might consider the sombrero to be a tokenistic Mexican stereotype. That being said, we will have you know that the sombrero that Alex is wearing in the above photo is an actual piece of CISV Mexico, given to Alex by his Mexican friend Sebastian when they were JCs together in 2002. We feel that given this circumstance, the sombrero is a fair gimmick."

There you have it. An actual piece of CISV Mexico, in all it's glory.

Now that were all in a festive mood, let us see where this new-found enthusiasm for mixing CISV and sombreros can come in handy...

Hola JB Canada.

February 2nd to 5th. Mexico City. JBers from around the world. One collective goal: Meet the needs of JBers head-on.

The International Training Forum for the Americas is an international workshop created for the National Associations (hey- that includes us!) to solve our collective needs. There are plans in the works to...

• Study and discuss how we analyze our work
• Study and work on planning techniques and project management
• Introduce and discuss communication tools
• Talk about fundraising, board operation, as well as recruiting and retaining volunteers and members.
  

So what does this have to do with all of you? Well, we were really hoping that the lovely JB Canada could some representation in all of this joy.

But hey... I totally thought of another exciting upcoming CISV event that could involve sombreros...

It's AIM 2006 in COLOMBIA!

I know it's a little early to be thinking about these sorts of things, but the fact of the matter is that Canada is actually co-hosting AIM this year. Which means we will need some mad representation. And any and all interested JBers from Canada are more than welcome to come party with CISV international. It will be taking place this august, and more information will be coming soon, so keep those looking-balls open for more updates.

JB Canada is way to cool not to be represented at these events. And any JBer can take part. Yes, even you. Love CISV? Want to get more involved? Want to sing the pony song in a sombrero? Not to sure about the last one, but please e-mail your wonderful NJRs at njr@ca.cisv.org and we will fill your heads (and e-mail inboxes) with pre-camps and registration information.

I hope the holidays have been festive, and the candy-canes peppermint-y.

love,

kathy and alex

The NBM Outtakes: What You Didn't See!

In the planning process of any CISV activity, camp or meeting there will be an overwhelming wealth of ideas, deams and plans. What can I say? We're a creative bunch. But the practical reality usually means that we can't do everything we want to every time. Some of those dreams will ultimately have to give way to practical reality and that's just life.

The planning process of NBM 2006 was as rich and bursting with ideas and dreams as ever. The planning team of Adina, Alex, Kelly, Kalenne, Kathy and Keenan spent long hours (and hundreds of e-mails) coming up with the most innovative, funny and functional ways to make NBM a success. It was a magical process. One that paid off, we think.

But like always, there were some outtakes. Some ideas that didn't make it to final release. For your personal enjoyment, here is one of those outtakes. A Kathy and Alex collaboration, filmed on location in Halifax, originally intended to be a promotional video for NBM...

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8631452844489694549
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-2234068935688084682
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-2154817036207286014
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=1539520009411957964

Production was derailed due to lack of funding and the disappearance of some key footage late in the post-production phase. The producers would like to help everyone who worked in the film.

Enjoy!

Alex & Kathy
NJRs

National Board Meeting Madness!

Well your birthday comes but once a year and so does NBM
And we've come from across Canada, 'cause it's time to meet again!

This was the opening line of the NBM Welcome song, sung by Kelly, Rick and Alex in the early hours of the morning on November 9th, 2006 in London, Ontario, Canada as CISV Canada's National Board Meeting officially began.

It's hard to summarize NBM in one blog post. Maybe impossible. Probably unecessary. If you're looking for the NBM play-by-play, check out the minutes from the meeting. Who seconded the budget motion? Only the minutes will tell.

The blog is for highlights. Not for the budget.

You Are at the Centre of Everything
NBM 2006 was designed to put the participants at the centre of the action. The idea was to make NBM the most useful weekend possible and for us all to remember that CISV couldn't sustain itself as an organization if it weren't for each and every volunteer. Participants at NBM had options for the way they wanted to spend their time. They also led project groups and helped guide the meeting content. It was pretty awesome.

Project Groups
Juniors Unite! At NBM, project groups were formed around some ideas such as environmental sustainability for CISV programs, visioning the future of JB Canada, ideas for JB fundraising, exploring the idea of activities and a national dance-a-thon project. NBM participants worked hard to get these projects started and will continue to work on them throughout the year. If you are interested in hearing more, or getting involved e-mail njr@ca.cisv.org for more info!

A New JB Executive!
We said goodbye to our JB executive of 2005-2006 and welcomed in a brand NEW JB executive! We also passed a motion which changes the structure of the JB exec so that the position of Canuck editor no longer exists, and instead we now have an internal communications chair and an external communications chair! Woah! So say hello to Holly Norris, our new National Camp Coordinator, Emily Rankin, new chair of the Junior Branch Development Committee, Kalenne Thors, new External Communications Chair and Brittany Joy, our new Internal Communications Chair. A pretty amazing team, spanning both coasts of Canada!

A New Junior NJR!
As is pretty obvious in the below post, we had a pretty incredible slate of candidates for the NJR election this year. Kalenne, Kennan and Kathy all poured their hearts into their candidacy and did amazing jobs as members of the NBM planning team.

Congratulations to Kathy Lewis who was elected as Canada's new Junior NJR and will represent JB Canada from 2006-2008! Kathy is from the Fredericton chapter and currently goes to school in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She's a cool cat.

An Outgoing Senior (or Peace Out, Friend!)
Kelly Bowden was CISV Canada's NJR between 2004-2006. At this NBM she finished her legendary term as NJR to fanfare and hoorah! Kelly will be missed as one of JB Canada's warmest, most creative leaders, but we know that she won't disappear and that CISV will continue to benefit from her genius. To see some congratulatory remarks from some of Kelly's friends, check out...

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8283232557493355738&q=Bowden+Appreciation

A New Year!
For CISV Canada, NBM is kind of like New Year's. It marks the end of a year gone by and celebrates the advent of a new one. After it ends, there's a short period of lull where we all catch our breath and reflect and then all of a sudden the cranks start turning again and off we go! So hop on the train everyone, it's going to be a good one!


With Love,
(the new) K & A

Meet the 2006 NJR Candidates!

Kathy Lewis
Hello JB Canada/confused web searchers! My name is Kathy Lewis, and I am one of the 'K''s who is running to be YOUR NJR! Madness. I originally hail from Freddy Beach, but I am currently in 1st year university in Halifax! This past year I was the Juniour Branch Development Chair, which meant I got to be creative all year. Like fingerpainting with macaroni and sparkles, but with words and ideas. I like sunrises more tham sunsets, and I can never listen to the end of a song. I have to skip to a new song on my diskman when the song is fading away. My favorite letter of the word peace is the 'p' because it completes a circle and then reaches out to the beyond. I think you can find inner peace through the steam of a hot chocolate to a friend's face. My favorite song is currently "The Mother" by Xavier Rudd, and my favorite book is currently "Oh the places you'll go!" by Dr. Seuss. It was the theme of the summer camp I kitchenstaffed this July. I still believe in Magic, and it is my current dream to be JB Canada's Jr. NJR for 2006-2007!

Allo JB Canada ! Je m'appelle Kathy Lewis, et je suis un des « K » › le s qui court être VOTRE NJR ! Folie. Je viens du Fredericton, mais je suis actuellement dans mon premier anneé d'université au Halifax ! Cette année passée j'étais la Chaise de Développement de Branche Junior, qui a signifié que j'étais créatif toute l'année. Comme 'fingerpainting' avec les macaronis et étincelle, mais avec les mots et les idées. J'aime les couchers du soleil de plus que les levers du soleil, et je ne peux jamais écouter la fin d'une chanson. Je dois sauter à une nouvelle chanson sur mon diskman quand la chanson disparaît. Ma lettre préférée du mot paix est le « p » parce qu'il complète un cercle et après aller danser sur la page. Je crois que to peut trouver la paix intérieure par la vapeur d'un chocolat chaud à une visage d'un ami. Ma chanson préférée de maitenant est « The Mother » par Xavier Rudd, et mon livre préféré de maitenant est « Oh the places you'll go! » par Dr. Seuss. C'était le thème du camp d'été que j'ai 'kitchenstaffed' ce juillet. Je crois toujours en la Magie, et c'est mon rêve actuel pour être ton Jr. NJR pour 2006-2007 !

much love,

Kathy

Keenan Dixon
Keenan has recently started Peace and Conflict Studies with International Relations at the University of Toronto, and finds her new home in downtown Toronto. Since many of you know her, here are some random fun facts that you might not know; she was a fetus while her mother ran the Olympic torch, she enjoys a nice smoothie with her breakfast. Her favourite smell is vanilla, she doesn't really like hail, but she loves a good thunderstorm. Her friends call her 'Keeners' or 'Kiwi', she enjoys long walks in the mountains and making people laugh. She doesn't drink coffee, but loves basketball; she watches Grey's Anatomy and lately has been listening to a lot of Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks. Her favourite quote is 'Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their colour. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense and choosing your friends by their colour is unthinkable'.

Kalenne Thors

Hi all you JBers (and anyone else reading this)

My name is Kalenne Thors and I’m one of the NJR candidates this year.
What’s that? You want to know all about me? Great! You’ll be hearing tons
about my ideas and reasons for wanting to be NJR later, so instead here are
some different things about me…
My home chapter is CISV Victoria but currently I’m living in Vancouver
attending UBC. Besides English I also speak French,
quite a bit of Spanish and I’ve just started taking Russian this year at
Uni. My first international program was a Village in Norway in 1999 and my
most recent was the ARMM/IJBC/ AIM in Sweden. My favourite CISV games are
Mickey Mouse, the Chocolate Bar Game and all simulation games or activities
that lead to great discussions. I love sports especially soccer and swimming
and I also enjoy camping, hiking and other outdoor activities. I really like
sewing and I work at a fabric store when I’m not at school. My favourite
movies are Dirty Dancing and The Princess Bride and my favourite TV shows
are the Amazing Race and any Quebecois game show. I had an absolutely
fabulous time working as a member of the national executive this year and I
can’t wait to keep it up! See you all soon ?
Wait… I guess I didn’t tell you any of my weird quirks did I, well, here you
go:
I have a not so secret love of attending board meetings.
I think everything is better if it has a theme.
I love using markers to make signs, draw pictures, whatever.
I recycle obsessively and can’t stand litter.
I have a collection of strange socks.
My favorite letter of CISV is the C, what's yours?

a PROJECT GROUP is a team of JBers who want to DO something

Alex has had a pretty busy weekend. Apart from school work, thanksgiving dinners (two!), and sending out a thanksgiving NBM update, he also got a new chalkboard. In fact, he made the chalkboard himself with a piece of wook and some chalkboard paint! Did you know such a thing existed? Any surface becomes a chalkboard instantly. True novelty!

Have you heard about NBM Project Groups yet? PROJECT GROUPS are your chance to DO something that YOU feel will help develop JB Canada. What does that even mean, you ask? Well, it could mean an infinite number of things, but here are some ideas of possible PROJECT GROUPS:

• A project group that would brainstorm ways to make NATIONAL JB PROGRAMS (NBM, Spring Board Training Forum, national camp) more inclusive of both languages

• A project group that would develop a set of guidelines for making JB activities and mini-camps more ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY

• A project group that would collect 100 new activities for the new JBDC GAMEBOOK!

• A project group that would plan a NATIONAL JB VIDEO CONTEST where each JB would make a video and post it online

As you can see, the possibilities are endless! The limit is your own imagination (which we know is limitless!) So get creative, get excited and propose a project!

At NBM there will be several blocks of time devoted to Project Groups. Everyone will have the chance to be a part of a project group if they want to be, but will not have to if they do not want to be.

If you propose a project the idea is that you will lead your project group during NBM (and until the completion of the project if it continues beyond NBM). If, however, you have an idea for a project but you do not want to lead it, SEND IT ANYWAY, and we’ll try to find someone or a group who are interested in leading it. If you’re interested in leading a project but don’t have an idea, that can happen too! Get in touch with me ASAP (alexneum@gmail.com).

WHAT IF WE USED THE BLOG TO BRAINSTORM MORE POSSIBLE PROJECT GROUPS? I DARE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT WITH ONE PROJECT GROUP IDEA... DOUBLE DARE!

gobble gobble
k&a

Elections? What Elections?

The deadline to nominate NJR candidates has come and gone and I'm pleased to announce that there have been FIVE individuals nomintated! Now, I can't tell you who they are yet, because they still have until October 11th to decide if they are going to accept their nominations. On the 11th we'll announce the candidates who will officially be running for NJR!

In the meantime, have you heard about the national JB executive?? It's made up of the Canuck Editor, the National Camp Coordinator, the Junior Branch Development Committee (JBDC) Chair and the two NJRs . These are elected positions too but you don't need to be nominated to run for them... What DO you have to do, you wonder?

It's simple! In information package ONE there is a questionnaire for each position. If you are interested in running, all you have to do is answer the questions in the questionnaire and send it to Alex by October 23rd! Only those who submit questionnaires will be eligible to run in the elections at NBM. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail the NJRs (njr@ca.cisv.org) or any of the current members of the JB exec whose e-mails can be found in info package ONE!

happy long weekend y'all!

k & a

A Blog Acitivity: YOU ARE AT THE CENTRE OF EVERYTHING!

The NATIONAL BOARD MEETING is CISV Canada's annual meeting. Each November, youth and adult representatives from each of CISV Canada's chapters come together to spend 3 days collaborating, discussing important issues, making connections and shaping the future of CISV Canada. If you are interested in attending NBM or simply finding out more, e-mail Kelly and Alex (njr@ca.cisv.org).

What's in a THEME?

Each year, NBM has a theme. the idea behind having a theme is to explore have one idea that can run as a thread through the entire meeting. Last year, the theme Spread the Light made pay special attention to our Challenges (red lights) and Successes (green lights).

This year, the theme of NBM is "YOU ARE AT THE CENTRE OF EVERYTHING!" The idea is about PERSONAL EMPOWERMENT and INTERCONNECTIVITY...

...but what does that mean?! As a BLOG ACTIVITY, we want to try something...

We want you to draw CISV and YOU.
How do you fit into CISV? How does CISV fit into you? What part of CISV do you feel most connected to? What about least connected to? Show us in some sort of visual representation! We'll post it!

And then we want you to send it to us (njr@ca.cisv.org) and we will post the submissions on our blog. Use a program like PAINT or ILLUSTRATOR on your computer, or do a real drawing and scan it if you can. If you'd prefer to write something, feel free to do that as well. We want to hear from YOU!

k&a

by Kalenne Thors

by Kathy Lewis

NATIONAL CAMP 2006 in Toronto

It's hard to choose one photo to represent an entire National Camp. Coming out of any camp there are hundreds to choose from. Pictures of people hugging, running, playing, eating, cooperating and so on. There are group photos, landscape shots, self-portraits, even the odd mess-up photo.

We chose this shot, which we've entitled "Help is Close to Home", a symbol of many different flavours and textures, all cooperating-- all riding together in the back of our big yellow truck. This makes a good metaphor for National Camp 2006, we think.

But if you want to find out more, you should stayed tuned to the CISV Canada website (www.cisv.ca) where there will soon be posted a photo gallery of National Camp along with a report! If you have any questions about National Camp or the role of National Camp coordinator, don't hesitate to get in touch with Adina Muskat (NC coordinator 2005-2006) at adinamuskat@gmail.com.

What's that....? Do you hear something comin...? It sounds like...like...NBM!

k&a

Sweden vol. 8: A Retrospective

August is coming to a close and for the Canadian NJR that typically means a few days of rest and time to organize one's life between the end of national camp and the beginning of a school year. Somewhere between catching up with parents and beginning to plan NBM there might be a chance to check out a few of the summer's photos... maybe.

Kelly and Alex left the AIM site at 5:30 on the morning of the 10th of August. Alex woke up first and had to run to wake Kelly up with only minutes to spare. In no time we were once again flying over the atlantic, only this time slightly less energized, slightly more... sleeping. AIM had wrapped up less than 24 hours ago and dreams of the past days filled our airborne dreams:

- Meetings to come! Next summer the International Junior Branch Conference and the Annual International Meeting will take place in Colombia. Although the meeting is being held in Colombia, Canada is CO-HOSTING this meeting. In Sweden the Canadians did a presenation together with the Colombians to promote the meeting next year... Did you know that Shakira is from Colombia? After Colombia, AIM will be in Italy in 2008 and then in Guatemala in 2009...

-Re-branding! An updated CISV logo was unveiled by the re-branding team. The board also voted to adopt the tagline "Building Global Friendship" after quite a constructive discussion.

-The International Seminar Camp Committee made a decision to adopt an no-alcohol policy for all seminar camps, starting in 2007.

-Jeff Parliament was recognized for his work as CISV Canada President (3 years) and CISV Canada international Trustee (3 years). This will have been Jeff's final year as an official representative of CISV Canada... What could lay ahead for JP?

- Canadians on International Committees! Did you know that quite a few Canadians sit on International Committees? Who, you ask?? Well, Rick Uy (Summer Camp Committee), Laura Scrivner (Seminar Camp Committee), Jeff Parliament (Village Committee), Aynsley Hague (Seminar Camp Committee), Heinz Boehnke (Interchange Committee), Chris Pollack (International Finance Committee Chair) and Alex Neuman (newly a trainee of the Mosaic Committee) ...and that's not even everyone!

-Kelly and Alex (with the help of some special advisors) spent many hours spent thinking about JB Canada and what it's future might have in store... stay tuned.

A full few hours later, we emerged from our sleeps to find the plane landed and empty, a flight attendant kindly asking us to de-plane. We were back in Canada and although memories of Sweden still floated at the top of our memory buckets we had to shift gears--we had something new to focus on...something that was only a few days away...

...NATIONAL CAMP!

Stay tuned for an update on CISV Canada's annual Junior Branch National Camp, a week of good times, friendship, leadership development and shared experiences for JBers from every chapter in Canada (and then some!)

k & a

The IJBC Team: IJBC was planned by (left to right) Marcos (IJR Candidate), Astrid (junior IJR), James (Senior IJR) and Trisha (IJR Candidate)

A group of us at the America's Regional Members Conference getting down to business

James and Astrid running a session on the GOALS of Junior Branch (have you ever seen those...???)

CISV Canada President Rick and Canada's National Beaver Representative (NBR) promoting the AIM next summer in Colombia

Sitting in the Trustees' chairs in the AIM plenary during IJR elections! Oooooohh.

Kelly with the IJR candidates and a representative from CISV China (in the backgroud).

From an IJBC session on Project Management by facilitator Per Olsen of the International Mosaic Committee

Can you simulate a village in 28 minutes? We tried at IJBC... and then compared it to a 21 minute village...

Singing the CISV song as AIM 2006 draws to a close (almost 300 people!)


The juniors of IJBC 2006 (Can you spot Kelly, Alex and Kalenne??)

Your National Junior Representatives of 2005-2006.

Sweden vol. 7: Everyone Needs a Little Re-Branding Sometimes

Remember the first time you heard about re-branding? What did you think about it? Choose one of the following:

//Yeah! This is something that the organization needs!
//Dude, this stuff sounds a little too corporate to me. "Damn the man, Save the empire!"
//Does this mean I won't be able to paint my own CISV t-shirts anymore? I'm tentative.
//Re-branding? I think that's the town we visited on my village excursion day

If you haven't heard about the CISV's rebranding process until now, then let us fill you in! In 2004, CISV decided that it would undergo a process to evaluate and redesign the way we project our organization to people and groups outside of CISV. A process was undergone to gather information about what people (both inside and outside CISV) believe CISV stands for and represents.

After a huge deal of research, there was a big fat vote. Several questions were voted on (one vote per member country of CISV International) and decisions were come to:

1. In its marketing communications, CISV should use “CISV” as its primary name, rather than
“Children’s International Summer Villages”. Yes
2. Should CISV change its current logo? No
3. To makethe current logo more digitally friendly without fundamental changes to its current elements? Yes
4. Should CISV adopt a “tag line” to use in conjunction with whichever logo is chosen? Yes
“Building Global Friendship”, has been selected as CISV’s tag line.

So, CISV chose not to adopt a new logo but rather to update and simplify the original. Here is what was unveiled the other day in the plenary of the Annual International Meeting: Okay, so it looks a little rounder, a little cleaner...So what? Now what? The next step of the re-branding process is to unify the image of CISV internationally. This means guidelines for how "the CISV brand" can be used. The idea is to make CISV's image a unified one

A question: Will this re-branding help CISV grow and gain credibility OR will re-branding stiffle creativity and divide CISV members who have different opinions? What do you think?

For more information about the rebranding process and to see more of the new visual materials, check out www.ktp.cisv.org Don't forget to let us know what you think about this!

Peace. k&a

Sweden, vol 6: Marcos Tourihno, He's Got Good T-Shirts

International Junior Representative seems like a pretty massive job. Think about it: an IJR is responsible for maintaining links with all of the JB's of CISV around the world. An IJR is responsible for planning and running the International Junior Branch Conference. An IJR is responsible for chairing the International Junior Branch Committee, which is made up of of Regional Coordinators and others doing work for IJB. An IJR is responsible for representing the voice of the International Junior Branch community in the International Executive Board of CISV.

Woah.

In addition, being an IJR candidate must be pretty overwhelming; nominations occur about 8 months before the IJBC and during those months, the candidates help the IJRs to plan the IJBC. They must also make themselves visible to the Juniors around the world who will ultimately be the ones casting votes!

This year, four people were nominated for IJR, including Canada's own Ryan Katz-Rosene. In the end, only two candidates ran for the position: Marcos Tourinho of Brazil and Trisha Oreta of the Phillipines.

On August 7th 2006 a momumental event occured: the trustees moved seats. As they stood, the NJRs from 40 countries took over the table for the IJR elections. Trustees grabbed their cameras and like joyous parents on the first day of middle school, they photographed the occaision. Proxy votes were distributed for countires that were unable to attend and the vote began. Less than five minutes later IJB history changed as Marcos was elected as the incomming IJR.

Marcos only owns t-shirts with rock bands on them. He also only owns t-shirts. Brazil must be pretty warm.

We wanted to give one big clap to both of the IJR candidates for having contributed every inch of themselves over the past months to make this conference possible. It was truly an amazing experience getting to work with both of them.

Did we ever tell you, JB Canada, that you are the wind beneath our wings? Think about it.
K&A

Sweden vol. 5: AIM Online!

One quick update! AIM has a website with some pretty cool things to see including daily updates, photos from the meetings as well as...check this one out...Plenary LIVE! That's right, watch AIM in action. We live in the future my friends.

Do you think one day we won't even meet to hold meetings like this?
Maybe someday, villages could happen online. Could it work?

Check out http://www.cisv.se/page.asp?p=18250 (password: 66075)

k&a

Sweden, vol 4: IJBC Gets Metaphysical

We're back! Yup, time for another session of Nordic News! We've come along way from the Stockholm airport and if you thought our adventure getting here was geographically inclusive, wait until you hear about the International Junior Branch Conference!

KELLY: Hey Alex, what's IJBC?
ALEX: Well Kelly, I would be thrilled to tell you about it...
KELLY: Woo hoo!
ALEX: The origins IJBC date back to 1867 when the first congress was held among the representatives of the various regions of Canada...
KELLY: Um, Alex, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I'm pretty sure you're describing Canadian Confederation.
ALEX: Oh, right. Shit.
KELLY: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was pretty sure that IJBC is the annual meeting that brings together representatives and juniors from every nation of CISV worldwide.
ALEX: So, it's kind of like the General Assembly of the United Nations, but for CISV?
KELLY: You speak truth my fine friend. It's a forum for collaboration, learning and helping develop a sense of community among the youth of CISV from all parts of the world.
ALEX: I guess that is quite different from confederation.

The IJBC is hosted in a different country each summer, always taking place right before the Annual International Meeting (or AIM) of CISV. The National Junior Representatives (NJRs like Kelly and Alex) participate in the conference which is planned by the International Junior Representatives (IJRs) together with the candidates who are running for that position.

This year, the International Junior Branch chose "Exclusion" as an educational theme to be explored. A good chunk of IJBC was spent exploring this topic.

Where do we see Exclusion in CISV?
How do often do we exclude unintentionally?
How can we work towards making CISV less exclusive? Or perhaps more inclusive?
Is exclusion always a negative thing?

Have you ever observed exclusion in your chapter? This question is an interesting one and what is more interesting is what can come out of exploring a question like this. The International Junior Branch will be submitting some ideas to the board of CISV international outlining some of the ways CISV, as an organization can work toward avoiding exclusion as it develops.

What are your thoughts on exclusion?

We want to hear from you! This dialogue on Exclusion is going to continue and the hope is to have as many voices and opinions heard as possible. Whether it be a thought, a question, a story or even just some words, Junior Branch is truly a global community and as a CISVer, your are a part of this community. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Stay tuned for updates on the IJR elections, the Annual International Meeting and...re-branding!!

One big clap from Sweden. Your friends,

kelly, alex, kalenne, and the participants of IJBC

Sweden, vol 3: ARM...Amigos Rock Movimento?

When Kelly and Alex last left you we had arrived in a comfortable room in Stockholm, dreary, luggageless and downright excited for the meetings that we about to begin. Today, we write to you from the hotspot of downtown Jonkoping: the “Orient House” is a small middle eastern restaurant which serves, “probably the best falafel I have ever had”, according to Kelly. The debate over this point will be ongoing.

This morning marked the completion of the Americas Regional Members Meeting. The meeting spanned four days and brought together Juniors from most of the 13 countries which together make up ARM.

The meeting was a combination of training, network building and collaboration on such topics as communication, chapter development and the creation of more direct and meaningful links between juniors from across the Americas.

The Canadian delegation, which included Kelly, Alex and Kalenne prepared and ran a workshop on the topic of “The Different Ways CISV Recognizes its Volunteers”. The idea with this activity was to explore the variety of relationships that different people have to CISV—For instance, the difference between a person who is very involved internationally and another who chooses to invest their energy in mostly local CISV programs. This raised such questions as:

• Does CISV recognize certain types of volunteers more than other types?
• Are certain types of volunteers for whom there is no place (or space) in CISV?
• What can CISV (or ARM or Junior Branch) do to create, and make visible spaces for all forms of volunteers?

In other ARM news, the region elected a new Regional Coordinator. The Regional Coordinator (or ReCo) is the JB co-chair equivalent for ARM. These two people are responsible for facilitating communication within the region throughout the year, providing resources as well as planning and facilitating the ARM meeting each summer. Maria Jiminez Lozano (or Maji for short) of Colombia was elected as Junior ReCo and will work with Nano Batalla of Costa Rica.

As Maji steps up to the plate, Ryan Katz-Rosene of Ottawa (the outgoing ReCo) runs from third base and slides across home plates after a two year run around the field. As he ran toward the home plate the crowd (ARMM participants) erupted in applause and bursted with admiration. Because the field hadn't been mowed prior to the game, it was an exhausting run but ultimately the empire called it "safe!" Ryan returns to the CISV duggout, out of breath perhaps but can be proud that he really knocked one out of the field. We know he'll be back up at bat sometime in the future!

arm arm arm, woo woo woo!!

Off to IJBC everyone, ttyl!

k&a&k

Sweden vol 2: Exclusion in Transit

Each year, the International Junior Branch chooses an educational theme for JBs around the world to integrate into their programming and to help guide the International Junior Branch Conference. This year the theme is EXCLUSION. To launch this theme, the IJB put out an Exculsion packet which outlines the goals of the theme and also a series of activities that can be used to help integrate this theme. If you want to check out this action-packed-packed you can download it from the IJB website! (The username is: ijb.public, password: ijb)

Kelly and Alex are now in Sweden and you might say that our journey here was an exercise in inclusion. If you had looked at our orignal travel itinerary you might have called it "exclusive". It had us travelling like this: Toronto > Newark, USA > Stockholm, Sweden > Jonkoping, Sweden. Only two countries outside of Canada? With all the airports in the world to see, why be so exclusive? But so it was that we departed from Toronto early Saturday morning.

But our trip wasn't to be so exclusive after all!

We arrived in Newark mid-morning on Saturday and after a brief jaunt into New York City we arrived back to the air port only to discover that our flight to Stockholm had been cancelled! Oh No! (Note the sad-faced photo, graciously taken by a "Dr. Pepper" representative-- a fellow victim of the cancellation). Re-routing was in order and before we could spell "Jonkoping" we had a flight path that was considerably more in the spirit of INCLUSION!

Our new flight to Paris which has been scheduled to depart at 7:25 PM left the gate around 11:30. Some hours later the sun had re-appeared and we touched down in Paris. Was this to be the extent of the detour, you ask? No. No it wasn't. We had to race through the Paris airport to catch our flight to--can you guess?-- Oslo, Norway!

If Kelly and Alex were contestants on The Amazing Race would they win? Probably.

Well, they were on schedule to win this leg of the race with their flight from Olso to Stockholm. This was the second last flight to the final destination (only a shortie from Stockholm to Jonkoping remained!). But disaster struck when a roadblock appeared in Stockholm.

They missed their flight.

And so here we sit, friends, in a very comfortable, very Ikea, hotel inside the Stockholm airport-- the window literally looking out onto the concourse. A mild disaster? Perhaps not. With nowhere to have gone in Jonkoping and bags that wouldn't have met us there, our Ikea lounge looks like a pretty good way to spend the night (not to mention a daylong excursion day in Stockholm tomorrow).

In line with the IJB education theme, we should probably thank Scandanavian Airlines for making this leg of our trip thoroughly inclusive. When we finally land in Jonkoping tomorrow we will have seen 6 airports in 5 countries. If nothing else, this has been experiential education as it's most...experiential.

k&a

giving the goodbye gun to our missed flight to Jonkoping

Sweden Chronicles, vol. 1

After a long period of anticipation and preparation, Kelly and Alex well be departing for Sweden on Saturday, July 22nd. Over the two weeks they will spend in the city of Jonkoping, Sweden, they will participate in three international CISV meetings, meet hundreds of CISVers from almost every member country and be a part of the discussions on topics such as the three-week village and the infamous re-branding. Throughout it all they will be representing the juniors of CISV Canada.

We need your help!

We want our time in Sweden not just to be our opportunity to participate in the international goings-on of CISV but also your opportunity to do so! That's why we are going to be updating the NJR Blog on a regular basis and hoping for feedback and input from YOU! Here's a quick run down of what Kelly and Alex will be participating in in Sweden.

America's Regional Members Meeting: America's Regional Members (or ARM) is the group of CISV Junior Branches from North, Central and South America. At this meeting, JB representatives from every ARM country will spend time discussing some topics like:

-- The ARM Tourism project- a new initiative to help those travelling in the Americas!
-- How can communication between ARM juniors be improved?
-- Election for a new Regional Coordinator (ReC0), the equivalent of the JB co-chair for ARM.

International Junior Branch Conference: IJBC! This is some seriously exciting business! NJRS from every country coming together to share common problems ans brain-birth brand new solutions! Wow. This is CISV fireworks at their brightest. Ever wonder what minicamp is like in the philipiness? We'll find out for you, just ask! Some of the topics on the table at IJBC include...

--Exclusion! The topic of exclusion has been the theme the IJB for the past two years. Where do we find exclusion in CISV? How can we work to minimize exclusion?
--What are the goals of the International Junior Branch? How can juniors from all chapters of CISV meaningfully work together?
--An Election for International Junior Representative! Marcos from Brazil and Trisha from the Philipines are running to be IJB-- Check out their questionnaires at the IJB Website.

Annual International Meeting: This is the big one. If CISV were the united Nations, this would be the General Assembly. The Annual International Meeting is the forum for all of the trustees from every member country of CISV to come together not only to discuss but to make real decisions about the way that CISV operates. Some of the topics will be:

--The three-week village: Do we keep this new model or stick to Dorris' original four?
--CISV's infamous re-branding project: the voting has taken place and it's time to decide how to implement our new tagline and standardize our image
--See the complete set of motions on the CISV Resources Website. There are 1o motions in total!


We want to know what you think! Leave us a comment on the blog or send us an e-mail at njr@ca.cisv.org. Let us know if you would like to know more about a specific topic or if feel strongly about something and want your input included in the discussion.

Until next time! Happy Summers, K&A

Spring Board Success!

What things are springtime things? I think of lawn mowing, overheating in jeans (and the subsequent transition to shorts), outdoor music, garage sales, pick-up soccer, picking up litter, haircuts, exams and that lovely extra hour that conviniently tacks itself on to the end of our days. CISV often brings minicamp in the Spring, and maybe a send-off picnic too, if we're lucky.

But has Spring ever made you think of National Junior Branch cooperation before...?

No? Well maybe it should!

Why? Well, because for the first time ever, CISV JB Canad a has held the Spring Board Training Forum! The Spring Board Training Forum (or SBoTFo) is a workshop and meeting for Junior Branch leaders from each chapter of CISV Canada. The idea is to do some practical training and to give JB leaders a chance to meet and collaborate. Ultimately, we hope that Canada's 10 chapters (and one developing chapter) will grow and develop as a result of SBoTfo.

The group of about 20 found a positive group dynamic almost immediately and virtually every person actively contributed to every session. From idea sharing to action planning, here are some of the workshops and topics covered during the weekend…

The Board Building Road Trip
An activity based on sharing challenges we’ve had and solutions we’ve found relating to topics such as activity planning, financial organization, relationship with adult board and group decision making.

Finance with Romance
A simulation activity in which participants had to review a budget and banking statements in order to clear Jack Layton of embezzlement accusations! This, of course, led us to discussion on the importance of diligence and organization when it comes to JB finances.

Junior Branch Development Committee Chapter Buddies
The JBDC (Junior Branch Development Committee) has started a new chapter buddy system, in which each chapter is paired with another chapter. Chapter buddies is a way to maintain communication and encourage collaboration between chapters and also a way to strengthen the support network for JB leaders.

JB Action Plans!
After brainstorming some central chapter challenges with buddy chapters, each participant had a chance to design an ACTION PLAN related to the specific challenges in his or her chapter.

Facilitation!
Facilitation? What’s the deal? This activity focused on good facilitation skills and how to deal with some of the common challenges that come up when facilitating. How does one deal with Tangential Timmy, Too-much-information Izzy, Attention-Seeking Sam and Makes-Bracelets Mike?

It is not very often that a new program is created and probably even less often that such a program is so successful on its first run. I think that over the next few months those who were not at the workshop will have the chance feel the impact of it as the juniors in their own chapters take the ideas that were born at the SBoTFo and put them into action.

Finally, on behalf of the NJRs, I would like to thank everybody who was involved in the Spring Board Training Forum as well as everyone who helped make it happen. Putting it together has been an incredible experience and it couldn’t have happened without YOU!

SBoTFo!

sbpsfdkjgbhsfjg?

yes. the spring board training forum is BACK! ok, well it's not "back" because it was never here to begin with... but thats what so exciting about it! This BRAND NEW FEATURE PROGRAM is build by the NJRS with the ideas and comments from the all the many many JBers from across Canada.

if you have any questions or comments about this wild time of a program be sure to ask your NJRs or your local JB chairs.

more to come!

International This!

In recent world events the International Junior Representatives (think alex and kelly...but for the whole WOLRD. mind boggling, we know. also known as the IJRs and commonly referred to as Astrid and James, Apple and Jucie and A&J) held their MWM in the big NYC.

wonderous WORKING GROUPS
delightful DECISIONS
premium PLANNING

all available for your viewing at: http://www.ijr.cisv.org/

Super-Ultra Executive Think-Tank

M-W-M (imagine all the letters are rotating)

Here at NJR Headquarters in Washington...um, I mean Ottawa... um, I mean Kingston/Halifax, Kelly and Alex are always hard at work keeping the CISV JB Canada cranks running. But this weekend we took a little vacation (don't worry, we paid a local neighborhood boy to water the plants and feed the cat while we were gon). But this was no ordinary vacation. This vacation had it's own acronym. It was called MWM 2006.

Now, MWM is a commonly confused acronym. Alex originally thought it stood for "Meal With your Mom", and one point during National Camp 2005 Kelly mistook it for "Murray's Wicked Moustache" and CISV Canada president Rick Uy has been pretty sure for the past year that it stands for "My Wife's a Mom!" But these are misconceptions. In actual fact, the mysterious acronym dates back hundreds of years and originates from the latin Middus Winterae Maximus, which, today has evolved into the contemporary Mid Winter Meeting!

But what is a MWM, you might be wondering? Well friends, Mid Winter Meeting is a very important time of the year when the executive board of CISV Canada gets together to meet and discuss the direction of our very own national association: CISV canada. From international to national programs, from incident report forms to abstentions and from coast to coast mid winter meeting is a wondeful work bonanza!

Hot Topics this year included

absentions: negative or neutral?

To develop or not to develop a JB fund?

Committees: one or many members?

NBM 2005 evaluation: rock or roll?

AIM (Annual International Meeting) 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2050

(ok, maybe only 2006 and 2009)

Our execise was well in order as we sprang from the meeting table to Wendy's back yard where the super-ultra executive think-tank was located to discuss on some controversial and complex topics such as the International Junior Representative (IJR) nominations.

Guest appearances from Rowan and not so guest appearances from Roman definately constructed the highlights of the weekend.

Now back at NJR central, alex and kelly long for their true-love: the CISV canada national executve. Only 99 days... or something... until they meet again at the Spring Board Meeting in May! until then, over and out.

International Poultry Project

(In the above scene, the first frame shows Kelly and Alex proudly displaying the newly aquired chickens for the new CISV International Poultry Project. In the second frame, National Risk manager Cory Kotzian threatens Kelly with a knife, trying to steal one of the chickens! Oh no! In the third frame, we see Kelly and Alex debriefing the situation, discussing ways Kelly might avoid confrontational knife threats in the future. In the end, the national exec consumed the chicken and table the motion to implement the International Poultry Project within CISV Canada this year.)

Wah!

Wah!