Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Next stop: Saskatchewan

A Quick Update. Kathy and Kalenne have both departed from lovely Florence and are now back on their respective oceans, at least for a few days.

This is another hilarious sign from the AIM site. Although not as funny as the 'No Tourists' sign it might say more than originally intentioned.

National Camp is just a few days away so the NJRs are already getting ready to set off to Saskatoon to set up and get ready to welcome all the participants.
We're really excited for camp and that excitement only gets stronger as:a) camp gets closer and b) we get more sleep.

This year's theme is 'One Beat' and is meant to capture a sense of unity while celebrating our differences. The Plains Cree of Saskatchewan used drums in many of their ceremonies as well as during gatherings with other tribes.
Although they had different songs and equipment they came together to create their own beat as a group. This is what we hope to do with National Camp- bring people together from coast to coast with different ways of thinking and living, and have them contribute that experience to create their own unique beat.

Watch for our prairie update, coming after camp. Peace out home slices. K and K

Friday, August 08, 2008

Discuter!!! Discuss!!!

CISV ONLY, NO TOURISTS


Salut a tous les membres de la Branche Junior du Canada! Kathy et Kalenne sont encore à Firenze, peut être la ville la plus chaude du monde- oui, on sait que c'est probablement (sûrement) incorrect mais la chaleur nous fait confuses.

Hello to everyone from JB Canada! Kathy and Kalenne are still in Firenze, maybe the hottest city in the world- yes, we know this is probably (definitely) wrong but the heat's confusing us.

Premièrement, on a une grande nouvelle de te raconter. Maru Ayam de l’Argentine était choisi comme la prochaine IJR (International Junior Rep).* Elle travaillera avec notre amie Kelly Bowden pour l’année qui vienne.
*Attends, c’est quoi un IJR? – C’est un peu comme un NJR, mais pour le monde. Oui, c’est un travail énorme.

Firstly, we have big news. Maru Ayam from Argentina has been chosen as the next IJR (International Junior Rep).* She will work with our friend Kelly Bowden for the coming year.
*Wait, what's IJR?- It's a bit like NJR, but for the world. Yes, it's a huge job.

Et maintenant, on veut vraiment entendre qu’est-ce que tu penses de quelque motions qui sont sur l’agenda des adultes.

And now, we really want to hear what you think of a few motions that are on the adult agenda.

Premièrement: Les programmes avec les jeunes (Village, Summer Camp etc) devraient éliminer l’alcool complètement, sauf pour ‘Leaders’ Weekend’ et ‘Leaders’ Night Out’. C’est une bonne idée?

First: Programmes where youth are present (Village, Summer Camp etc) should eliminate alcohol from the camp completely, except for 'Leaders' Weekend' and 'Leaders' Night Out'. Is is a good idea?

Deuxièmement: Summer Camp devrait changer à une programme offrit seulement pour les jeunes de 14 ou 15 ans. Les camps de 13 ans seraient discontinus parce qu’ils ne remplient pas les buts éducatifs au mêmes niveaux que les autres ages.

Secondly: Summer Camp should change to a programme offered only to youth aged 14 or 15. 13 year old camps would be discontinued as they aren't fullfilling the educational goals to the same level as the other ages.

Alors, dans le section ‘Comments’ donne nous vos opinions sur ses sujets, peut être, ça commencera une discussion.

So, in the 'Comments' section give us your opinions on these subjects, maybe, it'll turn into a discussion.

Avec amour d’Italie. Love from Italy. K and K

**UPDATE**
The Summer Camp motion was passed. We will now be focusing on developing the 14 and 15 year old camps.

The alcohol motion was tabled until next year (read: no decision was reached). As an interesting note however, from my perspective had it gone to a vote it wouldn't have passed. A lot of people feel casual drinking is part of their culture and we should be able to trust leaders to drink responsibly. I guess we'll have to wait until next AIM to see what happens....

Monday, August 04, 2008

What do you actually DO at IJBC?


So with IJBC drawing to a close the question remains, what exactly have Kathy and Kalenne been doing anyway?

To be honest, it's hard to say. You know when you come back from a Mini Camp and your friends want to know what you were doing all weekend and you have a really hard time explaining and before you know it you're throwing around words that on their own make almost no sense at all? Ya, it's like that. Except less awkward because we know you understand. Kalenne and her IJBC/AIM tag

But in the spirit of blogging we'll try anyway.

Our sessions have been divided into 4 topics:

- Junior Branch: As you can guess these are sessions about, surprise surprise, JB. They are aimed at aiding in the development of our JBs, locally, nationally and internationally. For example, we might do a session on the JB Goals, so we can use them more effectively when we get back to our chapters.

- Global movement: These are sessions to get us thinking about taking what we've learned in CISV outside to create movement. We as a JB are a global movement, cool right? These sessions aimed to get us thinking about how we as JBers can have more of an impact as a worldwide movement and also how we can become more engaged in other already existing global movements, for example, Peace One Day.

-Open Space: This is time for participants to develop ideas they think are important and are
interested in. They are like working groups at NBM. We brainstorm discussion or project topics and then split off to develop them. They can range from things like planning regional workshops to putting together a magazine or discussing how CISV can be more green.

-Parallel Experiences: This is a time when we break off into different groups to enjoy a session that interests us. It's the same as tripod time at NMB. This allows participants to use their time how they feel would be best for them and their JB. Yay

Kathy on the bus to ARMM.
The sessions were way more exciting.
We promise.

Whew, that's a lot of stuff. Along with formal sessions we're always story sharing and discussing challenges and successes of our JBs. As you can imagine a lot of the time these are really similar between different National Associations (NAs).

Well, that was a long one, but stay tuned for shorter posts with lots of funny pictures (we already have a few planned). If you're reading this please leave a comment, Kalenne needs constant validation. Love the NJRs



The view from our Tuscan Villa aka the ARMM site

Saturday, August 02, 2008

NJR italy blog one

The NJRs are in Italy! Check out our first video blog....