6 recently-wed CISVers that you should look up to.
I seem to have reached a certain age, where wedding invitations are flying in like pizza delivery coupons. From the 7 ones we were invited to, unfortunately we had to refuse the invitation in 4 cases for a number of different reasons.
We did, however, have the chance to attend the wedding of Heike (aka "Nana", GER) last weekend near Rome, which was a blast. Why do I write about this? Because Heike is the true founding mother of IPP. I'm not sure, whether she had the original idea during the EJBM in Denmark in 1996, but she surely made it happen: With personal contacts and the help of other clever CISVers, in the summer of 1997, she made Ithe first IPP take place in her home town of Bad Nauheim, in the north of Frankfurt. I was lucky to be a participant and the concept of IPP convinced me instantly, which lead to my further involvement with the (now) programme. Heike helped evaluate the first 5 IPPs, but basically left her "baby" to develop my itself, which again is quite interesting.
One of the wedding's I couldn't attend, was between Juanca/COL and Alice/ITA - but it was fun to click through a few Facebook pictures. Juanca amazed me in my first year as an NJR in 1997 by being smart and determined. It was only logical he became IJR in 2000 and the chair of the Local Work programme in 2003. He oversaw the transformation into the Mosaic Programme. Even if I am quite critical of the Mosaic Programme, I do think that this step has changed the way CISV sees itself - we'll have to see if we manage to fully embrace the idea, that we are NOT a camp-based organization. In Mosaic-retirement, Juanca still serves as the trustee of Colombia.
Juanca's now-wife Alice has made some similar achievements in the organization, that can't be underestimated: Youth Meeting has been a mess ever since I got involved. The step from being a JB-organized camp to a fully recognized activity around 1996 actually made things worse: Youth meetings lost there sense of spontaneity, yet didn't have a unique educational concept. Just by being "short" alone just didn't do the trick. Besides, until 2004 the IYM-taskforce chairs changed almost every year, sometimes didn't even show up at AIM. Under Alice's leadership, Youth Meetings finally came back on track, and joined the other 6 official programmes in 2008. The new approach with theme packages, which I've written about before, show that IYM has the potential of being a front-runner in CISV when it comes to content.
Another friend of mine, Lars/NOR also chose the holy bond of matrimony this summer. Lars and I went to the same Seminar Camp in SF/USA 1996. He's been working for the Electronic Communication Taskforce, now part of ERC, since 1999 and has contributed to CISV in a magnitude that's hard to beat. Ever wonder, who fixes CISV's servers when their down? Who keeps CISV friends running? Who's set up the Intranet and not to forget CISV's homepage (and all NAs that use the same temlate)? Who's online when you need technical advise of any kind? Lars of course. When he leaves CISV, IO will have to hire two full-time technicians to fill that gap.
Finally Lene/NOR and Soeren/DEN exchanged rings this July. Contrary to the other people above they have made their impact in a more subtle way. Although Soeren's leadership in the board of trustees wasn't ever very subtle. Soeren now became the chair of the IPP committee. Lene on the other side has been serving a range of different committees since before I got involved, and is now part of the IEC.
Heike, Juanca, Lars, Alice, Soeren and Lene all contributed (and still do) in very different ways to CISV, with their individual skills and talents. The one thing that they they have in common is perseverance. There's enough people out there, that show up at a board meeting, local, national or international, appear smart and creative and have a mulititude of ideas. Usually these individuals are inspiring, but never show up again, and their impact is limited. The ones that do make a change, however, stick around for longer, and make ideas happen. All six CISVers mentioned above set examples, how a single person can make a change, by investing time and effort. They should motivate anybody who wants to contribute to a more peaceful society through CISV.
I seem to have reached a certain age, where wedding invitations are flying in like pizza delivery coupons. From the 7 ones we were invited to, unfortunately we had to refuse the invitation in 4 cases for a number of different reasons.
We did, however, have the chance to attend the wedding of Heike (aka "Nana", GER) last weekend near Rome, which was a blast. Why do I write about this? Because Heike is the true founding mother of IPP. I'm not sure, whether she had the original idea during the EJBM in Denmark in 1996, but she surely made it happen: With personal contacts and the help of other clever CISVers, in the summer of 1997, she made Ithe first IPP take place in her home town of Bad Nauheim, in the north of Frankfurt. I was lucky to be a participant and the concept of IPP convinced me instantly, which lead to my further involvement with the (now) programme. Heike helped evaluate the first 5 IPPs, but basically left her "baby" to develop my itself, which again is quite interesting.
One of the wedding's I couldn't attend, was between Juanca/COL and Alice/ITA - but it was fun to click through a few Facebook pictures. Juanca amazed me in my first year as an NJR in 1997 by being smart and determined. It was only logical he became IJR in 2000 and the chair of the Local Work programme in 2003. He oversaw the transformation into the Mosaic Programme. Even if I am quite critical of the Mosaic Programme, I do think that this step has changed the way CISV sees itself - we'll have to see if we manage to fully embrace the idea, that we are NOT a camp-based organization. In Mosaic-retirement, Juanca still serves as the trustee of Colombia.
Juanca's now-wife Alice has made some similar achievements in the organization, that can't be underestimated: Youth Meeting has been a mess ever since I got involved. The step from being a JB-organized camp to a fully recognized activity around 1996 actually made things worse: Youth meetings lost there sense of spontaneity, yet didn't have a unique educational concept. Just by being "short" alone just didn't do the trick. Besides, until 2004 the IYM-taskforce chairs changed almost every year, sometimes didn't even show up at AIM. Under Alice's leadership, Youth Meetings finally came back on track, and joined the other 6 official programmes in 2008. The new approach with theme packages, which I've written about before, show that IYM has the potential of being a front-runner in CISV when it comes to content.
Another friend of mine, Lars/NOR also chose the holy bond of matrimony this summer. Lars and I went to the same Seminar Camp in SF/USA 1996. He's been working for the Electronic Communication Taskforce, now part of ERC, since 1999 and has contributed to CISV in a magnitude that's hard to beat. Ever wonder, who fixes CISV's servers when their down? Who keeps CISV friends running? Who's set up the Intranet and not to forget CISV's homepage (and all NAs that use the same temlate)? Who's online when you need technical advise of any kind? Lars of course. When he leaves CISV, IO will have to hire two full-time technicians to fill that gap.
Finally Lene/NOR and Soeren/DEN exchanged rings this July. Contrary to the other people above they have made their impact in a more subtle way. Although Soeren's leadership in the board of trustees wasn't ever very subtle. Soeren now became the chair of the IPP committee. Lene on the other side has been serving a range of different committees since before I got involved, and is now part of the IEC.
Heike, Juanca, Lars, Alice, Soeren and Lene all contributed (and still do) in very different ways to CISV, with their individual skills and talents. The one thing that they they have in common is perseverance. There's enough people out there, that show up at a board meeting, local, national or international, appear smart and creative and have a mulititude of ideas. Usually these individuals are inspiring, but never show up again, and their impact is limited. The ones that do make a change, however, stick around for longer, and make ideas happen. All six CISVers mentioned above set examples, how a single person can make a change, by investing time and effort. They should motivate anybody who wants to contribute to a more peaceful society through CISV.
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