From January 16 to 19, 2020, Dorly Oriol, the Program Officer of YMCA d’Haiti, attended the 5th Leaders for Youth Conference in the Cayman Islands. Two days of conference certainly, but an infinite number of new opportunities and new knowledge. The theme of the conference was ”Navigating the Call of Leadership”. This is a need that is increasingly felt by our leaders. We need to know what kind of leader we want to be and how we can better influence others, especially young people who look to us as role models. After a good day of reflection on our leadership attributes, it was essential to learn some skills on how to lead activities, to learn how to program everything we do, how to improve our public speaking, create a caring community, how to assess and manage the risks that surround us and many other topics.
I must point out that the visit to Theoline McCoy Primary-School to learn about the Cayman Islands YMCA’s After School Program was inspiring. It gave me new perspectives on the idea of renovating our After School Program at the YMCA d’Haiti.
My experience in the Cayman Islands was most rewarding. Not only were the topics developed during the two days of training instructive, but also the opportunity to exchange with so many people, so many young people was extremely great. I really enjoyed the company of the other representatives of the YMCAs of the Caribbean. I could notice that our struggles, our problems although different are for the most part similar. I am especially proud that despite our differences and our many challenges, we continue to work for the well-being of the community. This only strengthens our ties as a YMCA, but I left with more conviction to continue working to help more young people, and to change my community. It’s also very reassuring to know that we have so much support and that we can count on each other among the YMCAs of the LACA region to share our knowledge and know-how; to stay connected and to move our YMCAs forward.
A heartfelt thank you to LACA for the full support I received for this training. A wonderful thank you to the Cayman Island YMCA staff for the welcome, the support despite visa issue and all the attention to make my stay pleasant in order to maximize my experience. A great thank also to the YMCA d’Haïti for the opportunity to learn more and to share my experience with anybody.
As Jesus said: That they may all be one!!!!
