35 Days to go and counting

The current buzz around Y-Global is the partnership meeting, there is about 9 different patners present. The main purpose for this meeting is to evaluate 2008-2009 part of the program, to talk about what has been done right and what has been done wrong. Its also an opportunity for Y-Global to bid farewell to 3 partners who wont be part of the next interval of the proram. The program now has an overall theme peace and reconcilliation and South Africa, Armenia and Bangladesh do not fit into that theme and are therefore no longer going to be part of the program. For me personally its good to see the direction and the new approuch the program is taking, and its also good to see South Africa bow out of the program and giving other partners an opportunity. As one of the GoCy i have been tasked with putting together a presenation to the new and existing partners where i will talk about my experiences in the program and advise them as to how they can handle having a GoCy ect.

Well i am sure all of us can see that time is moving faster then we expected and i have only 35 days left in Norway. This obviously comes with alot of mixed feelings as i have created a life and a network for myself in Norway. But it also comes with the feeling of accomplishment, pride and excitement about going back to my country and building my life for the long term. Its strange how during all my time in Norway i have always had it at the back of my mind that my motherland is calling for me and that when the time comes i will not be hesitant about packing my bags and heading home. I have experienced Norway to the best of my ability and i feel like the end of my road has come and its time for me to move on. So what am i taking from Norway, for me personal Norway has given me self realisation and personal growth. Being in a foreign country makes you interact with people who either dont know you country or have their own perception of it which in turns make you get out of your comfort zone and dig deep inside yourself. I am taking the below points with me back home:

•Ideas and Suggestions
• Love for scouting
•Leadership skills
•Passion for youth development and community development
• Memories and friendships

Its a great feeling to have been in place like this and i will tresure every moment i have spent here, but its an even greater feeling to be going back to where you belong and where your heart(Sthe) is. I hope that most of us as GoCy have come to the same realisation, and feel like we have achieved what we set out to do and we are looking forward to going back home. Lastly i have always reminded myself and emphasized to myself that coming to Norway was not about having a holiday and the time of my life for 9 months, because if i wanted to take a holiday i would have waited and saved enough back at home and definetly would not have made it 9 months. So as great as Norway has been for me it has never been about, going to another place and seeing people as weird or making comparison between Norway and my own country. Coming to Norway was not about me complaining about the place being extra cold because before leaving home i already knew that, it was not about the diffrence in culture because i already knew that also, It was not about living in a country that is one of the richest in the world because before going home i already knew that.

I came here for more then that, and if you watch this space i will eleborate on what i mean about coming for more than that. So as GoCy, i hope we will not turn out to be one of those people that make continuos comparasons, complain about this and that and get carried away while speaking about other peoples countries because i am sure we knew almost all the things we found before setting off to those countries but yet we still decided to leave. I have always tried to stay away from complaining and being negative about a place i knew was going to be home for me for 9 months. I hope all the people in Norway who have intercted with me can agree on that because its always been important for me to not become a predictable nag. Lets be shining examples for next GoCy and spread the message of ' If you are going to another place to compare, complain, be sad, cry about the diffirences and ache for home then you are certanly going for the wrong reasons because it will be easy to do all the things i have mentioned BUT they will seem unimportant to you if you had a visison before leaving your country and knew what you were leaving home for. Being a GoCy is about yourself and the international YMCA YWCA family we are all part of. Not about the weather, the people, the country you are in, and i do know that all those elements play a major part but the main is myself and the YMCA. So for me Norway has given something diffrent and personal and for that it will always be in my best books.

Staff Personal Seminar

I have just come back from 3 days in Blestølen with my collegues on something we call a personal staff seminar (dont ask why?). This staff seminar was an opportunity for us as co-workers to spend sometime together, get to know one another, have some interesting discussions and last but not least HAVE FUN. It would certainly not be the scout office if the word fun was not there. So off we all went, and i for one was looking forward to my skiing debut.

The staff seminar had a theme and the theme was Ubuntu. Ubuntu is an african concept which is not easy to translate but for me it means humanity to others, acknowledging the next person as a human being, therefore respecting them as a human being and knowing that human existance is depended on other humans. This being said for me its always come down to the fact that i know i dont live in an island all on my own, and that human relation and relationship is important to me because i am human. Its a hard concept to explain but from the information i read up before leaving for the seminar i found things such as i am because we are, and on being community upliftment orientated meaning that even though you should aim for individual enrichment, these enrichment should also benefit your community. This is definetly not a new concept to be as it something i grew up witnessing and seeing in my everyday life. I can still remember my mom telling me things like umuntu ngumuntungabantu which translates as you are a person through other people. I can also still remember growing up my mom would say oh you know this person has ubuntu and she would be referring to someone that is kind to others. Ubuntu is the building foundation of the new South Africa.

A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity. This was a great theme because it meant i could share what ubuntu means to me and i was able to eleborate more on things from my personal life lessons.

Pretty complicated but achievable and makes alot of sense atleast for me. We looked at ubuntu with regards to our relationships with others, the work place, as an indivisual ect. I wont go into too much debt about the discussions that came about but i just wanted to share what ubuntu is. For me personaaly i dont believe in individual happiness that isolates or diminishes others or individual happiness at the cost of alot of other people. I want and long for success that will contribute to other people's lives and that will make even a small difference to the lives of people around me. I want to share my happiness with others and be generous to the next person. To keep with the African spirit we also had South African food, South Africa quiz and song and dance. This seminar to me was the closest i could bring my co-workers close to my country and i would like to thank them for opening themselves up for something so new.

To the more interesting part, i tried skiing for the first time. Anda what a challnge that was i feel but kept picking myself up i got angry but calmed myself down, i got frustrated but carried on and towards the end i actually had fun doing it especially when i got a small hill downwards. I always believe in trying something atleast once before being judgemental to it and thats excatly what i did with skiing. I tried it and had fun doing it but i would not do it again. I skied for 6 km in total, and you can imagen how long it took me. When i was skiing back to our cabin that was when all hell broke loose, there was alot of downhills that were much longer which meant i was going much faster downwards and then i would panick towards the end and stop myself the only way i know how to and that is by collapsing myself. Now i should not even be saying i was falling because in avtual fact i was crashing lik ea ton of bricks on the snow, with my skies up on the air and my face full of snow. The first few times was fun i ctually laughed at myself but by the 4th downhill and crash i was absolutely feed up. I wanted those skies of my feel but was told i would not be able to walk on the snow without them. At one point i was on the grould with my legs in a position that i had never seen and i could not pick myself up. It was at that point that i told myself, 'You are never doing this again'. It was fun while it lasted though and i am glad i was able to push myself to do such a long distance and finish it. Right now i have pains in muscles i did not know i even had. It was great trip and i had t ons of fun with my co-workers.

So with just about 6 weeks left till my jorney in Norway ends. I feel like i am coming close to end of the road and it feels good to again know that i started something i am seeing it through and i am finishing it no matter how challanging it was. I guess i see a personality trait in myself which is i dont give up and once i start something i always finish it even though i might complain a bit.

The London Girl Trip

The London girl trip was a trip to inspire young girls that have leadership potential to stay within the movement to understand what it to be a girl, to learn about self confidence, international issues and to take part in the world wide movement celebration called World Thinking Day. To a lot of girls that we left with, this was also an opportunity to network with people that are part of this world wide family and also to see what they can learn from other girl guides around the world.

My trip to London became one of those life changing experiences you only get to experience once. The day I left with 9 girls from the office was filled with confusion, doubt, stress and panic as for the first time it finally hit me that I was on my way to a country I have never been to before and on top of that was one of the leaders for 15 young girls who had all their trust in 3 leaders. On my way to the airport my mind was buzzing with different emotions and feelings but upon my arrival at Pax Lodge and after a short introductory to all the girls I felt calm and I knew that this was going to be a great 4 days.

The first 2 days were filled with different program activities and even though the sun was shining in London we all knew we were here for something bigger than that. I meet the most extraordinary group of young girls from different parts of Norway who were just as excited to be part of the World Thinking Day celebration and to be in London. The theme for World Thinking Day was girl guides around the world say stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases and as the group of Norway our own theme was being a scout girl in the world. With this being the theme I was able to do my HIV/AIDS presentation workshop which was a huge success with the girls and which turned out to be an informative session that was packed with good discussions. I also had a workshop about being a girl in the world, and was able to analyse to the girls that steriotyping women and not realizing that you are just a lucky generation that already had a group of strong women to fight for your rights is not only unfair but also a bit arrogeant.It was after these workshops that I finally was able to see that we were on a trip with well informed, mature, reflected and eager to learn young group of women. The sessions that were conducted but my fellow leaders were just as informative and opened up discussions about what is it to be girl and what it means to be a scout.

We were in an international environment at Pax Lodge and the girls were able to meet girl guides from countries such as the UK, Benin, South Korea and the United States. The day we spent at Pax Lodge attending the different world thinking day activities gave our girls an opportunity to see how different scouts around the world do scouting and an opportunity to learning about different countries. We also attended an international campfire that was a fusion of songs from all he different countries that were represented during world thinking day. During this time the Norwegian guides were included in the program and got an opportunity to teach the other scouts a Norwegian shout.

The trip to London can be summarized as a trip that was extremely important for the girl guides in Norway as it was an opportunity for them to witness first hand just how big of a movement they are part of and also to meet their fellow guides. It was also an opportunity for them to look outwards rather than inwards. It gave them an opportunity to see the differences between scouting around the world, thus making them more appreciative of what they have here at home. The girls got to not only see London a beautiful country but also to learn and appreciate being a girl scout. But most of all the girls got to feel special and were able to make new international friendships. The group of girls we had in London are definitely the cream of the crop, they are the girls that are going to lead the scout movement one day. All the girls I meet have such great potential and I am eager to see where they will be in the next 10 years.

For me personally this trip reminded me of the importance of speaking and grooming young minds at an early age. It made me realise the passion I have for youth development and making a difference in people’s lives. It thought me responsibility in a big magnitude, but most of all it made me fall in love with scouting even more.

The best trip any leader could ever wish for and working along side a great team of two leaders Maja and Marianne. So i am guessing none of the other GoCy just like me can believe that we only have 2 months left in the places we have called home for the past 7 months. I know i will treasure all my memories of Oslo and Norway for as long as i live whethere good or bad and i am hoping that we all come out better, stronger, more ambitious people that are driven by making a diffrence on other peoples lives.

PEACE OUT!!!

My Brutal Welcome to the North

Ever since i have arrived in Oslo all i have complained about is the lack of snow they have. This is extremely rich coming from a girl who was born and breed in Durban South Africa, one of the hottest provinces in South Africa. Well i guess the snow was one of my main coming attractions. I firstly could not wait to build my snow man, to try skiing, have a snow ball fight and the list goes on. During the weekend my so called wish came true, in a massive way. The weather came from Friday having no snow at all on the ground to Sunday not being able to walk because of how high the snow is on the ground. Its always great to experience something new and something so natural. But my philosophy in life is to always have everything on a moderate level. I always say too much of a good think can be bad for you. So my snow has finally arrived and it feels like it has come in buckets and buckets. Let me just give you a preview of how these past few days have been for me.

1. Firstly walking on snow is not the easiest thing to do, i spend most of my time walking as slowly as i can to avoid the continuous embarrassment of looking like a humty dumpty. ( this morning my roommate said on the way to work, can we walk a bit faster please and i was like you go along i will take my time thank you)
2. Secondly when it is snowing and you are in my position trying very hard to co-ordinate your steps. The snow flakes that do not fall only downwards but feel like they coming from every side of your head hood does not help. So i have a hood on my head but still have snow flakes beating on my face and some even going into my scarf. Being able to walk and see is something i am yet to master while it snows.
3. While i was busy minding my own business walking on the side pavement i had to be the drying block of a bus that went past. I am not sure of i was walking to close to road or if i should have just followed everyone and walked where they were walking because when the bus went past it splattered tons of snow and muddy water on me and my poor boots.
4. I have also had to share public transport with a lot of eager people carrying the skies around and of course there is always the baby prams so this has left me in serious tight corners in transport especially during peak hours.
5. At this time of the year the sun is almost non-existent but the whiteness of the snow still shines through so that's a bonus.
So as i write all these things down i can almost not help how strange and different all of this feels to me. Moreover i cant believe how naive i was when i was watching all those movies that make snow seem like the most romantic natural scenery. So if that was the case why do so many people only get married in spring and summer. I cant believe how easy Jessica Parker made walking on snow in your stelletos look. This is my official snow welcome, it feels strange but today i am going out to build my first snow man and hopefully i will be in skies soon. I am sucking everything in and saying to myself 'Always be careful, what you wish for because sometimes you might just get it'. Over and above all of this, its really a beutiful site, it looks like the heaven have just put a white blanket on everything including peoples carswhich is not so great. I will be taking alot of winter pictures because this is definelty an experience.

I started volunteering at a drug addicts and prostitutes cafe called Marita Cafe here in Oslo. I go there every Tuesday from 07:00-10:00pm. This cafe has shown me another side of Norway or should i say Oslo. I have seen people that are outcasted by the community and people that you can absolutely shadow out if you don't look properly in between the lines. It felt strange for me to walk the streets of Norway in a freezing cold night looking for people that we can approach and tell that the cafe is opened and they can now get some porridge or coffee and tea and also just have a warm place where they can have someone to speak to.

Walking around with an experienced volunteer from Marita cafe, to the places know as the hot spots or the places where we can find all these people. I almost felt like i was in a different place or even in another country. So the question i ended up asking myself is ' What makes a person who grows up in a country listed as one of the richest in the world that also has so many opportunities end up in the cold streets doing drugs and living off begging in the streets' or even ' Are all these great opportunities for all people or do some people loose out as always'. I want to go Marita Cafe for the rest of my stay here in Norway because i feel like this is where i am going to feel the essence of the minority in Norway and see some realities that seem to be over shadowed. And to be honest minorities have always interested me. I think i will have more stories to tell from Marita Cafe so everyone must watch this space.

Better late then never!!

I decided not to make any new year’s resolutions this year, seeing that they are always the same year in and year out. My top one is always to loose at least 5kg through the year, but the opposite seems to happen every year. So this year I am starting on a new note, with no resolutions but just to enjoy myself, be happy and grateful for what I have. I am hoping this new way of looking at things will instantly make me loose the 5kg lol. Well a girl is allowed to dream right. On a serious note though I hope this way thinking will make me start a year without a new diet, or stress of failing in 3 months but instead just inner happiness and to be at piece with my self. Well as everyone knows I spent my very first Christmas and New Years Eve away from home. I was extremely scared as time went closer because I just did not know what to expect. I must say everything turned out great. I visited two different families during the holidays, and both of them were equally great.

They made me feel at home in every aspect, and were genuinely concerned about how I was feeling and if I was doing well. I was given so much attention that I felt like a kid again and it felt good. I remember on Christmas Eve I woke up to watch Cinderella and the three nuts. I found candy hanging on a sock just waiting for me, after that we decorated the tree while listening to Christmas carols. We all sand around the tree. On Christmas Day I had the opportunity to try luttefisk, no comment on that one but the bacon, steamed potatoes and turnip was great. My colleague’s father was the main chef during the days I was there, and he is such a great cook. The whole family was just really so great, and I would like to thank them for opening their home to me and letting me share Christmas with them. I hope one day when they visit my country I can do the same for them.

In News Eve all the GoCy in Norway packed their bags and went to Arendal to spend News Eve together. I must say I felt a bit uncomfortable about the fact that it was not only 2 people going to the same place but 4. I kept picturing how I would feel if my sister invited 4 people into our home during New Years Eve and to top everything off all these people are from different parts of the world. The family handled the whole situation very well; both Kristin’s siblings were great to us. Kristin’s mom was the main chef for these few days, and the food was absolutely great. On behalf of all my fellow Norwegian GoCy’s I would like to thank Kristin’s family for opening their home for a pack of people and make us feel so at home. I hope one day when they visit our countries we can do the same for them.

In the work front, I am currently working on an article for the scout magazine about Wold Thinking Day. I am working on workshops and presentations that I will do during my trip to London. I am really excited and the days are getting closer and closer. I am also working along side Solveig on ideas for a recruiting scout camp that will be opened to non-scout members. I am working on putting together a stay in Norway magazine that will be distributed in South Africa YMCA and to all my friends and family

Last Day at Work

Well today is my last day at work, before the christmas holidays and i think its only good that i write something before i go. I am coming back on the 5th January where i will write loads and loads of posts on my different holiday experiences around parts of Norway. I am really excited about the trips i will be taking, but at the same time its really hitting me hard that i am not spending Christmas with my family.

I got a gift from South Africa yesterday, it was from my boyfriend. He gave to Vidar who is in South Africa but came to Norway for his December holidays. If i did not say this incident made me even miss home more i will be lying. Well enough of that i am going to Stryn and Arndel, so people of Stryn and Arendal brace yourselves a South African is coming to town. I have some self evaluating that i need to do. I kind of need to look at myself and see how i have grown and it what areas i have grown in?

3rd Week of December

The Christmas spirit is on an all time high, everyone around me is talking about gift shopping and how many days they have left till they go home. Its all rather exciting. I am also looking forward to spending my first Christmas in Norway, and i must say i have experienced alot of the traditions through various events that have been taking place from the beginning of December. I sincerely hope i will experience a white Christmas but apparently where i am going it is not a guarantee that it will happen. The days are certainly coming closer and closer and Christmas is here people. I already know where i will be spending my Christmas holidays, and i am looking forward to seeing other parts of Norway in the process. As hard as this time of the year should be especially since its family time. I am still really looking forward to spending my Christmas here. Its kind of funny because most of the time i have been complaining and feeling like things are very hard that i have only realized now that i am doing absolutely fine. I am fully adjusted now and i am no longer weary of doing things on my own. I have treated a life for myself here in Norway and it feels good to be happy and at peace about everything.
This past week there has been alot of event attending. I tried ice skating, since there is a huge ice ring in Oslo central now, and as much as i feel i was terrible. People have been telling me i was not so bad for a first timer. This was really cool and i think i am going to go again and see if i can find my own technique or balance. I also attended a Chirstmas boggie on Friday and got to meet some of the people i will see at Strini and i had a great time. I meet some really lovely people. Yesterday i went to a girls movie night and we were watching Mama Mia. Mama Mia is really a great girly movie that i enjoyed. Most of the girls i was with we watching for the second time but still managed to be glued on the screen. I now want to hire the movie Love Actually, as i have been told its a great Christmas love story movie.

In the work front, it getting close to wrapping up time. The year is almost over and my last day at work is on Friday. I am looking forward to the London Trip taking place in February and i am so glad i am part of the organizing committee. I had a great meeting with the two others leaders for this trip, and we had some great ideas. This is going to be one of those projects that will be really close to my heart. I feel extremely excited about this and look forward to putting together the final logistics in it. As from January i will also be visiting different groups, so i look forward to meeting everyone and sharing some information about my country and the HIV virus.

I would like to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. I will try to carry on writing even through my holidays.