Introduced as the most important person in the room, CISV's president Brett welcomed everybody to the AIM yesterday night in a moving speech:
Good evening, and thank you for your welcome. It is a very real
pleasure for me to extend an official welcome to all of you on behalf of
the International Executive Committee, Chris, our Vice President from
Canada; Basma, Executive Trustee from Egypt; Laura, Executive Trustee
from Great Britain; and Pilar, Executive Trustee from the Philippines.
I want to extend a special recognition to Laura fro all of the work
that she has done in preparing the agenda and materials for this
meeting.
And, before we begin our meeting, we should note - and congratulate - our Juniors who have just today completed another successful International Junior Branch Conference. This morning they have elected our newest member of the international board. Please welcome the newest International Junior Representative, James from Great Britain.
When CISV Indonesia began twenty years ago, they very quickly earned a reputation for remarkable organization and efficiency. As AIM 2011 begins, we can already see that they have exceeded their own very high standards. So, it gives me very special pleasure to recognize the leadership of AIM 2011:
Mira, the Chairman, Adreati, Esti, and Titi, Co Chairs, together with a core team that numbers 35 and a total of 57 volunteers, all of whom are based in Jakarta and have flown to Bali - this remarkable team truly represents both Indonesia -and CISV volunteers all over the world. GO-TONG ROY-ONG. They are indeed "Working together in Peace and Harmony"
I also want to recognize the Founder of CISV Indonesia, HESTIA UTOMO. Like CISV's Founder, Dr. Doris Allen, Hestia was passionate in her commitment to a world at peace, and in her belief that CISV had the potential to build a more peaceful world.
This evening we are prepared to celebrate the start of AIM 2011, to review our successes and challenges since our time together in Berlin last August, and to plan and prepare for 2012 and future years.
But before we celebrate, I want to say a few words about recent events.
Just days ago, as final preparations for this meeting were underway, a summer camp for young people in Norway was the target of a violent attack that has resulted in 77 deaths - an attack that has devastated families, a nation and the world,
...an attack that claimed the life of young Johannes Buo, of Norway, a Village delegate to Brazil and a Youth Meeting participant just last year.
As news of this tragedy spread around the globe, I know that CISV members everywhere were hurt to their very core by this news. As details emerged - and as we learned about the person responsible for this crime, our collective anguish could only grow.
Young people - targeted for violence - because of their commitment to social justice? because they "accepted" immigrants?
How can CISV respond to these events? While many people around the world have reacted with emotion - with sadness - with outrage - with tears, many also react with despair - wondering what they could do - what anyone could do in response to such unspeakable violence.
But as CISV's Founder once noted, we in CISV are privileged to have the opportunity to take concrete action towards peace.
We have been doing something.
We are doing something.
Though CISV was founded as a long term strategy to prevent war, our programs today are aimed at violence of many kinds, including the violence we witnessed less than two weeks ago.
If, as was recently written, "prejudice is the infrastructure of hate crime and terrorism", then CISV's peace education program is aimed at tearing down that structure, stereotype by stereotype, child by child, family by family and Chapter by Chapter.
For sixty years CISV has educated young people with experiences that are deeply felt and never forgotten. For those still active - and for the almost quarter million of past participants, the warm and bittersweet emotions of our youth are not far from our thoughts. I am sure that many thousand of our alumni - upon reading of events in Norway - thought quickly of their CISV experience and the contrast between the summer of their youth - and the nightmare in the news.
So what is there to celebrate? In the aftermath of these events - what can we celebrate?
We can begin by celebrating the lives and memories of those young people who we have lost, including Joannes Buo.
We can celebrate that the memory of their lives will remain with each of us - and will inspire us to continue our work together.
We can celebrate those young lives by renewing our shared commitment to that which they so passionately believed - that we all have a part to play in working to build a more just and peaceful world.
We can celebrate the positive difference we have made, and are dedicated to continuing to make, through educating and inspiring individuals and communities- local and global.
We can celebrate our personal and collective contributions to the purpose of CISV.
We can celebrate the twenty year record of success that CISV Indonesia celebrates this year, and the work of the volunteers of CISV Indonesia that has made this meeting possible.
We can celebrate the success of CISV program - one that now provides quality peace education experiences to over 7,000 people each year.
The truth is that CISV members do not despair of the future.
We plan for it. We work for it.
And while we are celebrating our 60 year history - in truth, - we are more joyful and happy to continue looking forward to the future - a future filled with children and adults who "understand one another's point of view", who celebrate our differences as well as "how alike" we are.
There is a lot to celebrate, so lets get started.
And, before we begin our meeting, we should note - and congratulate - our Juniors who have just today completed another successful International Junior Branch Conference. This morning they have elected our newest member of the international board. Please welcome the newest International Junior Representative, James from Great Britain.
When CISV Indonesia began twenty years ago, they very quickly earned a reputation for remarkable organization and efficiency. As AIM 2011 begins, we can already see that they have exceeded their own very high standards. So, it gives me very special pleasure to recognize the leadership of AIM 2011:
Mira, the Chairman, Adreati, Esti, and Titi, Co Chairs, together with a core team that numbers 35 and a total of 57 volunteers, all of whom are based in Jakarta and have flown to Bali - this remarkable team truly represents both Indonesia -and CISV volunteers all over the world. GO-TONG ROY-ONG. They are indeed "Working together in Peace and Harmony"
I also want to recognize the Founder of CISV Indonesia, HESTIA UTOMO. Like CISV's Founder, Dr. Doris Allen, Hestia was passionate in her commitment to a world at peace, and in her belief that CISV had the potential to build a more peaceful world.
This evening we are prepared to celebrate the start of AIM 2011, to review our successes and challenges since our time together in Berlin last August, and to plan and prepare for 2012 and future years.
But before we celebrate, I want to say a few words about recent events.
Just days ago, as final preparations for this meeting were underway, a summer camp for young people in Norway was the target of a violent attack that has resulted in 77 deaths - an attack that has devastated families, a nation and the world,
...an attack that claimed the life of young Johannes Buo, of Norway, a Village delegate to Brazil and a Youth Meeting participant just last year.
As news of this tragedy spread around the globe, I know that CISV members everywhere were hurt to their very core by this news. As details emerged - and as we learned about the person responsible for this crime, our collective anguish could only grow.
Young people - targeted for violence - because of their commitment to social justice? because they "accepted" immigrants?
How can CISV respond to these events? While many people around the world have reacted with emotion - with sadness - with outrage - with tears, many also react with despair - wondering what they could do - what anyone could do in response to such unspeakable violence.
But as CISV's Founder once noted, we in CISV are privileged to have the opportunity to take concrete action towards peace.
We have been doing something.
We are doing something.
Though CISV was founded as a long term strategy to prevent war, our programs today are aimed at violence of many kinds, including the violence we witnessed less than two weeks ago.
If, as was recently written, "prejudice is the infrastructure of hate crime and terrorism", then CISV's peace education program is aimed at tearing down that structure, stereotype by stereotype, child by child, family by family and Chapter by Chapter.
For sixty years CISV has educated young people with experiences that are deeply felt and never forgotten. For those still active - and for the almost quarter million of past participants, the warm and bittersweet emotions of our youth are not far from our thoughts. I am sure that many thousand of our alumni - upon reading of events in Norway - thought quickly of their CISV experience and the contrast between the summer of their youth - and the nightmare in the news.
So what is there to celebrate? In the aftermath of these events - what can we celebrate?
We can begin by celebrating the lives and memories of those young people who we have lost, including Joannes Buo.
We can celebrate that the memory of their lives will remain with each of us - and will inspire us to continue our work together.
We can celebrate those young lives by renewing our shared commitment to that which they so passionately believed - that we all have a part to play in working to build a more just and peaceful world.
We can celebrate the positive difference we have made, and are dedicated to continuing to make, through educating and inspiring individuals and communities- local and global.
We can celebrate our personal and collective contributions to the purpose of CISV.
We can celebrate the twenty year record of success that CISV Indonesia celebrates this year, and the work of the volunteers of CISV Indonesia that has made this meeting possible.
We can celebrate the success of CISV program - one that now provides quality peace education experiences to over 7,000 people each year.
The truth is that CISV members do not despair of the future.
We plan for it. We work for it.
And while we are celebrating our 60 year history - in truth, - we are more joyful and happy to continue looking forward to the future - a future filled with children and adults who "understand one another's point of view", who celebrate our differences as well as "how alike" we are.
There is a lot to celebrate, so lets get started.
Great speech!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Nick & team for sharing all this. Great to follow what's going on.
ReplyDelete