It was such a pleasure last night to listen to the stories and inspiring words from the JCI Ten Out Standing Young People (TOYP) of the world. In a time around the globe when we are bombarded with negative news about how bad things are and so much negativity listings to their inspiring stories was refreshing.
It is so important for Ireland and the world to make role models of people who are making a real difference in making the world a better place to live in. I find it hard to believe that people like Wane Rooney gets paid in excess of €200,000 per week and he is idolised while sometimes it is so hard for people like our great TOYP winners to get recognised.
This week I would ask you that if you come across someone who is doing something good to make a difference that you tell them you appreciate what they are doing.
I was so proud of our TOYP winner Melanie for the great work she is doing in Nepal when she gave her heart felt speech at the awards ceremony last. It made me so happy to be Irish and a JCI member who can help encourage great young people who are making a real difference in the world.
Last night we had an excellent opening ceremony where we had River Dance meets Japan.
Last night the Irish delegation went for some drinks on the 5th floor bar in Tennoji and this was a great chance to take stock of the week so far.
I gave a presentation to all the JCI presidents from around Europe on JCI Ireland Fifty Ways to Active Citizenship and the schools project in Limerick. This was very well received and I have been approached by Finland and Russia who are looking to run a similar project.
I am looking forward to the Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) ceremony tonight where our winner Melanie will be awarded with her award.Mark
Hi all :) I have been in Japan now for three days now Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I got into Osaka at around 3 on Saturday and then caught the express train to Kyoto to do some sight-seeing for a few days. I decided that I will spend the rest of the week in Osaka so it would be nice to see some of the rest of Japan. I got speaking to a nice chap from the city Kyoto on the flight over and I was telling him about JCI and he told me that I needed to visit Kyoto if I got a chance as it is a beautiful city full of world sites of culture.
First Tatami Mat House
Golden House by Lake
I got to see some gorgeous rock gardens, Shinto / Buddhist temples and some amazing gardens. On Sunday I caught a cable car up a mountain where they train monks that is meant to have splendid views but the rain and fog rolled in so the views did not happen for me. Have a look at some of the photos below of the places I visited in Kyoto.
I caught the train to Osaka today and met up with Michelle and Louise and we met our JCI friends from UK, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand and some other places also. We all had to meet up for a very important meeting to discuss some critical maters. See the picture below.
Important JCI Meeting In Osaka
Just a reminder to everyone that JCI Ireland leadership Academy will be happening in Roscrey on the weekend of the 12th 13th and 14th of November. It will cost €50 for the full weekend of training, food and accommodation. This is great value for what will be a great weekend of leadership development. If you want to go contact Emmeline on emmeline@ireland.com
The past few months have been hectic and I have not been blogging as much as I had hoped to be at the start of the year. Just going to do a quick update entry now to bring you all up to speed with what has been going on in the latter part of the summer for JCI Ireland.
The great news that one of JCI Ireland’s TOYP winners Melanie Hennessy has been named as a one of the JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons. It is great when we can highlight the great work being done by young Irish Active Citizens.
JCI Galway hosted president’s day in ST Brigit’s gardens just outside of Galway City. The gardens were splendid and a great day was had. In the morning there was a great training on selecting herbs while National Executive had our board meeting. In the afternoon there was a great training on setting goals.
The last few months has seen loads of work going into planning for Active Citizenship Week 3rd – 10th of October. www.fifty-ways.com this will be launched on the Sunday of our National Convention in Malahide and we will have Mary Davis, Richard Bruton talking about the importance of Active Citizenship at the launch.
JCI Fingal have been working around the clock to organise this year’s National convention from the 1st – 3rd of October. The highlights of the weekend will be the JCI Friendly Business Awards on the Friday night, training by some excellent IMI trainers on the Saturday, debating the Gala dinner and the launch of Active Citizenship week.
I was in Leitrim this month for the launch of JCI in Leitrim and this was great for me. I love it when I am asked to speak to new people about JCI.
I was heading into town on Thursday evening and there were three young girls about eight or nine on my street with a little table selling stuff. I went over to it and they were selling chocolate bars and sweets.
They asked me did I want to buy something and that the money was going to a good cause. I asked them what the cause was and they told me all the profits were going to help the people that were affected by the Haiti earthquake.
Needless to say I was delighted as this is the same cause the JCI Dublin are currently fundraising for here in conjunction with UNICEF.
I paid €10 for a bar of chocolate and the young girls were delighted and I was so happy to see some young active citizens on my street and budding TOYP winners.
This was a great example to me that sometimes we can overcomplicate things and that it can be good to just get out and do something simple like selling chocolate bars.
JCI Ireland survey shows that Irish people believe active citizenship starts with volunteering!
A survey conducted by JCI Ireland shows that 16% of Irish people believe that volunteering is a more representative act of active citizenship as opposed to joining a political party, where 0% voted in favour. The survey was conducted to mark the announcement of JCI Ireland’s Active Citizenship Week on October 3-8th 2010.
Hi everyone I would just like to bring this clip to your attention of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon addresses JCI Global Partnership Summit. This is a great event that allows members of JCI go to the United Nations and see what is happening there. This clip gives you a good idea of the high regard JCI is held in around the world!
I had a great night last night at the Catalonia party. They were promoting the 2011 European conference and if last night was anything to go by we are in for a treat. If you are looking for some info on next years conference have a look here.
The sun finally came out today and I had some free time to explore Aarhus. I spent some time in the coffee shops around the old town square and in the local shops. It really is a beautiful city and I hope to get back here again to explore a little more. Have a look at the center in the video below!
This afternoon the Irish delegation came over to the apartment that we were staying in and we all enjoyed a glass of campaigning and we had a nice chat about our highlights of the conference. I have to say we also had the football game on in the background. After this we went to the awards ceremony and we would like to congratulate Solveig from JCI UK on winning the public speaking competition. We did not win any awards this year but we can not win every year I guess
We all went to the Gala dinner tonight and had a great time eating, dancing and getting to know our friends from. I have to confess that I had two deserts as it was chocolate mouse and strawberries. It was a splendid finish on a great meal.
This brings an end to my report from the 2010 European conference. I have had a ball and feel that I have learned so much, grown as a leader and really got to meet some great people. I hope you can make it to Osaka in November or Catalonia next year and have the same experience we have all had here in Aarhus.
After a late night last night where I was partying until 2:30 at the German night I had an early start this morning to have breakfast with the JCI World president. I invited him to our national convention in Fingal this year and I hope he can make it. He had the following words to say to the JCI Ireland members.
After breakfast with the world president I went to this mornings key note speaker George Kohlrieser. George is a lecturer in leadership at the number one business school in Europe, IMD in Lausanne. He is the author of the best selling book on leadership “Hostage at the Table”. http://www.hostageatthetable.com/
He delivered an excellent talk on leadership that was moving & inspiring. He had the following nice words for all the JCI Ireland members.
We also had an excellent reception today from JCI Osaka on the world convention this November. It is an understatement to say that I was blown away by the scale of the plans for world convention. JCI Osaka have rented all of Universal Studios for part of the convention.
This evening I was at a reception hosted by our good friends JCI UK. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate JCI UK president and my great friend Lesley on the announcement of her plan to run for International Vice President. Also I hope that JCI London member Solveig wins the European public speaking as she delivered a splendid speech in the final today.
Finally some of us attended the Dutch party night tonight where they gave us pizza and all the beer we could drink There was rock music and great craic. See if you can spot any one you know in the video below.
I am off out to the JCI Catalan night now and I do not know if I will get any sleep this week. As Kevin once said “No sleep till Dublin”
This morning saw the start of general assembly (GA) where we were getting reports from different members of the JCI European Leadership team. Then we had the members of the different comities who were set-up at the European Presidents Meeting to identify how JCI can help Europe present there reports.
During the day I attended some VIP receptions and these are always good fun and a great opportunity to get to know my fellow JCI members a little better. I was at the Turkish reception and then in the evening I was at the German reception where the Germans were promoting their bid for European conference in Braunschweig in 2012. We will vote on their bid tomorrow morning.
This evening all of the Irish delegation attended a splendid party hosted by JCI Germany down in the docklands of Aarhus. This party was a cross between dance and Eurovision with some rock rolled in for good measure.
Have a look at the video below to see what you are missing
I will have breakfeast with the JCI world president tomorrow morning and I hope to get a message from him for the JCI Ireland members.
There was rock music and great craic. See if you can spot any one you know in the video below.
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