How can we attain world peace? A clichéd question. Everybody says they want world peace but no one seems to believe it’s possible. We have all heard all the arguments as to why world peace is impossible. Genocide, murder, rape, theft, vandalism… the list goes on. There is just too much wrong out there, you can’t change it all.
 Is that what you think? Or are you one of those people with hope for the world and do your best to make it a better place? Are you the kind of person who picks up the litter of those who don’t know any better or the kind of person to litter the road yourself because there is no point in you alone making an effort?
The good news is there are quite a few young people in the world dedicated to making a change in themselves for the better in order to make the world a better place. One such group is Junior Chamber International, the world’s largest youth leadership and development organization.
Founded in 1915, it has members in 105 countries. The Sri Lankan branch is known as Junior Chamber International Sri Lanka (JCISL) and has 10 chapters – Gampaha, Negombo, Kolupitiya, Bambalapitiya, Wellawatte, Dehiwala – Mt. Lavinia, Colombo Central, Colombo North, Piliyandala and Kandana.
Anyone between the ages of 18 – 40 are free to join the organization if they wish to take part in community work or develop themselves. There are four main areas of development, categorized under the headings of Individual, International, Business and Community and there are four directors to head each of these divisions. All posts are held by members who volunteer their time free of charge.
The Gampaha Chapter has been voted the most outstanding chapter in Sri Lanka for the fourth consecutive year. They recently organized the Youth leadership Academy 2009 (YOLA 2009) where 30 members participated in a management training and leadership program in the wilderness at Belihuloya.
The training partner was Wild Drift, a company that specializes in personality development, management training and team building via adventure activities in the outdoors. Over a two day period on January 31 and February 1, the participants had gone trekking, kayaking, treasure hunting, as well as participated in the ‘ultimate acrobat’ high rope courses.
They were videoed throughout the day and shown clips of themselves at night while they were relaxing. Rukmal de Silva, a partner at Wild Drift, said that this was to show the trainees a glimpse of their own behaviour, which they don’t often notice or are aware of.
The video debriefing is a method of giving feedback to participants on what they were expected to do and what they actually did. The purpose of the project was experiential learning, where the participants learned to bond with each other in a fun filled atmosphere which was at the same time challenging enough for them to delve deep into their own inner resources to find capabilities they might not even have realized existed.
All the participants were highly enthusiastic about the course and even though it was only two days, insist it has changed them for the better. Their only complaint was that the program was too short. They wished it had gone on much longer.
Any one who would like to join JCI, may login to www.jci.cc and reach the secretary General of Gampaha Chapter through thulad@gmail.com or reach the president of Gampaha Chapter through
charithajaycees@gmail.com.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/090222/Magazine/sundaytimesmirror_01.html |
Change for the better
