All Our Bags are Packed...

In just a matter of hours Kathy and Kalenne will be jetting off to Italy for the biggest CISV meetings around. In fact we'll be going to three: ARMM, IJBC and AIM. What do all these acronyms stand for? Here's the rundown.

ARMM: The America's Regional Members' Meeting. This is the first place we'll be heading off to. It's a meeting/ training/ CISV good time for everyone from the America's Region, which includes North, Central and South America. Even though it's a meeting focused on the America's Region, it's so darn convenient there's sure to be some guests from other regions (like Europe and Asia Pacific). It's facilitated by the ARM team, which is sort of like JB Canada's executive and some Home Staff.

IJBC: The International Junior Branch Conference. This is a conference/ training/ CISV mutual learning experience for all Juniors from around the world. Wow. It's facilitated by the IJRs (sort of like the NJRs, but for the world) and previously nominated IJR candidates as well as some lovely Home Staff. This year's theme is 'Reflect and Act'.

AIM: This is the Annual International Meeting. This is the 'adult' meeting. It's a time for reports, motion voting and hopefully lots of funny antics. It's for CISVers from all over the world so this= lots of CISV in one place. Nice. This year's theme is 'Peace Education in a Multicultural City'.

As your NJRs Kathy and Kalenne will be representing Canada at the ARMM and IJBC and taking a bit more of an observer role at AIM, where CISV Canada's trusty trustee Rick Uy will be taking over as the front man. We know what you're thinking and don't worry, we're keeping our eyes on Rick and making sure he stays in line.

As NJRs we'll be soaking up anything we can to bring back to JB Canada, evaluating the past year as well as doing some strategic planning for next year and lots of other good stuff. If you want us to talk about something, ask around about how other countries are doing things or help you out with anything drop us an email at njr@ca.cisv.org or leave a note on this blog. Check back often for updates, as you can imagine these meetings are pretty busy places and cool stuff happens fast.

Ciao for now. Kathy and Kalenne

SBTF 08 status: great sucess!

SBTF 2008: Riding the LeaderSHIP!

Well friends, or should we say "arug mateys!", another spring board training forum has come an gone. The participants have returned to their chapter, their heads and binders filled with jb love, inspiration, and knowledge. And excessive amounts of pirate lingo.

This year's forum was a huge success. Sure it rained a lot of the time, but from May 16 to the 19th, 23 individuals gathered in downtown toronto to be engaged, challenged, and generally shook-up, pirate leadership-style.

We spent a lot of time in one very colourful room, looking at what makes a good leader. We discussed challenges and brainstormed ways to solve them together. We were lucky to have both developing chapters, Halifax and Montreal represented.

By dissecting the elements that make up a junior branch, we improved our own leadership skills, but also learned how to pass this knowledge onto others. A tour around the university of toronto campus took us to different stations where we shared stories about communication, adult liaisons, activities, promotion, recruitment, and so much more.

We were introduced to lots of the different functions of jb canada, and jb international. The junior branch development committee presented us with brand-new junior-branch co-chair manuals, and we saw presentations from the international junior branch committee.

As we became friends, and realized our similarities and differences, we were able to connect and form a community that will last despite the geographical monstrosity that is Canada. The leaders of JB Canada parted ways on the 19th of May 2008, with a few tears, but with renewed energy to continue fueling the great machine that is jb canada.

As NJR's, Kathy and Kalenne were very tired by the end of the weekend, but so filled with love from all of the brilliant leaders who attended the training. A huge thank you to the participants for making SBTF as incredible as it was!

so much love,

Kathy | Kalenne