CISV Canada NJR blog

Election Results

2009-08-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hot News!

The new IJR has been announced! Please welcome Rowan El Shimi, IJR 2009-11. Yay!

We are very excited to see Rou at work and to see what she comes up with for the future of IJB. Check out her jbpedia page here

Of course this means we say goodbye to the current Sr. IJR, our dear friend Kelly Bowden. Kelly did a wonderful job over the past two years to work for JBers everywhere, putting in countelss hours and tireless effort. But don't worry, she's not leaving CISV forever, there's even an NBM rumor floating around... hmm.

From Guate!

IJR Candidates

2009-08-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

Each year at the AIM the NJRs of the world elect a new International Junior Rep to take on a two year term as the go to person for international junior branch. It's like being NJR, but for the world. The IJRs are responsible for chairing the IJB committee and representing the Junior Branch on the adult board. They help pull together everyone's ideas to make them into a plan to assist juniors around the world.

So this year we have two excellent candidates vying for the chance to join the current IJR Maru in the job. The candidates this year are:

Rou from Egypt and Juanma from Colombia. Last night we had some excellent answers from both sides in the Q and A and both have worked so hard during the last months and for this IJBC. Before the IJBC they were asked to make up album covers for themsleves. These are them:

Of course with the election it means it is time for Canada's own Kelly Bowden to step down from her role as IJR. She has done a fabulous job over the last two years and deserves a huge thank you for all her effort and ideas.

Elections will be held during AIM and of course we'll tell you the result as soon as we know it.

From Guatemala, Kalenne and Rémi.

Summer Time is Meeting Time

2009-08-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

Hello lovely juniors!

This is just an update about the fabulous meetings that take place during the summer months for NJRs, active juniors and tons of involved adults!

The meetings are ARMM (America's Regional Members Meeting), IJBC (International Junior Branch Conference) and AIM (Annual International Meeting). This year they are all being held in Guatemala.

ARMM was the first meeting on the agenda and is attended by NJRs and JBers from the Americas Region (from Canada to Argentina and everything in between). This is not much meeting and lots of training and workshops to help give the participants and facilitators more skills and ideas to help their local and national JBs develope. Everyone had a lovely and informative time and is now more prepared to tackle problems, run sweet sessions and make good things happen. Yes!

Many of these ARMM participants have now moved on to IJBC, which is at this very moment half way through its first day. And there's exciting news about this! Ready?!

Rather than reading only reading Kalenne's opinions and memories here you can read a collective blog of many participants' takes on the meeting on the IJBC Live Blog!

The link to it is here:http://ijbclive2009.wordpress.com

Check back often and follow along the IJBC happenings, since afterall, it's a meeting for Juniors around the world and that includes you!

High fives from Guate!

PS The blog is put on by the IJB Connect Team and they're so techy it's also in Twitter form here: www.twitter.com/ijbc09live

Complete at last... Here we are!

2008-12-31T12:42:00.001-08:00

With the election of our National Camp Coordinator we now have a full executive that needs an introduction. So, here's a quick word from all of them and their contact emails.

Part of the JB National Executive is of course the NJRs. You probably know enough about Kalenne and Rémi by now, for fun facts just scroll down the blog and we're sure you'll find some gems of information.

NCC (Nat Camp Coordinator)
Nom/Name: James Young
Chapitre/Chapter: St. Grégoire
Email: jyoung1991@msn.com

Bonjour à toute la branche juniore canadienne,
Je tennais à vous remercier pour m’avoir donné la chance d’être le NCC. Merci beaucoup!!! Je ferrai tout ce qui est en mon possible pour que ce soit merveilleux. Donc si quelqu’un a des questions, commentaires, suggestions, ou si vous voulez savoir quoique ce soit à propos du national camp ou bien a propos de moi, vous pouvez me contacter par email.
Hey JB Canada, Just a couple of words to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to be NCC. Thank you!!! I’ll do my best to make it wonderful. So if you guys have any question, comments, suggestions or anything else about the National Camp or me, you can reach me by email.

JBDCC (Junior Branch Development Committee Chair)
Nom/Name: Brittany Bernard
Chapitre/Chapter: Victoria
Email: brittanyj@hotmail.com

Hey Canada! I have been involved in CISV for almost 8 years. One of my favorite CISV memories would have to be playing Murder Mysteries in the very early hours of the morning with the rest of Victoria's JB Board at minicamp. I am really excited about this year and to be more involved with CISV at a national level! My thumbs up in the photo is to yummy Swedish grilled cheese and to a super fun upcoming year! Lots of love.
Bonjour Canada!
J'était une membre de CISV pour presque 8 année maintenant. Une des souvenirs favories de CISV était lorsque j'ai joué Murder Mysteries avec les autres membres du JB Board de Victoria a minicamp. Je hâte de commencer travailler cette année et d'être plus liée avec CISV a une étage national! Mes 'thumbs up' dans le photo est pour le fromage de la Suède et pour une année super animer! Beaucoup d'amour.

ICC (Internal Communications Chair)
Nom/Name: Julia Sheldon
Chapitre/Chapter: Ottawa
Email: cisvbum@hotmail.com

I am studying geography and religious studies at the University of Ottawa. I am in my 3rd year, and loving every minute of it. I LOVE shepherd's pie, sleeping in late, board game nights, and spending time with a boy I am crazy in love with. December 28 - January 3 is Ottawa's annual winter camp, and I can't wait!! It will be my 6th winter camp, and it is personally my favourite program in CISV.

As Internal Communications Chair, it's my job to keep everyone in touch. So answer my emails and Facebook messages, please!! So far everyone has been really good about it :)

Much love from O-Town, j.shelds

Je suis dans ma troisième année d'école à l'Université d'Ottawa dans la programme de géographie et les études réligieuses, et je l'adore!! J'ADORE "shepherd's pie", dormir tard, des nuits de jeux avec mes amis (comme Sorry et Scrabble), et passant du temps avec un garçon que je suis fou dans amour avec. Le 28 décembre - 3 janvier est le Winter Camp annuel de JB Ottawa, and je ne veux pas attendre! Ce sera mon 6e camp d'hiver et c'est mon programme favori de CISV. Comme Internal Communications Chair, c'est à moi d'assurer que vous êtes tous en contacte, donc répond aux emails et messages de Facebook, s'il vous plaît!

Tant de bisoux du capitale, j.shelds

ECC (External Communications Chair)
Nom/Name: Caitlyn Wood
Chapitre/Chapter: Calgary
Email: caitlynw1@gmail.com

Salut! Moi et Julia planifions d'avoir une année très productive pour CISV Canada. Nous allons faire quelques nouveaux changements et quelques vieilles traditions vont rester dans CISV Canada. Je suis super énervée d'être dans le conseil exécutif national (National Board) cette année et j'espère rendre les JBers (brancheux!) canadiens aussi enthousiaste que moi! Je suis une personne très occupée mais j'aime avoir des choses à faire! Quelques unes des choses que j'aime faire quand j'ai le temps sont : yoga, dance, magasiner, aller voir des films, bénévolat et voyager! On se voit dans la prochaine année!
Hey! Julia and I are planning on having a very productive year with CISV Canada and we hope to make some new changes as well as keep some old traditions within CISV Canada. I am super excited to be able to be on the National Board this year, and I am hoping to make Canadian JB'ers just as excited as I am! I'm a pretty busy person but I enjoy having things to do! Some things I like to do when I have the time is yoga, dance, shop, go to the movies, volunteer and travel! See you in the New Year!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

2008-12-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

Big happy hello under the snow "Québécoise" (neige est un mot féminin)!

After a lot of waiting, some e-mail reading, a phone call or two, a good counting session... K 'n R came out with one name as the new National Camp Coordinator! Yes, you understood just as us that the three candidates were awsomely good ones and that the decision was quite difficult to make. But, the choice has been finally made...

I'm stressed to write it down and I know I should do it short and sweet but I first want to thank the 10 chapters that have voted in such a short delay. You guys helped us to be effective! What happened with Toronto and Victoria??? Well... The majority of voters decided that this year, they wanted their NC to be hosted by James Young. He will be working hardly from now on to plan a fantastic National Camp next August with a team of staff he will build. You will for sure hear from him in the next few weeks so he can get his planning starting!

So we now have our EXEC full-filled. YAY! This is a great year starting on a good note for JB Canada. Let's try to keep it as good as it started!

Rémi for the two NJRs !

Coming back from Calgary!!!

2008-11-14T13:04:00.000-08:00

Wow ! After such a weekend, it's difficult not to be crying to be back home with a lot of school, work, family stuff, dishes to clean and brooming to do...

The time as come for JB Canada to start the year with whole bunch of fun!!!

One of the really fun things that the NJRs have done at National Board Meeting was... CHANGING... yes, you read well, Kathy and Kalenne are now replaced by...

Kalenne and Rémi!

Of course, one of the two current NJRs as the same name as one of the two past NJRs. The thing is that each NJR are voted for two years and they will start as Junior NJR and then the year after they become Senior NJR. Concretely, Kalenne Thors is now Senior NJR and Rémi Francoeur the Junior NJR.

"But, are they alone?" (I can hear you asking in front of your computer!)
NO! They are not! They have all of you Juniors from all across our beautiful country. But as well, they have a wonderfull team with them on the EXECUTIVE of JB Canada. This team is including
Julia Sheldon as the Internal Communication Chair,
Caitlyn Wood as the External Communication Chair,
Brittany Bernard as the Junior Branch Development Committee Chair
and James Young as National Camp Coordinator.

Those people will be the people you guys can refer to at any time during the next 11 months in case of needs, questions or just for having a nice talk!

If you want to contact your NJRs, you guys just have to write a comment on this blog or you can send an e-mail to njr@ca.cisv.org

With love and respect,

...your most bearded NJR...

NJR candidates 2008!

2008-11-04T12:27:00.000-08:00

Hello juniors of Canada!

as some of you may know, the time has come to elect a new njr. The election will take place AT nbm 2008 this weekend in Calgary, so let your chapter representative know who you think should be leading junior branch canada for the next two year. So without furthur ado, let's meet our candidates!
Looking good guys.

Rémi Francoeur

Hey hey! You people reading this text about who are the NJR candidates on the NJR blog less than 4 days before NBM starts... yeah, you! You might be really intense in CISV!!!
But well if you don't know (or if you want to know more about) me, her is a little intro to my person. I'm never brief, neither in French or in English and my Spanish is good but not yet enought to make clear and simple sentences. So I guess I will write my 200 words without saying much about my self but eh! that's not to bad.
When people ask me what I like to do in life, I usually answer "Make people smile!" . In general, it works and the person I told it to smiles. This is one of the thousand examples of how good I am to achieve what I want to do. But it's mainly a good way to explain you how important a smile is for me. In fact I think that smiling is a cure to a lot of diseases and problems. I once studied clown. One day, I would love to work as Doctor Clown (hope you heard about it). As well, a smile is way better than some make-up to "pimp-up" your face. If you want to be pretty, the cool stuff to do is not to wear a super-dress, have a newh air cut or use the extra-lip-gloss-dupper-cool, the cool stuff is to put a smile in your face. I believe.

What? Else than smiles? What do I like as well in life? Here is a quick improvised list : monkeys, chocolate, shaking hands, latin languages, philosophy, strawberry soymilk, hugs, theater, airports, looking to the toilets(bathrooms) in fancy restaurants or hotels, palmtree, juggling, dressing up, biking, people playing acoustic guitar, cats, potato chips, fresh carrots, lezards, Facebook and all its possibilities, folk music, seeing the raise and the set of the Sun in the same day, beaches, climbing(in trees, on buildings, in CISV hierarchy), sudoku, french fries, cutting my friends hair, have a beard so I can shave with weird shapes, taking pictures, singing, jumping, when the sound of the fridge stops suddenly and I realize it was annoying me since a while, skipping, throwing rocks on the water and count the bounces, bread, futuristic movies, making analogies on the spot when I talk about something, improvised theater, circus, dancing, beeing told by people I like that I did somehting good, my mom, my sisters, sleeping, complimenting someone if I really think it, my backpack, my other one as well, wearing hats, collecting hats, trading clothes, my friends (including a lot of great human beings), trying to guess what language people are speaking on the street, history, mini-anything (everything really small is really cute; deodorant, trucks, animals, music instruments...), someone looking directly in the eyes, human touch, clapping my hands together, hammocks, hiking, maple trees, salt, talking, did I say talking?, oh and finally, i really appreciate to talk (I can almost say I'm talkative)...

I'm Rémi Francoeur, 21 years old, male, from St-Grégoire Chapter, french speaker, live in a city called Trois-Rivières, work in entertainment, tourism, arts and restaurantion, involved in CISV since 1999, candidate for Canadian NJR this week-end at NBM in Calgary. I can't wait to let you all people know more about me... Take care of yourselves!

Love, Remi.

Julia Sheldon

hey hey hey,
Julia Sheldon here. I've decided to give you some stats a.k.a. statistics about myself to start things off.

Hometown: Waterloo, Ontario
Current town: Ottawa, Ontario
Birthday: Oct 6 (I expect presents :P)
Years in CISV: 9 (officially), 16 unofficially
Hobbies: reading, traveling, tree climbing, drinking tea, good conversation, having my mind blown
Languages: English, French, German (barely)
Education: 3rd year University of Ottawa - major in Geography, minor in Religious Studies
Countries visited: Germany, Holland, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, England, United States, Nicaragua, Canada DESPERATELY HOPING FOR MORE!
Favourite food: chocolate, hands down.
Favourite colour: green, hands down.
Favourite energizer: "Who Gives the Best Hugs" from USA NBM 2007
Favourite CISV activities ever played: Hopes and Fears, Ottawa Winter Camp 2005; Communication, Holland Seminar Camp 2007; Cross The Line, every time!
Pet Peeves: incorrect spelling, improper grammar, people who talk during exams or lectures, being late, when things/people are late, the feeling of unbrushed teeth ... you know, when it feels like there's a layer of fuzz on your teeth EW.
Recent exciting journey: went to Berlin for an interchange (junior leader), got home, slept for 2 days, then drove across Canada (from Kamloops, BC to Ottawa, ON) in 4.5 days!

More about me? Staples is my favourite store. I love school supplies. And being organized. Ridiculous? What are you gonna do about it?!... That's what I thought.
I love learning. SO much. Also, I have realized that in certain circumstances, I tend to turn into a southern ghetto-fab grandmother. It's slightly ridiculous.

I think being NJR would be a HUGE change for me, and something that I am very excited about. That being said, Remi is a great guy, and would do a wonderful job. I wouldn't want to have to choose between the two of us. So good luck!!!

MUCH LOVE
j.shelds

Well, that's it for now friends! Stay tuned for much more nbm news!

love!
your friendly njr's, Kathy and Kalenne

NBM's a comin' Yeehaa.

2008-10-23T00:13:00.000-07:00

That right folks, NBM is almost here. In just two short weeks the Juniors of Canada will be meeting out west for the first time in many a year in the lovely city of Calgary. Some things to look forward to include: JB Goals fun times, Adult- Junior hang out action, and a lot of bad cowboy jokes. We'll also be passing motions, doing elections and thinking up big ideas.

For all our eager NBM attendees, don't forget to do some homework before you come and get ready to bring things back to your chapter. NBM is a busy time so the more you've done before hand the better off you'll be. All the motions, reports and documents will be posted in the members' only section of the CISV Canada website soon- look them over, print them off and get familiar with the plan for the weekend. Also, take some time to think about what you want to get out of NBM and what you want your chapter to get out of it. How can you achieve these goals? Lastly, get ready for a party- NBM is always a great time!

To everyone who's coming we can't wait to see you and to everyone who's not, don't worry, your chapter chairs will be bringing back lots of great ideas, energy and tools- make sure you ask them all about it.

T minus 14 days. -kathy and kalenne

We leave you with a few shots from our fabulous National Camp. Once again a ginormous success. National Camp- it just proves how much our Juniors rock. And how many bugs there are in Saskatoon. Wow.

Next stop: Saskatchewan

2008-08-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

A Quick Update. Kathy and Kalenne have both departed from lovely Florence and are now back on their respective oceans, at least for a few days.

This is another hilarious sign from the AIM site. Although not as funny as the 'No Tourists' sign it might say more than originally intentioned.

National Camp is just a few days away so the NJRs are already getting ready to set off to Saskatoon to set up and get ready to welcome all the participants.

We're really excited for camp and that excitement only gets stronger as:a) camp gets closer and b) we get more sleep.

This year's theme is 'One Beat' and is meant to capture a sense of unity while celebrating our differences. The Plains Cree of Saskatchewan used drums in many of their ceremonies as well as during gatherings with other tribes.

Although they had different songs and equipment they came together to create their own beat as a group. This is what we hope to do with National Camp- bring people together from coast to coast with different ways of thinking and living, and have them contribute that experience to create their own unique beat.

Watch for our prairie update, coming after camp. Peace out home slices. K and K

Discuter!!! Discuss!!!

2008-08-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

CISV ONLY, NO TOURISTS

Salut a tous les membres de la Branche Junior du Canada! Kathy et Kalenne sont encore à Firenze, peut être la ville la plus chaude du monde- oui, on sait que c'est probablement (sûrement) incorrect mais la chaleur nous fait confuses.

Hello to everyone from JB Canada! Kathy and Kalenne are still in Firenze, maybe the hottest city in the world- yes, we know this is probably (definitely) wrong but the heat's confusing us.

Premièrement, on a une grande nouvelle de te raconter. Maru Ayam de l’Argentine était choisi comme la prochaine IJR (International Junior Rep).* Elle travaillera avec notre amie Kelly Bowden pour l’année qui vienne.
*Attends, c’est quoi un IJR? – C’est un peu comme un NJR, mais pour le monde. Oui, c’est un travail énorme.

Firstly, we have big news. Maru Ayam from Argentina has been chosen as the next IJR (International Junior Rep).* She will work with our friend Kelly Bowden for the coming year.
*Wait, what's IJR?- It's a bit like NJR, but for the world. Yes, it's a huge job.

Et maintenant, on veut vraiment entendre qu’est-ce que tu penses de quelque motions qui sont sur l’agenda des adultes.

And now, we really want to hear what you think of a few motions that are on the adult agenda.

Premièrement: Les programmes avec les jeunes (Village, Summer Camp etc) devraient éliminer l’alcool complètement, sauf pour ‘Leaders’ Weekend’ et ‘Leaders’ Night Out’. C’est une bonne idée?

First: Programmes where youth are present (Village, Summer Camp etc) should eliminate alcohol from the camp completely, except for 'Leaders' Weekend' and 'Leaders' Night Out'. Is is a good idea?

Deuxièmement: Summer Camp devrait changer à une programme offrit seulement pour les jeunes de 14 ou 15 ans. Les camps de 13 ans seraient discontinus parce qu’ils ne remplient pas les buts éducatifs au mêmes niveaux que les autres ages.

Secondly: Summer Camp should change to a programme offered only to youth aged 14 or 15. 13 year old camps would be discontinued as they aren't fullfilling the educational goals to the same level as the other ages.

Alors, dans le section ‘Comments’ donne nous vos opinions sur ses sujets, peut être, ça commencera une discussion.

So, in the 'Comments' section give us your opinions on these subjects, maybe, it'll turn into a discussion.

Avec amour d’Italie. Love from Italy. K and K

**UPDATE**
The Summer Camp motion was passed. We will now be focusing on developing the 14 and 15 year old camps.

The alcohol motion was tabled until next year (read: no decision was reached). As an interesting note however, from my perspective had it gone to a vote it wouldn't have passed. A lot of people feel casual drinking is part of their culture and we should be able to trust leaders to drink responsibly. I guess we'll have to wait until next AIM to see what happens....

What do you actually DO at IJBC?

2008-08-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

So with IJBC drawing to a close the question remains, what exactly have Kathy and Kalenne been doing anyway?

To be honest, it's hard to say. You know when you come back from a Mini Camp and your friends want to know what you were doing all weekend and you have a really hard time explaining and before you know it you're throwing around words that on their own make almost no sense at all? Ya, it's like that. Except less awkward because we know you understand. Kalenne and her IJBC/AIM tag

But in the spirit of blogging we'll try anyway.

Our sessions have been divided into 4 topics:

- Junior Branch: As you can guess these are sessions about, surprise surprise, JB. They are aimed at aiding in the development of our JBs, locally, nationally and internationally. For example, we might do a session on the JB Goals, so we can use them more effectively when we get back to our chapters.

- Global movement: These are sessions to get us thinking about taking what we've learned in CISV outside to create movement. We as a JB are a global movement, cool right? These sessions aimed to get us thinking about how we as JBers can have more of an impact as a worldwide movement and also how we can become more engaged in other already existing global movements, for example, Peace One Day.

-Open Space: This is time for participants to develop ideas they think are important and are
interested in. They are like working groups at NBM. We brainstorm discussion or project topics and then split off to develop them. They can range from things like planning regional workshops to putting together a magazine or discussing how CISV can be more green.

-Parallel Experiences: This is a time when we break off into different groups to enjoy a session that interests us. It's the same as tripod time at NMB. This allows participants to use their time how they feel would be best for them and their JB. Yay

Kathy on the bus to ARMM.
The sessions were way more exciting.
We promise.

Whew, that's a lot of stuff. Along with formal sessions we're always story sharing and discussing challenges and successes of our JBs. As you can imagine a lot of the time these are really similar between different National Associations (NAs).

Well, that was a long one, but stay tuned for shorter posts with lots of funny pictures (we already have a few planned). If you're reading this please leave a comment, Kalenne needs constant validation. Love the NJRs

The view from our Tuscan Villa aka the ARMM site

NJR italy blog one

2008-08-02T04:18:00.000-07:00

The NJRs are in Italy! Check out our first video blog....

All Our Bags are Packed...

2008-07-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

Lovely to see you all. Kalenne and Kathy here in Toronto, enjoying the whimsical banter of cisv canada's adult board and executive.

Every year, the adult executive (of which Kalenne and Kathy are a part) and the chapter chairs from all over Canada gather for the
spring board meeting. This is a weekend full of motions, reports, and networking. Sort of like a mini-nbm that works as a mid-year
check in.

Kalenne and Kathy also present a mid-year report and a fancy powerpoint presentation, which we would love to send to you if you are interested in reviewing it. They will also both be avaliable on cisv canada's website (cisv.ca) in the member's only section. This report was well received, and all the adults were very impressed at our supreme level of awesome-ness.

Because Kathy and Kalenne live on opposite ends of the country, we are extending our stay in toronto until tuesday to give us time to
have a mid-way meeting for ourselves.

Here are some things we hope to accomplish:

review and planning of the junior branch budget!
planning of this year's spring board training forum
preparations for this year's armm, ijbc, and aim
brainstorming new ways to connect to and help out all of you lovely folk!

So please, if you have anything you would like to share with us, or you would like us to discuss while we are meeting, please let us know!
Have something you think the participants of the spring board training forum should be trained on? Have an idea for nbm next year?
Have an idea for a national project? Funny joke? Let us know at njr@ca.cisv.org!

looking forward to hearing from you!

kathy | kalenne

Sail away on the Leadership

2008-04-12T12:10:00.000-07:00

It's almost that time again... Time for incoming chairs and interested Junior Board members from across Canada to come together for a long weekend of fun, excitement and leadership training.

JB Canada's own Spring Board Training Forum (SBTF) is still being held the May long weekend but this year it will be moving from Ottawa to Toronto. Our theme is Riding the Leadership (get it? here at NJR headquarters we thought it was pretty clever) so get ready for a weekend of bad theme pirate jokes but really good training for everything you need to set your JB up for smooth sailing. We looking to have representation from right across Canada from all our lovely chapters so get ready, we can't wait to see you all! This year we also have the pleasure of welcoming the lovely and talented Keenan Dixon to the training team as home staff. She's been working hard to sort out a lot of the logistical stuff and we are super appreciative.

For more information email the NJRs at njr@ca.cisv.org We can set you up with forms and answer any questions you have. If you're coming this year and you have a specific topic you'd like covered in Training let us know and we'll try to set up a session.

Also huge thanks to everyone who took time to check in with us during the NJR online time. The flow of communication both ways is so important and it really helps us give direction to JB Canada when we know how you're all feeling. Remember, we always love to chat and hear what's happening in your chapters, good and bad, so don't be shy, drop us a line. If you send us an email and we can set up a time to talk or you can find us anytime on MSN and Skype.

Big love from ocean to ocean. Kathy and Kalenne

Imagine us is a Mini Van

2007-12-31T11:22:00.000-08:00

Can you picture it? A CISV van full of your JB exec members traveling the country from coast to coast visiting your chapters and having fun... Well, it's not quite in the budget this year but don't worry, we still want our presence to be felt, making jokes, brainstorming and lending a hand (or giving a free ride) if you need it. Since the addition of the communications team we've had to upgrade from a hatchback, and add a few seats from executives of the past, but now we've worked out some kinks and this year the road ahead looks clear. We're all excited to start the roadtrip, so here they are, this year's executive members...

The NJRs (National Junior Representatives)
Sr. NJR
So I'm Kathy Lewis. Originally from Fredericton, I now live and go to school in Halifax, where I study contemporary history and philosophy, international relations, and gender and women's studies. I have grown to love my new macbook, but am still not as fluent as Alex. I like tea and knitting, but I have been known to get out of the house once in a while for the occasional beer. I love CISV Canada because the juniors have to be extra creative due to our geographical and financial constraints. And they usually go above and beyond the challenge. While I am scared as all hell to be sr. njr, I am incredibly jazzed to be working with such an amazing exec. In my free time I work on the theme committee for the ijb, and am a trainnee on the international mosaic committee. I work at a women's centre as the activism coordinator, and make interesting collages with newspapers and magazines I steal out of recycling bins. I also tend to have unusually animated conversations with my gender-ambiguous goldfish Ralph. He's a horrible listener. Ungrateful jerk.

Jr. NJR
Hey everyone! My name is Kalenne Thors and I'm originally from the Victoria chapter but I'm currently living in Vancouver, in my second year at UBC. I'm still involved at a local level in Victoria and I'm hoping to get more involved in the Vancouver Chapter, if only the city wasn't so big and I wasn't so busy :)
I'm studying Political Science and I generally like everything associated with that, as well as sports, weekends, recycling and watching movies with my roommates when I really don't have time. I also like holidays and other things that are easily themed. I dislike being bored, not remembering where I put things and the giant puddle that forms outside the Arts building when it rains a lot. I'm super excited to be taking on the job of NJR, continuing on the 'K' tradition and working with everyone (and I mean everyone, JBers, adults, your friend, your cat...).
We really like you (yes you) a lot. We think you're pretty cool. We also like hearing from you. Through the wonders of technology you can email us both, at the same time, at njr@ca.cisv.org or leave a comment here. Sweet.

The NCC (National Camp Coordinator)
My name is Patrick and I am from Saskatoon. I go the University of Saskatchewan where I am currently in my fourth and final year of studying Political Studies. In my spare time I like to do anything involving film whether it be watching them or making them. I also enjoy writing especially about video games where I have actually had some of my work published in professional magazines. I used to wakeboard but my knees are borked and no longer function up to the necessary level of workingness. The only real job I have ever had was a janitor at a swimming pool, it taught me one very important lesson and that lesson is that the cake is a lie, never believe them when they promise you cake after work. The most interesting moment of my year thus far has to be the time I was walking downtown when me and my friends were threatened by a group of veterans who said and I quote "we will wreck your shit with man", it has since become my favourite catch phrase. So thats me in a nutshell minus the pajamas. It should also be noted that I enjoy letting my fingers frolic in my beard. (Note: As you can see Pat's beard has disappeared... will it be back? Only time will tell)
Wanna talk Nat Camp? Ya you do. To get in touch with Pat fire off an email to escarpment.blues@gmail.com

JBDCC (Junior Branch Development Committee Chair)
My name is Safiya Dhanani, I am 16 and I live in the gorgeous city of Vancouver! (I have to say I am quite pleased with the west coast representation this year) I have been in CISV since I was 11; First going to Lucknow, India for my village and then traveling to Cairo, Egypt for my summer camp! Locally, I am 'past chair' as of a couple o weeks ago!
I am an ex-competitive field hockey player. The 'ex' referring to my ANNOYING knee cap injury...which has put me out for the season. I love rock climbing and most outdoor things...building igloos and camping out in them in crazy snow conditions being a favorite as well! I really like coffee. No, let me rephrase, I love the smell of coffee but strangely I can't even manage to finish one cup. I like going for loooooonnnnnng runs especially in the rain. My favorite gadget is currently my ipod, it is very hard to find us apart! Currently my top played bands include; Feist, Phoenix, and Bloc Party. I speak mandarin (not fluently) and I sing a lot! Apart from daily shower singing I sing in 3 choirs. I am currently reading 'zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' and am VERY JAZZED to be working with a very stellar and goodlookin, as someone mentioned, group of CISVers.
To get in touch with the JB Development Committee email Safiya at safiya.dhanani@gmail.com

The Communications Duo- they like speaking in point form.
The ICC (Internal Communications Chair)
-I'm Paula Wilson, but many a man call me PHW or, alternatively, Pdub which is slightly embarassing though catchy.
-I live in downtown Calgary, a block from Western Canada High School but manage to be late 4/5 days no matter what.
-I am also REALLY excited this year about the canuck and generally how everything with jb canada has shaped up to be.
-It's much easier for me to describe my ownself in point form, though occasionally I prefer the run-on paragraph.
-Last night I dreamed that I was Billy Ray Cyrus' daughter, one of 5, and we solved mysteries in the student parking lot of my school.
-Talking on skype makes me uncomfortable because I feel like Phil of the Future!
- I just got my last paycheck from Second Cup, where my favourite customer had no teeth and sat in the corner singing ballads quietly enough that he would not disturb anyone, but loud enough make sure we ALL knew he meant business.
- I'm notoriously terrible at math, though I do write a mean paper.
- I use words like notorious freely though I often do not know in what context they are appropriate.
- My favourite colour is seafoam green, and it may interest you to know I'm terribly afraid of water.
- My current project is writing a one act play with my friend for our January theatre class wherein a couple breaks up at a Karaoke Party because the wife thought her husband's favourite movie was Back to the Future, where it actually is the second Die Hard. It's entitled "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart", you're all invited.
- On that note, my favourite movie is the Big Lebowski.

The ECC (External Communications Chair)
- I am Jessica Mae Williams, "call me Bubbles everyone doesss".
- Jess is fine too.
- I live in Fredericton.
- I go to a real big girl school and I study Fine Arts-ish stuff + Archaeology and Literature
- I'm Seminar Camp Chair for my chapter.
- When I work it's at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.
- I should be writing an Archaeology paper, but I like you more than carbon dating, but not more than dinosaurs.
- I applied for a new job today as coordinator for my University's Art Exhibition. Fingers crossed I get it.
- I just bought two fish, tetra and neon tetra. They're named Harold and Maude. They're on vacation right now at a friends house.
- I like movies A LOT. I thought about telling you my favorites but I'll just say that I like Shogun Assassin and I like you.
"There are many Jess' in the park, they grow tall and the children climb them. One day I will go there and chop all the Jess' down and burn them for heat and comic effect."
- My favorite colour is International Klein Blue. I don't realllly like blue I just like the idea of patenting a colour. Ownership, that's the stuff dreams are made of.

To communicate with the communications team you can email Paula at sweater.down@gmail.com or Jess at jesswilliams.0@gmail.com.
Canuck submissions can be sent to cisv.canuck@gmail.com

There's always room for a few more in the van, so JBers, let us know what you're thinking. We're always looking for input on where we should be headed so don't forget to drop us a line. See that add comments option? Us it! Or, feel free to email, write a letter, facebook stalk or send a carrier pigeon. You know where to find us, in our sweet CISV mini van.

Love love. K and K

Looking Back, Looking Forward

2007-12-23T11:44:00.001-08:00

With the end of the year comes changes in JB Canada. The National Board Meeting in November was once again a time for JB chairs and board members from across Canada to come together to share experiences, work together, learn new things, see old friends and conduct important JB Canada business. This year was a especially exciting NBM since it was CISV Canada's 50th anniversary! (Read: Time to party). It was held in Waterloo, where it all started for CISV Canada and golden 50th anniversary decorations were never hard to find.

Our JB elections were also held at NBM. Stepping into the role of Jr. NJR is Kalenne Thors, which means Kathy Lewis is our new Sr. NJR! Our new National Camp Coordinator is Patrick Morin and our communications team members are Jess Williams- focusing on external- and Paula Wilson- keeping it groovy with internal. Finally Safiya Dhanani will be chairing the Junior Branch Development Committee. We have a great team together for the upcoming year, keep your eyes open for more information about them (including some pictures) coming up soon. Big BIG thanks to last years lovely exec members: Holly, Brittany, Kalenne and Emily. Also, mad props to all our wonderful JB chairs. You guys are all doing an fantastic job and your chapters are very lucky to have each of you.

With elections, it also means our dear friend Alex has finished his term as NJR. It's been an amazing two years that has seen the start of the Spring Board Training forum, a reorganization of the Junior executive and a lot of amazing powerpoint presentations. Thank you for all your hard work Alex and good luck with your new 'adult' position.

Until next time. xo Kathy and Kalenne

The Return of K&A!

2007-09-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

Where, you ask, have Kathy and Alex been for the past while? Why hasn't there been a blog post in some weeks now? Well, we will answer that question but the following few photos should make it pretty clear: we've been working on our modeling career. That's right, Kathy and Alex, in addition to being NJRs are international professional supermodels and we travel the globe pouting our lips and breaking hearts.

Okay, that's not true. But we have been busy...and we can tell you all about it...

We got back from Colombia around the middle of August and not even two days later National Camp began. National Camp took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia this summer at a scouts camp called Camp Nadooae. National Camp, a program which brings together junior branchers of all ages from all over Canada, had a very diverse group this year. We had representatives from every single chapter and developing chapter of JB Canada. We could go on about National Camp and how much of a success it was, but why don't you take it from our participants...

I feel way more connected to JB Canada. I love how everyone shared stories about their chapters and the problems they are having. It is always comforting to know that you are not along and that other chapters are going through the same things.

After this camp I feel so inspired to take an active role in my JB and I’m glad.

I think I’ve seen my leadership and decision-making skills grow and become stronger. I’ve further discovered my strengths and weaknesses when I’m in a leadership role.

I was able to turn dissatisfaction into action!

Huge thanks must go out to the National Camp Coordinator Holly Norris--without her dedication and hard hard work, this camp would simply not have happened. Holly deserves a huge pat on the back and a dozen hip-hip hoorays and should feel very proud of the success of this camp! Thanks Holly.

That's all for now friends. Stay tuned to the CISV Canada website (www.cisv.ca) for National Camp photos and stay tuned to this channel for updates about...can you guess it?...that's right... NBM! The National Board Meeting is coming up in November in Waterloo and it's going to be huuuuuuge. So come back soon, you don't want to miss it.

Love from the east coast.
K&A

Closing time

2007-08-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

Well friends,

The NJR adventure in Colombia is drawing to a close.

It has been a journey of late nights, long meetings and good friends. It's been an evolutionary, revolutionary time to be meeting with such fantiastic people from all around the world. JB was deconstructed, evaluated, attitude-checked, knowledge-juiced , and skill-tested.

As we think about our trip home and national camp set to being on tuesday (the 14th), and we are full of motivation and energy to bring back and share with you. We are looking forward to sharing some stories with participants from every chapter in Canada! And of course, hearing about all of your summer adventures.

We hope that all of you have learned, laughed, and smiled as much as the two of us have over the past couple of weeks. We will see some of you very soon, and wish everyone a sunny rest of the summer.

With love,

Kathy and Alex.

Congradulations to a wonderful friend.

2007-08-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

Hello CISV Canada!

As you blog frequenters know, our very own Kelly Bowden was running for the posistion of international junior representative. We would like to inform you that Kelly was elected just moments ago, and we would like to give a huge shout out.

CONGRADULATIONS KELLY BOWDEN

IJR 2007-2009

We hope you are all having a wonderful day,

love from your NJRs,

kathy and alex.

21 vs 28 days

2007-08-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

Live from the plenary! Alex and Kathy here with an update from the discussion about the 21 vs. 28 day village question. Right now, the board of trustees (the elected representatives from each country of CISV) are discussing how to respond to the research that was done about villages... On the table is a decision for the board to make... Here are some of the questions...

Should villages be 28 days?
Should villages be 21 days?
Should we keep both options?
Should we eliminate village and create a new program?
Should there be a further re-thinking process?
Should we put this decision off until later...?

A decision has to be made. What do you think? We'll pass the word along.

With love from the plenary.

Alex & Kathy

Deconstructing and Reconstructing IJBC

2007-08-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

We know what you're wondering: Who the heck are those two girls in green?! I thought this was a blog about Kathy and Alex! Well don't worry, this still is the "NJR blog" but we wanted to be a little bit more inclusive and introduce a few of our Canadian friends who are here with us in Colombia. But who are these mysterious ladies in green and why are they important?

We'll tell you.

Erin (taller, holding the mug) comes from the Ottawa chapter. She enjoys reading Harry Potter, tall people and speaking in high pitched voices. Erin also enjoys deceiving CISV International; recently at IJBC, during an energizer Erin sarcastically explained that she had learned the energizer from J.K. Rowling who "was a leader at my village when I was eleven...before she was famous." Unfortunately, Erin's sarcasm is a little bit too sarcastic and some members of the international community here took her seriously.

Kelly (shorter, eating an apple) comes from the Fredericton chapter. She enjoys scarves, people who validate her good ideas, drinking coffee out of little mugs and deconstructing ideas. Kelly is also playing a very special role here at the International Junior Branch Conference (IJBC) and the Annual International Meeting (AIM). Kelly is a candidate for the position of International Junior Representative (IJR) which is a similar position to NJR but for the entire world of Junior Branch! Kelly is running in this election against Memo from Mexico and Ida from Sweden. The election takes place TODAY!

One thing that the IJRs (and the IJR candidates) do is to plan the International Junior Branch Conference. This conference is a meeting of JBers from all over the world. It is an opportunity for juniors to come together, share experiences, generate new ideas, gain skills and strengthen the fabric of Junior Branch around the world. This year, the IJBC focused especially on DECONSTRUCTING JB as well as JUNIOR BRANCH SELF-EVALUATION and also CREATIVITY.

Here's a question to ponder... Can any group of youth working toward the JB goals be considered a Junior Branch?

Want more to ponder? There is a document called the Final Packet which has summaries of all of the sessions from IJBC with detailed descriptions. If you're curious, e-mail us and we'll send it to you! (njr@ca.cisv.org)

With love from the plenary of the Annual International Meeting!

Alex & Kathy

2007-08-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

Restructuring, new friends, and the occasional duck.

2007-08-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

Kelly, Alex and Kathy bending over backwards, all for CISV Canada. (plus the view from our site)

Hello CISV Sportsfans!

Well, your NJR's are now in beautiful Paipa, meditating on some wonderful memories made at the Americas' Regional Members Meeting 2007. At the meeting, we had the highest number of countries to ever attend an ARM meeting. We had representatives from Honduras, Peru and Ecuador.

The meeting was filled with Latin music, creativity and forward thinking. There was also the occasional visiting animal inside the meeting room (we were staying in a sort of farmhouse. There were kittens) Australia came and was accepted into our region. The representative Chris then went promptly onto joining the ARM team.

It was a meeting of evolutionary proportions. The Americas region (in the past) always had 2 regional coordinators (recos) who coordinated growth and development in the americas, and worked with the two IJRs. The recos worked much like we (your njrs) do. There was a new one elected every year at ARMM and they each served a two-year term. But this year, we hit a snag. There were no accepted nominations for a new reco. As a result, we decided that we needed to seriously examine the leadership of our region.

After several incredible sessions, we all reached a consensus on a new structure for the organization. There will be a team of people working to help develop several nuclei throughout the americas. For example, the US and Canada would be a nucleus, as would central america, and JB South (south america). The team will be a team of JBers from all over the Americas who will help these nuclei to grow and develop. They will be facilitated by a Facilitator, who will have a two-year term.

The ARM team this year will be:
Maru Ayam (ARG)
Martin Rottler (USA)
Chris Settle (Australia!)
Raquel Garcia (BRA)
Meli Monge (CRC)
Juli Buritica (COL)
Mateo Velez (COL)
Pascual Mendez (GUA)
Facilitator: Maji Lozano (COL)

You can get into contact with them at armteam@ijb.cisv.org They would love to hear your thoughts, answer questions, and make new friends!

All in all, it was an outstanding experience. There are many plans in the works for development, and there will be many opportunities for you to
get on up, and get involved!
(cue James Brown music)
With love,

Kathy and Alex

p.s. check out the newest issue of IJB thinks at http://www.ijb.cisv.org/ (on the right-hand collumn)

We're here!

2007-07-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

After weeks of trekking through the jungle, fending off a variety of wild animals and large insects, Kathy and Alex safely arrived in the breathtaking mountainscape of Bogotá. Okay, just kidding, we both flew here. But we did make it and we couldn't be happier...or more excited.

Our first adventure together was set at the infamous "Casa Lozano" (home of CISV Colombia superstars, Maji, Juanca and Luz Lozano). Maji was arriving home from a semester in Spain and the party was supposed to be a surprise. As Canadian NJRs we also got a surprise when we experienced the cultural difference that is a Colombian surprise party. While the two of us threw in our hats at 3 am, the fiesta reportedly raged until 6:30am. Shakira claims that her hips dont' lie. By the end of the night ours were quite sore.

For the past few days we have been staying together with a lovely family named the Barreras. Camila and Ade are both on the staff team for the Annual International Meeting (AIM) and though they have both been furiously busy, they have been the best hosts we could possibly have asked for. Sunday was dad Fernando's birthday party at which we appeared as special novelty guests. Hola, somos Alex y Kathy de Canadá.

As we draw closer and closer to the beginning of the international meetings more and more CISVers have been arriving in Bogotá. Last night we discovered just how many of us are already hanging out in this beautiful city. It's interesting to be in a city knowing that dozens of other CISVers (from dozens of different countries) are so nearby. What started out as a small gathering, at a very small bar, soon became a friendly take over where old an new friends connected over pitchers and a bossa nova band. By the end of the night there wasn't a soul in the bar who wasn't looking forward to the meetings ahead.

Tomorrow morning, we'll be getting up early. Really early. At 7:00 am we will be getting on a bus to the first of our three meetings. The Americas' Regional Members Meeting or ARMM brings together representatives from the 14 CISV countries in North, Central and South America. The meeting is organized and run by the regional coordiantors (Maji from Colombia and Nano from Costa Rica) along with a staff team of Colombians and Canada's own Erin Way! Interested in getting involved with Junior Branch work in the Americas? Stay tuned to find what projects ARM will be working on this year and drop us a line if any of it sounds cool to you! There will be LOTS of opportunities to get involved. Although it may just be the two of us here in Colombia, it is all of your guys that we are representing. We want to do our best to connect international JB projects with your skills, talents, and energy. Fo' real.

Curious about the above photo? We were lucky enough to drop into the national night of a Bogotá-Ottawa interchange and they asked us to help them out. They were reforming a Colombian-Canadian tribute to the Village People. We willingly obliged. Have you seen your NJRs (including potential future NJR Shaun from Ottawa) more excited? We doubt you have.

If you have any questions... comments...thoughts...whims about anything to do with these upcomming meetings (or about life in general), your very stylish NJRs are waiting with computers in lap. It's as easy as ... njr@ca.cisv.org

un beso desde Colombia!
Kathy & Alex

Come to Colombia with Kathy & Alex!

2007-07-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's coming up fast... Kathy and Alex will be leaving in a few weeks for Colombia where they will be representing the juniors of Canada at three meetings: the Americas Regional Members Meeting (ARMM), the International Junior Branch Conference (IJBC) and the Annual International Meeting (AIM). That's a lot of meeting!

But we can't do it ourselves! We need you to be there with us and that's where the blog comes in. We are going to update this space regularly with the latest news, discoveries and gossip from the heart of the meetings!

Where do you come in? Well, if you'll notice below, there's a little button that says COMMENT... That's where you do a little bit of clicking and a little bit of typing and leave us your thoughts, greetings, suggestions, poetry, or whatever you please!

Won't you please come along with us?

Love. Kathy & Alex

Spring Board Training Forum!

2007-06-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

Spring Board Trainning Forum. Some very serious buisness.

Hello friends.

On the may long weekend this year, participants from all across Canada gathered in Ottawa for a weekend of inspiration, education, fun, and friends.

The theme this year was "points, lines, shapes and planes - the building blocks of juniour branch".

We all began as points and connected ourselves through lines by setting goals for the weekends and talking about our chapters. We began to see that other chapters deal with the same things we do, and strengthened our connections on a national level. We began to see shapes emerging as we started to think about where our problems come from and why things have happened the way they have in the past.

As our weekend drew to a close, we were all tired, but we had reached a new plane. All the participants realized their own leadership capabilities, and left refreshed, ready to take their new knowledge and resources back to their chapters.
Everyone was sad to leave their new friends, but excited to tell everyone about how great SBTF was.

As NJRs, we want to thank all the participants for being as awesome as they were and for making our vision of SBTF come true!

We hope that some great stories from SBTF have gotten back to the chapters, and people are already looking forward to next year!

Lots of love
Kathy and Alex

p.s. remember to keep checking here for updates from Colombia!

More Photo Contest Entries!

2007-04-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

Highway Clean-up: TAKE PRIDE SASKATCHEWAN! Historically the Highway clean up fundraiser was the most DREADED of events. Hot, smelly, bug filled, hard work. Yes everyone complained about how hard and terrible this fundraiser activity was, but it's one part of our past we will never forget. "Remeber the time we found so many car parts in the ditch that we could have put them all together to make a full car??"

Bowling: What's JB Saskatoon without the local bowling ally!? It was not a surprise to find the first JB activity of the year to be held at the bowling ally (and usually the last one too.. and maybe a few inbetween as well)

In the picture: Karen, Cassandra, Kirstin

Organizing: Our JB meetings were rather offical the year Carol was Junior Chair, it's great to have a big meeting space at her parents office! It might look like we were always hard at work but JB meetings usually mean lots of snacks, lots of planning and lots of fun and socializing. Can't see all the people, I just remeber we had a visitor from Calgary join this meeting (ya for Tarik)

Super Heros Unite Mini Camp: In 2006 we hosted a SUPER HEROS UNITE mini camp where we invited all our junior branch super heros in training to come and talk about what it means to be a super hero, who our every day super heros are and how we can make a difference in our world. We started the weekend by Learning about the other Super buddies and by Discovering our super-selves.

24 Hour Relay For Camp Easterseals: This was a project the junior branch participated in to go along with the theme of the seminar camp we hosted. The 24 hour relay for camp easerseals is a fundraiser for Camp Easterseals where the seminar camp participants spent some of their time. Carol got a prize for the most online donations. Go Team.

Hello JB Canada!

Alex and Kathy here, with more photo contest entries. Here are some lovely ones from Ottawa and Toronto.

From the Top!

The First One: Some good "points" in this one! This is one from the Ottawa winter camp in 2005. It is from a debrief which are so important to CISV because that where so many good points are brought up. These can develop through discussion into lines, plans and shapes that include more and more dimensions and opinions as they progress.

Seccond: This picture is also from Ottawa winter camp 2005. It is the other side of the debating group. If you look closely at every person, you could tell a story for each one. Amber looks depressed cause her team is losing, Erin’s counting down until their arguing time is over, which is stressing Julia who is trying to concentrate and look at the arguments that she could give to the others, Jess just looks confused, Derrick seems to not understand what’s going on and Charles is just listening to the whole thing go down.

Third: This picture, also from CISV Ottawa’s 2005 winter camp shows lots of good points, lines, shapes and planes. And it shows what a blast CISV can be!

Keep those photo's coming, not much time left now!
Hope you are all getting excited for the SpBoTrFo!

Love,

Alex and Kathy

JB Canada PHOTO CONTEST

2007-03-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

JB CANADA PHOTO CONTEST!

That’s right boys and girls! JB Canada is holding a contest and everyone can play! Check it out: We want to amass a collection of photos that capture the spirit and energy of JB Canada. We’re going to put all of the photos up on the NJR blog for everyone to see and the winning photographers will win sweet prizes!

The Theme!
The theme of the photo contest is Points, Lines, Shapes and Planes: Building Blocks of JB Canada. This also happens to be the theme of the upcoming Spring Board Training Forum in May. The theme is meant as a creative spark, but don’t feel limited by it! Any photos that you think represent JB in one way or another are more than welcome!

Want to submit a photo?
Each person can submit up to three photos. Simply e-mail them to njr@ca.cisv.org with a short description of the photo, and your chapter. The only catch is that they must be your own photos! The contest will be open until Alex’s birthday, May 11th!

Grand Prizes!
After the contest closes, we’ll determine the top three winning photos by popular vote! The winners will receive the sweetest prize imaginable: An article of CISV gear straight from the wardrobes of your NJRs! Woah! There will also be a prize for the CHAPTER that has the most JBers submit photos!
____________________________

2007 Spring Mini Camp, yes there's still snow on the ground here! This is our JB creating a pyramid together outside. It was really tough as there was snow on the ground, and there are quite a few of us! (Caitlyn, Calgary)

This is a photo I took at our Toronto Mini-Camp last fall. I don't really understand the points, lines, shapes, and planes thing, but there are lines on the gameboard...... (Caileigh, Toronto)

Fonts, Colours and the New Look...Check out the GUIDELINES!

2007-03-08T11:18:00.002-08:00

Creative use of colour not only engages our audience but also reflects the kind of organization we are. Not just that, but we should be seen as colourful to match our diverse global spread. So colours can also be used to express the values of our brand.
-From the GUIDELINES for the new CISV Brand Identity

So, by now you've seen the new logo, but before you go making new JB t-shirts, check out the brand new new brand GUIDELINES. These are some seriously comprehensive details about what you can and cannot do with the new "brand idendity." ...For the record, the NJRs are officially fond of "pantone warm red." What's your favourite pantone?

Check out: http://resources.cisv.org/branding/index.html

brand identity love,
Kath & Al

Fresh New Digs

2007-03-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

Woah! What happened ago? Just a few minutes ago the CISV logo had a cowboy and a dutch girl and some vaguely outlined countries on its globe. Now it's all round and sleek and fresh!

And what is this tagline I now see attached to the bottom? Is this thing always going to be here? What does building global friendship mean, anyway? This is all very overwhelming!

Maybe we should check out the new www.cisv.org for some answers...

Al & Kath

mid wintery mischief

2007-03-05T18:04:00.000-08:00

While the blog may have gone in hibernation for the winter, fear not! The NJRs certainly haven't been hibernating and neither has the national executive...

In January the national executive met in Toronto for the annual mid winter meeting, a two day gathering to touch base, get some business done and warm up in the hot tub!

Mid Winter Meeting this year covered such topics as AIM 2007, Spring Board Training Forum, CISV Halifax, NBM 2007 in Waterloo, the re-branding initiative and the future of CISV Canada. Want to know more? Check out the minutes from the meeting in the members section of www.cisv.ca

Stay tuned to the blog because this bear is awake and ready from spring...did somebody say new logo...? Did somebody say something about a CISV makeover...?

Kath & Al

Quieres ir a Mexcio? Colombia? You can!

2006-12-22T20:15:00.000-08:00

Alex in a Sombrero? Have my prayers been answered?

Wait... This picture comes with a disclaimer:

"Now, we understand that a fundamental principle of our organization is to not promote cultural stereotypes and we're aware that some might consider the sombrero to be a tokenistic Mexican stereotype. That being said, we will have you know that the sombrero that Alex is wearing in the above photo is an actual piece of CISV Mexico, given to Alex by his Mexican friend Sebastian when they were JCs together in 2002. We feel that given this circumstance, the sombrero is a fair gimmick."

There you have it. An actual piece of CISV Mexico, in all it's glory.

Now that were all in a festive mood, let us see where this new-found enthusiasm for mixing CISV and sombreros can come in handy...

Hola JB Canada.

February 2nd to 5th. Mexico City. JBers from around the world. One collective goal: Meet the needs of JBers head-on.

The International Training Forum for the Americas is an international workshop created for the National Associations (hey- that includes us!) to solve our collective needs. There are plans in the works to...

Study and discuss how we analyze our work
Study and work on planning techniques and project management
Introduce and discuss communication tools
Talk about fundraising, board operation, as well as recruiting and retaining volunteers and members.

So what does this have to do with all of you? Well, we were really hoping that the lovely JB Canada could some representation in all of this joy.

But hey... I totally thought of another exciting upcoming CISV event that could involve sombreros...

It's AIM 2006 in COLOMBIA!

I know it's a little early to be thinking about these sorts of things, but the fact of the matter is that Canada is actually co-hosting AIM this year. Which means we will need some mad representation. And any and all interested JBers from Canada are more than welcome to come party with CISV international. It will be taking place this august, and more information will be coming soon, so keep those looking-balls open for more updates.

JB Canada is way to cool not to be represented at these events. And any JBer can take part. Yes, even you. Love CISV? Want to get more involved? Want to sing the pony song in a sombrero? Not to sure about the last one, but please e-mail your wonderful NJRs at njr@ca.cisv.org and we will fill your heads (and e-mail inboxes) with pre-camps and registration information.

I hope the holidays have been festive, and the candy-canes peppermint-y.

love,

kathy and alex

The NBM Outtakes: What You Didn't See!

2006-11-25T11:02:00.000-08:00

In the planning process of any CISV activity, camp or meeting there will be an overwhelming wealth of ideas, deams and plans. What can I say? We're a creative bunch. But the practical reality usually means that we can't do everything we want to every time. Some of those dreams will ultimately have to give way to practical reality and that's just life.

The planning process of NBM 2006 was as rich and bursting with ideas and dreams as ever. The planning team of Adina, Alex, Kelly, Kalenne, Kathy and Keenan spent long hours (and hundreds of e-mails) coming up with the most innovative, funny and functional ways to make NBM a success. It was a magical process. One that paid off, we think.

But like always, there were some outtakes. Some ideas that didn't make it to final release. For your personal enjoyment, here is one of those outtakes. A Kathy and Alex collaboration, filmed on location in Halifax, originally intended to be a promotional video for NBM...

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8631452844489694549
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-2234068935688084682
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-2154817036207286014
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=1539520009411957964

Production was derailed due to lack of funding and the disappearance of some key footage late in the post-production phase. The producers would like to help everyone who worked in the film.

Enjoy!

Alex & Kathy
NJRs

National Board Meeting Madness!

2006-11-19T11:21:00.001-08:00

Well your birthday comes but once a year and so does NBM
And we've come from across Canada, 'cause it's time to meet again!

This was the opening line of the NBM Welcome song, sung by Kelly, Rick and Alex in the early hours of the morning on November 9th, 2006 in London, Ontario, Canada as CISV Canada's National Board Meeting officially began.

It's hard to summarize NBM in one blog post. Maybe impossible. Probably unecessary. If you're looking for the NBM play-by-play, check out the minutes from the meeting. Who seconded the budget motion? Only the minutes will tell.

The blog is for highlights. Not for the budget.

You Are at the Centre of Everything
NBM 2006 was designed to put the participants at the centre of the action. The idea was to make NBM the most useful weekend possible and for us all to remember that CISV couldn't sustain itself as an organization if it weren't for each and every volunteer. Participants at NBM had options for the way they wanted to spend their time. They also led project groups and helped guide the meeting content. It was pretty awesome.

Project Groups
Juniors Unite! At NBM, project groups were formed around some ideas such as environmental sustainability for CISV programs, visioning the future of JB Canada, ideas for JB fundraising, exploring the idea of activities and a national dance-a-thon project. NBM participants worked hard to get these projects started and will continue to work on them throughout the year. If you are interested in hearing more, or getting involved e-mail njr@ca.cisv.org for more info!

A New JB Executive!
We said goodbye to our JB executive of 2005-2006 and welcomed in a brand NEW JB executive! We also passed a motion which changes the structure of the JB exec so that the position of Canuck editor no longer exists, and instead we now have an internal communications chair and an external communications chair! Woah! So say hello to Holly Norris, our new National Camp Coordinator, Emily Rankin, new chair of the Junior Branch Development Committee, Kalenne Thors, new External Communications Chair and Brittany Joy, our new Internal Communications Chair. A pretty amazing team, spanning both coasts of Canada!

A New Junior NJR!
As is pretty obvious in the below post, we had a pretty incredible slate of candidates for the NJR election this year. Kalenne, Kennan and Kathy all poured their hearts into their candidacy and did amazing jobs as members of the NBM planning team.

Congratulations to Kathy Lewis who was elected as Canada's new Junior NJR and will represent JB Canada from 2006-2008! Kathy is from the Fredericton chapter and currently goes to school in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She's a cool cat.

An Outgoing Senior (or Peace Out, Friend!)
Kelly Bowden was CISV Canada's NJR between 2004-2006. At this NBM she finished her legendary term as NJR to fanfare and hoorah! Kelly will be missed as one of JB Canada's warmest, most creative leaders, but we know that she won't disappear and that CISV will continue to benefit from her genius. To see some congratulatory remarks from some of Kelly's friends, check out...

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8283232557493355738&q=Bowden+Appreciation

A New Year!
For CISV Canada, NBM is kind of like New Year's. It marks the end of a year gone by and celebrates the advent of a new one. After it ends, there's a short period of lull where we all catch our breath and reflect and then all of a sudden the cranks start turning again and off we go! So hop on the train everyone, it's going to be a good one!

With Love,
(the new) K & A

Meet the 2006 NJR Candidates!

2006-10-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

Kathy Lewis
Hello JB Canada/confused web searchers! My name is Kathy Lewis, and I am one of the 'K''s who is running to be YOUR NJR! Madness. I originally hail from Freddy Beach, but I am currently in 1st year university in Halifax! This past year I was the Juniour Branch Development Chair, which meant I got to be creative all year. Like fingerpainting with macaroni and sparkles, but with words and ideas. I like sunrises more tham sunsets, and I can never listen to the end of a song. I have to skip to a new song on my diskman when the song is fading away. My favorite letter of the word peace is the 'p' because it completes a circle and then reaches out to the beyond. I think you can find inner peace through the steam of a hot chocolate to a friend's face. My favorite song is currently "The Mother" by Xavier Rudd, and my favorite book is currently "Oh the places you'll go!" by Dr. Seuss. It was the theme of the summer camp I kitchenstaffed this July. I still believe in Magic, and it is my current dream to be JB Canada's Jr. NJR for 2006-2007!

Allo JB Canada ! Je m'appelle Kathy Lewis, et je suis un des « K » › le s qui court être VOTRE NJR ! Folie. Je viens du Fredericton, mais je suis actuellement dans mon premier anneé d'université au Halifax ! Cette année passée j'étais la Chaise de Développement de Branche Junior, qui a signifié que j'étais créatif toute l'année. Comme 'fingerpainting' avec les macaronis et étincelle, mais avec les mots et les idées. J'aime les couchers du soleil de plus que les levers du soleil, et je ne peux jamais écouter la fin d'une chanson. Je dois sauter à une nouvelle chanson sur mon diskman quand la chanson disparaît. Ma lettre préférée du mot paix est le « p » parce qu'il complète un cercle et après aller danser sur la page. Je crois que to peut trouver la paix intérieure par la vapeur d'un chocolat chaud à une visage d'un ami. Ma chanson préférée de maitenant est « The Mother » par Xavier Rudd, et mon livre préféré de maitenant est « Oh the places you'll go! » par Dr. Seuss. C'était le thème du camp d'été que j'ai 'kitchenstaffed' ce juillet. Je crois toujours en la Magie, et c'est mon rêve actuel pour être ton Jr. NJR pour 2006-2007 !

much love,

Kathy

Keenan Dixon
Keenan has recently started Peace and Conflict Studies with International Relations at the University of Toronto, and finds her new home in downtown Toronto. Since many of you know her, here are some random fun facts that you might not know; she was a fetus while her mother ran the Olympic torch, she enjoys a nice smoothie with her breakfast. Her favourite smell is vanilla, she doesn't really like hail, but she loves a good thunderstorm. Her friends call her 'Keeners' or 'Kiwi', she enjoys long walks in the mountains and making people laugh. She doesn't drink coffee, but loves basketball; she watches Grey's Anatomy and lately has been listening to a lot of Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks. Her favourite quote is 'Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their colour. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense and choosing your friends by their colour is unthinkable'.

Kalenne Thors

Hi all you JBers (and anyone else reading this)

My name is Kalenne Thors and I’m one of the NJR candidates this year.
What’s that? You want to know all about me? Great! You’ll be hearing tons
about my ideas and reasons for wanting to be NJR later, so instead here are
some different things about me…
My home chapter is CISV Victoria but currently I’m living in Vancouver
attending UBC. Besides English I also speak French,
quite a bit of Spanish and I’ve just started taking Russian this year at
Uni. My first international program was a Village in Norway in 1999 and my
most recent was the ARMM/IJBC/ AIM in Sweden. My favourite CISV games are
Mickey Mouse, the Chocolate Bar Game and all simulation games or activities
that lead to great discussions. I love sports especially soccer and swimming
and I also enjoy camping, hiking and other outdoor activities. I really like
sewing and I work at a fabric store when I’m not at school. My favourite
movies are Dirty Dancing and The Princess Bride and my favourite TV shows
are the Amazing Race and any Quebecois game show. I had an absolutely
fabulous time working as a member of the national executive this year and I
can’t wait to keep it up! See you all soon ?
Wait… I guess I didn’t tell you any of my weird quirks did I, well, here you
go:
I have a not so secret love of attending board meetings.
I think everything is better if it has a theme.
I love using markers to make signs, draw pictures, whatever.
I recycle obsessively and can’t stand litter.
I have a collection of strange socks.
My favorite letter of CISV is the C, what's yours?

a PROJECT GROUP is a team of JBers who want to DO something

2006-10-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

Alex has had a pretty busy weekend. Apart from school work, thanksgiving dinners (two!), and sending out a thanksgiving NBM update, he also got a new chalkboard. In fact, he made the chalkboard himself with a piece of wook and some chalkboard paint! Did you know such a thing existed? Any surface becomes a chalkboard instantly. True novelty!

Have you heard about NBM Project Groups yet? PROJECT GROUPS are your chance to DO something that YOU feel will help develop JB Canada. What does that even mean, you ask? Well, it could mean an infinite number of things, but here are some ideas of possible PROJECT GROUPS:

• A project group that would brainstorm ways to make NATIONAL JB PROGRAMS (NBM, Spring Board Training Forum, national camp) more inclusive of both languages

• A project group that would develop a set of guidelines for making JB activities and mini-camps more ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY

• A project group that would collect 100 new activities for the new JBDC GAMEBOOK!

• A project group that would plan a NATIONAL JB VIDEO CONTEST where each JB would make a video and post it online

As you can see, the possibilities are endless! The limit is your own imagination (which we know is limitless!) So get creative, get excited and propose a project!

At NBM there will be several blocks of time devoted to Project Groups. Everyone will have the chance to be a part of a project group if they want to be, but will not have to if they do not want to be.

If you propose a project the idea is that you will lead your project group during NBM (and until the completion of the project if it continues beyond NBM). If, however, you have an idea for a project but you do not want to lead it, SEND IT ANYWAY, and we’ll try to find someone or a group who are interested in leading it. If you’re interested in leading a project but don’t have an idea, that can happen too! Get in touch with me ASAP (alexneum@gmail.com).

WHAT IF WE USED THE BLOG TO BRAINSTORM MORE POSSIBLE PROJECT GROUPS? I DARE YOU TO LEAVE A COMMENT WITH ONE PROJECT GROUP IDEA... DOUBLE DARE!

gobble gobble
k&a

Elections? What Elections?

2006-10-05T07:29:00.000-07:00

The deadline to nominate NJR candidates has come and gone and I'm pleased to announce that there have been FIVE individuals nomintated! Now, I can't tell you who they are yet, because they still have until October 11th to decide if they are going to accept their nominations. On the 11th we'll announce the candidates who will officially be running for NJR!

In the meantime, have you heard about the national JB executive?? It's made up of the Canuck Editor, the National Camp Coordinator, the Junior Branch Development Committee (JBDC) Chair and the two NJRs . These are elected positions too but you don't need to be nominated to run for them... What DO you have to do, you wonder?

It's simple! In information package ONE there is a questionnaire for each position. If you are interested in running, all you have to do is answer the questions in the questionnaire and send it to Alex by October 23rd! Only those who submit questionnaires will be eligible to run in the elections at NBM. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail the NJRs (njr@ca.cisv.org) or any of the current members of the JB exec whose e-mails can be found in info package ONE!

happy long weekend y'all!

k & a

A Blog Acitivity: YOU ARE AT THE CENTRE OF EVERYTHING!

2006-09-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

The NATIONAL BOARD MEETING is CISV Canada's annual meeting. Each November, youth and adult representatives from each of CISV Canada's chapters come together to spend 3 days collaborating, discussing important issues, making connections and shaping the future of CISV Canada. If you are interested in attending NBM or simply finding out more, e-mail Kelly and Alex (njr@ca.cisv.org).

What's in a THEME?

Each year, NBM has a theme. the idea behind having a theme is to explore have one idea that can run as a thread through the entire meeting. Last year, the theme Spread the Light made pay special attention to our Challenges (red lights) and Successes (green lights).

This year, the theme of NBM is "YOU ARE AT THE CENTRE OF EVERYTHING!" The idea is about PERSONAL EMPOWERMENT and INTERCONNECTIVITY...

...but what does that mean?! As a BLOG ACTIVITY, we want to try something...

We want you to draw CISV and YOU.
How do you fit into CISV? How does CISV fit into you? What part of CISV do you feel most connected to? What about least connected to? Show us in some sort of visual representation! We'll post it!

And then we want you to send it to us (njr@ca.cisv.org) and we will post the submissions on our blog. Use a program like PAINT or ILLUSTRATOR on your computer, or do a real drawing and scan it if you can. If you'd prefer to write something, feel free to do that as well. We want to hear from YOU!

k&a

by Kalenne Thors

by Kathy Lewis

NATIONAL CAMP 2006 in Toronto

2006-09-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

It's hard to choose one photo to represent an entire National Camp. Coming out of any camp there are hundreds to choose from. Pictures of people hugging, running, playing, eating, cooperating and so on. There are group photos, landscape shots, self-portraits, even the odd mess-up photo.

We chose this shot, which we've entitled "Help is Close to Home", a symbol of many different flavours and textures, all cooperating-- all riding together in the back of our big yellow truck. This makes a good metaphor for National Camp 2006, we think.

But if you want to find out more, you should stayed tuned to the CISV Canada website (www.cisv.ca) where there will soon be posted a photo gallery of National Camp along with a report! If you have any questions about National Camp or the role of National Camp coordinator, don't hesitate to get in touch with Adina Muskat (NC coordinator 2005-2006) at adinamuskat@gmail.com.

What's that....? Do you hear something comin...? It sounds like...like...NBM!

k&a

Sweden vol. 8: A Retrospective

2006-08-26T14:09:00.001-07:00

August is coming to a close and for the Canadian NJR that typically means a few days of rest and time to organize one's life between the end of national camp and the beginning of a school year. Somewhere between catching up with parents and beginning to plan NBM there might be a chance to check out a few of the summer's photos... maybe.

Kelly and Alex left the AIM site at 5:30 on the morning of the 10th of August. Alex woke up first and had to run to wake Kelly up with only minutes to spare. In no time we were once again flying over the atlantic, only this time slightly less energized, slightly more... sleeping. AIM had wrapped up less than 24 hours ago and dreams of the past days filled our airborne dreams:

- Meetings to come! Next summer the International Junior Branch Conference and the Annual International Meeting will take place in Colombia. Although the meeting is being held in Colombia, Canada is CO-HOSTING this meeting. In Sweden the Canadians did a presenation together with the Colombians to promote the meeting next year... Did you know that Shakira is from Colombia? After Colombia, AIM will be in Italy in 2008 and then in Guatemala in 2009...

-Re-branding! An updated CISV logo was unveiled by the re-branding team. The board also voted to adopt the tagline "Building Global Friendship" after quite a constructive discussion.

-The International Seminar Camp Committee made a decision to adopt an no-alcohol policy for all seminar camps, starting in 2007.

-Jeff Parliament was recognized for his work as CISV Canada President (3 years) and CISV Canada international Trustee (3 years). This will have been Jeff's final year as an official representative of CISV Canada... What could lay ahead for JP?

- Canadians on International Committees! Did you know that quite a few Canadians sit on International Committees? Who, you ask?? Well, Rick Uy (Summer Camp Committee), Laura Scrivner (Seminar Camp Committee), Jeff Parliament (Village Committee), Aynsley Hague (Seminar Camp Committee), Heinz Boehnke (Interchange Committee), Chris Pollack (International Finance Committee Chair) and Alex Neuman (newly a trainee of the Mosaic Committee) ...and that's not even everyone!

-Kelly and Alex (with the help of some special advisors) spent many hours spent thinking about JB Canada and what it's future might have in store... stay tuned.

A full few hours later, we emerged from our sleeps to find the plane landed and empty, a flight attendant kindly asking us to de-plane. We were back in Canada and although memories of Sweden still floated at the top of our memory buckets we had to shift gears--we had something new to focus on...something that was only a few days away...

...NATIONAL CAMP!

Stay tuned for an update on CISV Canada's annual Junior Branch National Camp, a week of good times, friendship, leadership development and shared experiences for JBers from every chapter in Canada (and then some!)

k & a

The IJBC Team: IJBC was planned by (left to right) Marcos (IJR Candidate), Astrid (junior IJR), James (Senior IJR) and Trisha (IJR Candidate)

A group of us at the America's Regional Members Conference getting down to business

James and Astrid running a session on the GOALS of Junior Branch (have you ever seen those...???)

CISV Canada President Rick and Canada's National Beaver Representative (NBR) promoting the AIM next summer in Colombia

Sitting in the Trustees' chairs in the AIM plenary during IJR elections! Oooooohh.

Kelly with the IJR candidates and a representative from CISV China (in the backgroud).

From an IJBC session on Project Management by facilitator Per Olsen of the International Mosaic Committee

Can you simulate a village in 28 minutes? We tried at IJBC... and then compared it to a 21 minute village...

Singing the CISV song as AIM 2006 draws to a close (almost 300 people!)

The juniors of IJBC 2006 (Can you spot Kelly, Alex and Kalenne??)

Your National Junior Representatives of 2005-2006.

Sweden vol. 7: Everyone Needs a Little Re-Branding Sometimes

2006-08-09T02:34:00.000-07:00

Remember the first time you heard about re-branding? What did you think about it? Choose one of the following:

//Yeah! This is something that the organization needs!
//Dude, this stuff sounds a little too corporate to me. "Damn the man, Save the empire!"
//Does this mean I won't be able to paint my own CISV t-shirts anymore? I'm tentative.
//Re-branding? I think that's the town we visited on my village excursion day

If you haven't heard about the CISV's rebranding process until now, then let us fill you in! In 2004, CISV decided that it would undergo a process to evaluate and redesign the way we project our organization to people and groups outside of CISV. A process was undergone to gather information about what people (both inside and outside CISV) believe CISV stands for and represents.

After a huge deal of research, there was a big fat vote. Several questions were voted on (one vote per member country of CISV International) and decisions were come to:

1. In its marketing communications, CISV should use “CISV” as its primary name, rather than
“Children’s International Summer Villages”. Yes
2. Should CISV change its current logo? No
3. To makethe current logo more digitally friendly without fundamental changes to its current elements? Yes
4. Should CISV adopt a “tag line” to use in conjunction with whichever logo is chosen? Yes
“Building Global Friendship”, has been selected as CISV’s tag line.

So, CISV chose not to adopt a new logo but rather to update and simplify the original. Here is what was unveiled the other day in the plenary of the Annual International Meeting: Okay, so it looks a little rounder, a little cleaner...So what? Now what? The next step of the re-branding process is to unify the image of CISV internationally. This means guidelines for how "the CISV brand" can be used. The idea is to make CISV's image a unified one

A question: Will this re-branding help CISV grow and gain credibility OR will re-branding stiffle creativity and divide CISV members who have different opinions? What do you think?

For more information about the rebranding process and to see more of the new visual materials, check out www.ktp.cisv.org Don't forget to let us know what you think about this!

Peace. k&a

Sweden, vol 6: Marcos Tourihno, He's Got Good T-Shirts

2006-08-08T06:41:00.000-07:00

International Junior Representative seems like a pretty massive job. Think about it: an IJR is responsible for maintaining links with all of the JB's of CISV around the world. An IJR is responsible for planning and running the International Junior Branch Conference. An IJR is responsible for chairing the International Junior Branch Committee, which is made up of of Regional Coordinators and others doing work for IJB. An IJR is responsible for representing the voice of the International Junior Branch community in the International Executive Board of CISV.

Woah.

In addition, being an IJR candidate must be pretty overwhelming; nominations occur about 8 months before the IJBC and during those months, the candidates help the IJRs to plan the IJBC. They must also make themselves visible to the Juniors around the world who will ultimately be the ones casting votes!

This year, four people were nominated for IJR, including Canada's own Ryan Katz-Rosene. In the end, only two candidates ran for the position: Marcos Tourinho of Brazil and Trisha Oreta of the Phillipines.

On August 7th 2006 a momumental event occured: the trustees moved seats. As they stood, the NJRs from 40 countries took over the table for the IJR elections. Trustees grabbed their cameras and like joyous parents on the first day of middle school, they photographed the occaision. Proxy votes were distributed for countires that were unable to attend and the vote began. Less than five minutes later IJB history changed as Marcos was elected as the incomming IJR.

Marcos only owns t-shirts with rock bands on them. He also only owns t-shirts. Brazil must be pretty warm.

We wanted to give one big clap to both of the IJR candidates for having contributed every inch of themselves over the past months to make this conference possible. It was truly an amazing experience getting to work with both of them.

Did we ever tell you, JB Canada, that you are the wind beneath our wings? Think about it.
K&A

Sweden vol. 5: AIM Online!

2006-08-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

One quick update! AIM has a website with some pretty cool things to see including daily updates, photos from the meetings as well as...check this one out...Plenary LIVE! That's right, watch AIM in action. We live in the future my friends.

Do you think one day we won't even meet to hold meetings like this?
Maybe someday, villages could happen online. Could it work?

Check out http://www.cisv.se/page.asp?p=18250 (password: 66075)

k&a

Sweden, vol 4: IJBC Gets Metaphysical

2006-08-02T04:39:00.000-07:00

We're back! Yup, time for another session of Nordic News! We've come along way from the Stockholm airport and if you thought our adventure getting here was geographically inclusive, wait until you hear about the International Junior Branch Conference!

KELLY: Hey Alex, what's IJBC?
ALEX: Well Kelly, I would be thrilled to tell you about it...
KELLY: Woo hoo!
ALEX: The origins IJBC date back to 1867 when the first congress was held among the representatives of the various regions of Canada...
KELLY: Um, Alex, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I'm pretty sure you're describing Canadian Confederation.
ALEX: Oh, right. Shit.
KELLY: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was pretty sure that IJBC is the annual meeting that brings together representatives and juniors from every nation of CISV worldwide.
ALEX: So, it's kind of like the General Assembly of the United Nations, but for CISV?
KELLY: You speak truth my fine friend. It's a forum for collaboration, learning and helping develop a sense of community among the youth of CISV from all parts of the world.
ALEX: I guess that is quite different from confederation.

The IJBC is hosted in a different country each summer, always taking place right before the Annual International Meeting (or AIM) of CISV. The National Junior Representatives (NJRs like Kelly and Alex) participate in the conference which is planned by the International Junior Representatives (IJRs) together with the candidates who are running for that position.

This year, the International Junior Branch chose "Exclusion" as an educational theme to be explored. A good chunk of IJBC was spent exploring this topic.

Where do we see Exclusion in CISV?
How do often do we exclude unintentionally?
How can we work towards making CISV less exclusive? Or perhaps more inclusive?
Is exclusion always a negative thing?

Have you ever observed exclusion in your chapter? This question is an interesting one and what is more interesting is what can come out of exploring a question like this. The International Junior Branch will be submitting some ideas to the board of CISV international outlining some of the ways CISV, as an organization can work toward avoiding exclusion as it develops.

What are your thoughts on exclusion?

We want to hear from you! This dialogue on Exclusion is going to continue and the hope is to have as many voices and opinions heard as possible. Whether it be a thought, a question, a story or even just some words, Junior Branch is truly a global community and as a CISVer, your are a part of this community. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Stay tuned for updates on the IJR elections, the Annual International Meeting and...re-branding!!

One big clap from Sweden. Your friends,

kelly, alex, kalenne, and the participants of IJBC

Sweden, vol 3: ARM...Amigos Rock Movimento?

2006-08-01T06:21:00.002-07:00

When Kelly and Alex last left you we had arrived in a comfortable room in Stockholm, dreary, luggageless and downright excited for the meetings that we about to begin. Today, we write to you from the hotspot of downtown Jonkoping: the “Orient House” is a small middle eastern restaurant which serves, “probably the best falafel I have ever had”, according to Kelly. The debate over this point will be ongoing.

This morning marked the completion of the Americas Regional Members Meeting. The meeting spanned four days and brought together Juniors from most of the 13 countries which together make up ARM.

The meeting was a combination of training, network building and collaboration on such topics as communication, chapter development and the creation of more direct and meaningful links between juniors from across the Americas.

The Canadian delegation, which included Kelly, Alex and Kalenne prepared and ran a workshop on the topic of “The Different Ways CISV Recognizes its Volunteers”. The idea with this activity was to explore the variety of relationships that different people have to CISV—For instance, the difference between a person who is very involved internationally and another who chooses to invest their energy in mostly local CISV programs. This raised such questions as:

• Does CISV recognize certain types of volunteers more than other types?
• Are certain types of volunteers for whom there is no place (or space) in CISV?
• What can CISV (or ARM or Junior Branch) do to create, and make visible spaces for all forms of volunteers?

In other ARM news, the region elected a new Regional Coordinator. The Regional Coordinator (or ReCo) is the JB co-chair equivalent for ARM. These two people are responsible for facilitating communication within the region throughout the year, providing resources as well as planning and facilitating the ARM meeting each summer. Maria Jiminez Lozano (or Maji for short) of Colombia was elected as Junior ReCo and will work with Nano Batalla of Costa Rica.

As Maji steps up to the plate, Ryan Katz-Rosene of Ottawa (the outgoing ReCo) runs from third base and slides across home plates after a two year run around the field. As he ran toward the home plate the crowd (ARMM participants) erupted in applause and bursted with admiration. Because the field hadn't been mowed prior to the game, it was an exhausting run but ultimately the empire called it "safe!" Ryan returns to the CISV duggout, out of breath perhaps but can be proud that he really knocked one out of the field. We know he'll be back up at bat sometime in the future!

arm arm arm, woo woo woo!!

Off to IJBC everyone, ttyl!

k&a&k

Sweden vol 2: Exclusion in Transit

2006-07-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

Each year, the International Junior Branch chooses an educational theme for JBs around the world to integrate into their programming and to help guide the International Junior Branch Conference. This year the theme is EXCLUSION. To launch this theme, the IJB put out an Exculsion packet which outlines the goals of the theme and also a series of activities that can be used to help integrate this theme. If you want to check out this action-packed-packed you can download it from the IJB website! (The username is: ijb.public, password: ijb)

Kelly and Alex are now in Sweden and you might say that our journey here was an exercise in inclusion. If you had looked at our orignal travel itinerary you might have called it "exclusive". It had us travelling like this: Toronto > Newark, USA > Stockholm, Sweden > Jonkoping, Sweden. Only two countries outside of Canada? With all the airports in the world to see, why be so exclusive? But so it was that we departed from Toronto early Saturday morning.

But our trip wasn't to be so exclusive after all!

We arrived in Newark mid-morning on Saturday and after a brief jaunt into New York City we arrived back to the air port only to discover that our flight to Stockholm had been cancelled! Oh No! (Note the sad-faced photo, graciously taken by a "Dr. Pepper" representative-- a fellow victim of the cancellation). Re-routing was in order and before we could spell "Jonkoping" we had a flight path that was considerably more in the spirit of INCLUSION!

Our new flight to Paris which has been scheduled to depart at 7:25 PM left the gate around 11:30. Some hours later the sun had re-appeared and we touched down in Paris. Was this to be the extent of the detour, you ask? No. No it wasn't. We had to race through the Paris airport to catch our flight to--can you guess?-- Oslo, Norway!

If Kelly and Alex were contestants on The Amazing Race would they win? Probably.

Well, they were on schedule to win this leg of the race with their flight from Olso to Stockholm. This was the second last flight to the final destination (only a shortie from Stockholm to Jonkoping remained!). But disaster struck when a roadblock appeared in Stockholm.

They missed their flight.

And so here we sit, friends, in a very comfortable, very Ikea, hotel inside the Stockholm airport-- the window literally looking out onto the concourse. A mild disaster? Perhaps not. With nowhere to have gone in Jonkoping and bags that wouldn't have met us there, our Ikea lounge looks like a pretty good way to spend the night (not to mention a daylong excursion day in Stockholm tomorrow).

In line with the IJB education theme, we should probably thank Scandanavian Airlines for making this leg of our trip thoroughly inclusive. When we finally land in Jonkoping tomorrow we will have seen 6 airports in 5 countries. If nothing else, this has been experiential education as it's most...experiential.

k&a

giving the goodbye gun to our missed flight to Jonkoping

Sweden Chronicles, vol. 1

2006-07-17T07:08:00.000-07:00

After a long period of anticipation and preparation, Kelly and Alex well be departing for Sweden on Saturday, July 22nd. Over the two weeks they will spend in the city of Jonkoping, Sweden, they will participate in three international CISV meetings, meet hundreds of CISVers from almost every member country and be a part of the discussions on topics such as the three-week village and the infamous re-branding. Throughout it all they will be representing the juniors of CISV Canada.

We need your help!

We want our time in Sweden not just to be our opportunity to participate in the international goings-on of CISV but also your opportunity to do so! That's why we are going to be updating the NJR Blog on a regular basis and hoping for feedback and input from YOU! Here's a quick run down of what Kelly and Alex will be participating in in Sweden.

America's Regional Members Meeting: America's Regional Members (or ARM) is the group of CISV Junior Branches from North, Central and South America. At this meeting, JB representatives from every ARM country will spend time discussing some topics like:

-- The ARM Tourism project- a new initiative to help those travelling in the Americas!
-- How can communication between ARM juniors be improved?
-- Election for a new Regional Coordinator (ReC0), the equivalent of the JB co-chair for ARM.

International Junior Branch Conference: IJBC! This is some seriously exciting business! NJRS from every country coming together to share common problems ans brain-birth brand new solutions! Wow. This is CISV fireworks at their brightest. Ever wonder what minicamp is like in the philipiness? We'll find out for you, just ask! Some of the topics on the table at IJBC include...

--Exclusion! The topic of exclusion has been the theme the IJB for the past two years. Where do we find exclusion in CISV? How can we work to minimize exclusion?
--What are the goals of the International Junior Branch? How can juniors from all chapters of CISV meaningfully work together?
--An Election for International Junior Representative! Marcos from Brazil and Trisha from the Philipines are running to be IJB-- Check out their questionnaires at the IJB Website.

Annual International Meeting: This is the big one. If CISV were the united Nations, this would be the General Assembly. The Annual International Meeting is the forum for all of the trustees from every member country of CISV to come together not only to discuss but to make real decisions about the way that CISV operates. Some of the topics will be:

--The three-week village: Do we keep this new model or stick to Dorris' original four?
--CISV's infamous re-branding project: the voting has taken place and it's time to decide how to implement our new tagline and standardize our image
--See the complete set of motions on the CISV Resources Website. There are 1o motions in total!

We want to know what you think! Leave us a comment on the blog or send us an e-mail at njr@ca.cisv.org. Let us know if you would like to know more about a specific topic or if feel strongly about something and want your input included in the discussion.

Until next time! Happy Summers, K&A

Spring Board Success!

2006-05-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

What things are springtime things? I think of lawn mowing, overheating in jeans (and the subsequent transition to shorts), outdoor music, garage sales, pick-up soccer, picking up litter, haircuts, exams and that lovely extra hour that conviniently tacks itself on to the end of our days. CISV often brings minicamp in the Spring, and maybe a send-off picnic too, if we're lucky.

But has Spring ever made you think of National Junior Branch cooperation before...?

No? Well maybe it should!

Why? Well, because for the first time ever, CISV JB Canad a has held the Spring Board Training Forum! The Spring Board Training Forum (or SBoTFo) is a workshop and meeting for Junior Branch leaders from each chapter of CISV Canada. The idea is to do some practical training and to give JB leaders a chance to meet and collaborate. Ultimately, we hope that Canada's 10 chapters (and one developing chapter) will grow and develop as a result of SBoTfo.

The group of about 20 found a positive group dynamic almost immediately and virtually every person actively contributed to every session. From idea sharing to action planning, here are some of the workshops and topics covered during the weekend…

The Board Building Road Trip
An activity based on sharing challenges we’ve had and solutions we’ve found relating to topics such as activity planning, financial organization, relationship with adult board and group decision making.

Finance with Romance
A simulation activity in which participants had to review a budget and banking statements in order to clear Jack Layton of embezzlement accusations! This, of course, led us to discussion on the importance of diligence and organization when it comes to JB finances.

Junior Branch Development Committee Chapter Buddies
The JBDC (Junior Branch Development Committee) has started a new chapter buddy system, in which each chapter is paired with another chapter. Chapter buddies is a way to maintain communication and encourage collaboration between chapters and also a way to strengthen the support network for JB leaders.

JB Action Plans!
After brainstorming some central chapter challenges with buddy chapters, each participant had a chance to design an ACTION PLAN related to the specific challenges in his or her chapter.

Facilitation!
Facilitation? What’s the deal? This activity focused on good facilitation skills and how to deal with some of the common challenges that come up when facilitating. How does one deal with Tangential Timmy, Too-much-information Izzy, Attention-Seeking Sam and Makes-Bracelets Mike?

It is not very often that a new program is created and probably even less often that such a program is so successful on its first run. I think that over the next few months those who were not at the workshop will have the chance feel the impact of it as the juniors in their own chapters take the ideas that were born at the SBoTFo and put them into action.

Finally, on behalf of the NJRs, I would like to thank everybody who was involved in the Spring Board Training Forum as well as everyone who helped make it happen. Putting it together has been an incredible experience and it couldn’t have happened without YOU!

SBoTFo!

2006-04-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

sbpsfdkjgbhsfjg?

yes. the spring board training forum is BACK! ok, well it's not "back" because it was never here to begin with... but thats what so exciting about it! This BRAND NEW FEATURE PROGRAM is build by the NJRS with the ideas and comments from the all the many many JBers from across Canada.

if you have any questions or comments about this wild time of a program be sure to ask your NJRs or your local JB chairs.

more to come!

International This!

2006-01-29T21:20:00.000-08:00

In recent world events the International Junior Representatives (think alex and kelly...but for the whole WOLRD. mind boggling, we know. also known as the IJRs and commonly referred to as Astrid and James, Apple and Jucie and A&J) held their MWM in the big NYC.

wonderous WORKING GROUPS
delightful DECISIONS
premium PLANNING

all available for your viewing at: http://www.ijr.cisv.org/

Super-Ultra Executive Think-Tank

2006-01-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

M-W-M (imagine all the letters are rotating)

2006-01-17T18:34:00.000-08:00

Here at NJR Headquarters in Washington...um, I mean Ottawa... um, I mean Kingston/Halifax, Kelly and Alex are always hard at work keeping the CISV JB Canada cranks running. But this weekend we took a little vacation (don't worry, we paid a local neighborhood boy to water the plants and feed the cat while we were gon). But this was no ordinary vacation. This vacation had it's own acronym. It was called MWM 2006.

Now, MWM is a commonly confused acronym. Alex originally thought it stood for "Meal With your Mom", and one point during National Camp 2005 Kelly mistook it for "Murray's Wicked Moustache" and CISV Canada president Rick Uy has been pretty sure for the past year that it stands for "My Wife's a Mom!" But these are misconceptions. In actual fact, the mysterious acronym dates back hundreds of years and originates from the latin Middus Winterae Maximus, which, today has evolved into the contemporary Mid Winter Meeting!

But what is a MWM, you might be wondering? Well friends, Mid Winter Meeting is a very important time of the year when the executive board of CISV Canada gets together to meet and discuss the direction of our very own national association: CISV canada. From international to national programs, from incident report forms to abstentions and from coast to coast mid winter meeting is a wondeful work bonanza!

Hot Topics this year included

absentions: negative or neutral?

To develop or not to develop a JB fund?

Committees: one or many members?

NBM 2005 evaluation: rock or roll?

AIM (Annual International Meeting) 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2050

(ok, maybe only 2006 and 2009)

Our execise was well in order as we sprang from the meeting table to Wendy's back yard where the super-ultra executive think-tank was located to discuss on some controversial and complex topics such as the International Junior Representative (IJR) nominations.

Guest appearances from Rowan and not so guest appearances from Roman definately constructed the highlights of the weekend.

Now back at NJR central, alex and kelly long for their true-love: the CISV canada national executve. Only 99 days... or something... until they meet again at the Spring Board Meeting in May! until then, over and out.

International Poultry Project

2006-01-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

(In the above scene, the first frame shows Kelly and Alex proudly displaying the newly aquired chickens for the new CISV International Poultry Project. In the second frame, National Risk manager Cory Kotzian threatens Kelly with a knife, trying to steal one of the chickens! Oh no! In the third frame, we see Kelly and Alex debriefing the situation, discussing ways Kelly might avoid confrontational knife threats in the future. In the end, the national exec consumed the chicken and table the motion to implement the International Poultry Project within CISV Canada this year.)

Wah!

2006-01-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

Wah!