The Junior Branch meets once a month at

various houses and everyone is welcome.

We manage our own activities and take an active role in the administrative responsibilities of our Vancouver chapter. Junior Branch activities are aimed at building community, developing skills, and promoting peace through education.

We started the CISV Vancouver JB year off with success. JB Vancouver has become more organized and

created several new positions on the exec, such as JB Bonding, Community Service/Mosaic, Merchandise, and Website

Coordinators.! We have expanded some of our mini camp strategies after learning from the last mini camp and we now include all types of activities from running to discussion. Some of the recent activities within our JB chapter, in just the LAST year include a JB bonding Halloween party, JB t-shirt designing, selling raffle tickets to help raise money for the upcoming village in Vancouver, creating a website: http://cisvvancouverjb.yolasite.com/ and we made Christmas better for two low-income families by bringing them gifts.

JB Vancouver held a Cookie Bake in March. A cookie bake is a sleepover where we try to make as many cookies as possible. We ask for sponsors to pledge money depending on the amount of cookies we make and then we give the

cookies away and give the money to a charity. We made more than 4,096 cookies and gave over $1000 to the Vancouver CISV Village. Some activities

that we are planning for the future include a YouTube marathon, a dance, bowling, laser-tag, and a ton of other great JB Bonding events. If you would like to get involved then contact any of the current JB members or leaders.

Junior Branch Activities

! WWW.CISVVANCOUVER.COM! SEPTEMBER 2011

Fall Mini-CampGet a taste of CISV, come to the Mini-camp October 21-23, 2011 at Camp Alexandra

JB stands for Junior Branch and any young

local CISVer with interest between the ages

of 11-19 can join.

vancouver

by Vrindy Spencer

FALL NEWSLETTER

Message from CISV Vancouver Chair

The CISV Peace Bus came through Vancouver on Aug 28th. on the final leg of its journey across Canada. The kids stayed in various CISV family homes and backyards around Vancouver. A wonderful potluck dinner was held at Blair’s and we all got a chance to experience some of the magical energy.

This was an exciting year for us, as our

delegates traveled to destinations around

the world. This year we had a Village going to

San Francisco, a 14 year old Summer Camp going to Brazil and a 15 year old Summer Camp going to Poland!! In the winter we’ll have a delegation of 12/13 year olds attending a Youth Meeting in Thailand. Plus, we had JCs going to Washington DC as well as London Ontario, not to mention all our Seminar Camp delegates!! We said goodbye and good travel to our delegates at our Farewell Picnic on Sunday June 5th at Riverfront Park and a very large turnout came to wish our travelers well!

We also welcomed youth from around the world this July at our very own Summer Village.! The organization required to host a village is tremendous, and I’m so proud of all of our families who have stepped up to volunteer and made this program a success!

Looking forward, our Vancouver Chapter will be in the spotlight for the next four years, because Canada has been selected to host the CISV Annual International Meeting (“AIM”) in the summer of 2015, and Vancouver will be the host city!! AIM is in Indonesia this year, and Paris next year, but 2015 will be our year to showcase our City to the 60 member countries in CISV!

Many thanks to our fabulous volunteers for all their effort and commitment, this Chapter wouldn’t run smoothly – or at all – without you!

Blair the Chair

Profile of a village delegateBryn Fergusson first heard about CISV from her friend Max at school, who had been to a village the summer before.! Initially, she wasn’t too sure about the whole thing.! She thought it sounded like it might be immature.! She heard about all the people hugging and worried that sounded weird.! Nonetheless, she came with Max to her first mini-camp to try things out.! It took about a day to get used to all the new people before she made some friends.! Then it was a breeze. In fact, she found out that it was “the coolest thing ever.”! “Being in a room with a bunch of kids who share the same qualities and passions is overwhelming,” she gushed. !

And passionate she is.! Last summer Bryn went to a village in Jacksonville, Florida.! The experience brought her more than friends from the 17 countries represented there; it brought her into a new community and activity that continues and grows even now.! What keeps her involved are the friends she has made in CISV and her participation in the J.B. !“I want to take it to the next level,” she said.! What might that be? “To become a more powerful CISV member, to become more of a leader than a follower.”! She and her friends are well on their way. !

Her advice to anyone considering joining CISV is as follows: Do it without doubts in your mind.! Bryn admits to harbouring a few doubts of her own at the start, worries that it might not be worth it.! “But it was totally worth it!” !

By Blair Lockhart

Bryn Fergusson

(Interview by Tasha Nathanson)

CISV 2011 Summer Village in Vancouver

THIS SUMMER SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENED IN VANCOUVER.

70 attendees from 15 countries came to our beautiful city and made a difference in the world. Our guests included delegations

from Australia, Brazil, Canada, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, and the USA.

Junior Counsellors joined us from Italy, Finland, the USA, Canada, and Turkey.

And we all got to be a part of it!It all started at Stratford Hall, July 1st. The

staff and I moved in and started making that school our home. In the next few days, 12 leaders and 6 JCs would join us, each bringing enthusiasm and energy (they’ll be

needing that). Everything was going well; we decorated the school, the team was bonding… and then the kids showed up.

JUST KIDDING! The Kids are the best part! Over the next month, we got to know each other as individuals, and about each other’s countries. We played a lot, laughed a lot, even cried a little bit. We got to show off Vancouver; taking the group to Ambleside Park, Stanley Park, the Aquarium… never mind all the places the wonderful home-stay families brought them. It was a fantastic and rewarding month.

The theme of our Village this year was Thank You, and we want to take this opportunity to say to you, our incredibly giving, committed, generous chapter:

THANK YOU TACK OBRIGADO CHEERS MERCI DANKE SHUKRAN TAAK GRACIAS KIITOS

By Katie Everson, Camp Director

Summer Camp Experience

I remember a day!when I was so tired I finally left from a game of soccer (or football as the European kids called it!) to get some very necessary sleep after approximately 1000 games of (ridiculously fun) soccer in the first week!!This was possible due to some great give and take within the leader group. Although it was a lot of work, there's nothing I would change about the experience if I could! I feel very lucky to have been able to take part in something like a CISV Village. Bret

When I joined CISV to attend a Summer

Camp I didn't really know what to expect...

I joined mostly because my parents and sister were so insistent that it was a great thing. I went to camp not really sure what to expect and at least a little nervous about spending three weeks in a strange environment.

But with a great delegation and what turned out to be a great group of delegates at the camp, things started well and got even better as time went on. It's hard to imagine what a CISV Summer Camp is like without being an active member of your local CISV Chapter, or having taken part in a camp. It really is a fantastic experience, allowing yourself to be immersed in the experience. Things like getting to know kids from other cultures and their ways of life is something that I think is pretty valuable.

The year after my camp, I joined the JB for CISV Vancouver and got involved in planning for various events, as the JB do! After the year went by, two spots opened up for male JC's. Vancouver snared both of them, and I got to head to Stavanger, Norway for Village. As amazing as Summer Camp was, Village would have to be the most amazing CISV experience I've seen. Maybe it's because I never took part in a Village as a delegate, I found the entire process to be a lot of fun!

As a JC, we get the privilege of watching these kids mature during the camp. 48 people from secluded parts of the world come together to share cultures and have fun, and although they don't realize it sometimes, they change as people for the better during the experience! I never would have imagined how much work being a JC could be, and I think it made the whole thing even more amazing. With leaders’ meetings and activities and everything else, sleep is an activity we didn't get to. Luckily, I had a fantastic JC group and we managed to keep sane by helping each other out.

Junior Counsellor ExperienceMy month as a Junior Counsellor (JC) was one of the most memorable experiences that I have ever had.

This summer I was a JC in London, Ontario for the Agents of Change Summer Village and it was an incredibly fun and amazing learning experience. My village consisted of 56 11-12 year olds, 7 JCs, 14 leaders and 4 staff. We called it the mega village because of all the extra delegations and JCs. We stayed at the London District Christian Secondary School which had tons of room for everyone plus really large fields and very nice air-conditioning -- a real bonus in that stifling heat wave Eastern Canada had this summer.

Being a JC at a camp is much different than being a participant because you feel that you play a significant role in the direction that the camp takes. The kids showed me a new way of thinking through their interactions with the other delegations. They were so comfortable with each other and tried so hard to make friends, it was really touching. It also meant that leaving was that much harder. Being a JC was one of the greatest times of my life and I hope that any considering it will choose to be one.

By Bret Shering

by Mackenzie Higa