Dear members,
To get the new CISV year off to a good start, we have decided to launch a Newsletter which will appear four times a year and which will enable us to keep you informed of what is happening within CISV Switzerland and internationally. With the help of photos and testimonials, we will tell you about the highlights of the last few months and announce upcoming events.
New Committee
As some of you already know, our Committee has been going through a period of transition since our last General Assembly. On that occasion, we called for volunteers to take over certain key roles. We were delighted to see several people put themselves forward, both for the committee and as one-off volunteers. Many thanks to them!
Thanks to them, we can now introduce you to the new committee, which will be delighted to meet you in person at the next General Assembly in November.
Our "Walk The Talk" Summer camps
In this strange year where we have been confronted with the cancellation all international programs, we are delighted to have been able to offer two national camps to our participants.
JB Camp
The first camp, dedicated to the Junior Branch (16+ years old), was inspired by the Seminar program. In this type of camp, the participants are mostly self-managing as they organise the activities, structure their days and cook themselves.
Although in small groups, the participants were able to make the most of the experience: between music, laughter and dancing, they organised a wide variety of activities that led to extremely interesting and in-depth discussions. But above all, they became a very close-knit group, motivated to do activities together again.
11-15 year old
This second camp was based more on the Youth Meeting model, with Leaders to supervise and animate the activities, but also the opportunity for participants to learn how to organise and run activities themselves.
We were particularly impressed that the age difference did not hinder the general good understanding and group spirit. The participants were able to work together and encourage each other to make this camp a great success.
Open Day
To wrap up these two camps, we had the pleasure of welcoming you – and anyone interested in discovering CISV – for an afternoon during which the children were able to share the CISV spirit and some of its games and traditions. Thank you for coming in large numbers!
Find photos and videos of the camps and the Open Day on our website: Memories
With hindsight, we can say that this experience turned out to be much more than just a backup plan, as it enabled the young people of CISV Switzerland to forge strong links with each other.
These new links will be the basis for building a more lively association throughout the year. To this end, the committee and the Junior Branch are proposing a whole series of events for 2020-2021. We look forward to seeing you there!
Save the dates
Here are the dates to note carefully in your calendars for 2020-2021! You will find there :
- the Mini Camps
- Family Day, which will be an opportunity for everyone, young and old, to get together to look back on the adventures of the summer and launch the new CISV year.
The Day Camps, which will be days of preparation for the camps and an opportunity to see each other and get to know the new Leaders and Staffs.
CISV International
"Make 2020 Count"
We are not the only ones who wanted to keep CISV alive in 2020. Other countries have also taken the initiative to remain active in various ways, such as national camps, podcasts, activities organised on Zoom, CISV cookbooks, etc.
All these initiatives have resulted in the “Make 2020 count” campaign, encouraging all countries to be creative to stay active in a different way during this period.
Motions
This summer, CISV member countries participated in an important vote, since it brings about certain changes in the structure of the camps as we know them today. We will tell you more about this at the General Assembly. Don’t miss it!
