A chat with a delegate from Ghana

Good morning America! It is about 6AM on the east coast and I am excited that redcrossyouth.org and more specifically mine and Aubin’s journey is the first thing you check (I will forgive you if it is the second). We find ourselves a little better rested and well fed. We hopped onto the buses about 9AM and are right now walking through an unnamed town in the Swiss countryside. I can’t honestly tell you why they have chosen these towns for us to walk through but I am looking forward to it.

There were a few things I was considering blogging about this morning and as I was deciding, I struck up a conversation with a delegate from Ghana. It is incredible to me how similar the challenges are that we face in each of our national societies. He spoke about the structural challenges and how they have regional volunteer youth reps but no paid staff at their national office. I was speaking to him about grants and the strategies we have in place in America. He then began to tell me about his youth camp, so many ideas for NYI 2010!

We are both passionate about climate change and it was interesting to hear his ideas for implementation of all he has learned. I would go more into depth but typing on the blackberry is getting tiring. I asked him what he wanted to say to the American youth and he said “Americans are great people, they all have the Obama spirit of yes we can.” We concluded by talking about chocolate, which I found out is their largest export. It is quite amazing how just simply talking can bring up such unique ideas and points of view. I am looking forward to getting some awesome chocolate in the mail.

Pat, somewhere in Switzerland