CISV Atlanta Area Newsletter, Winter 2005
Our adventure starts in Troy, Ohio, with the Miami County CISV chapter, in 1998. We were introduced to the organization through a counselor at my son’s grade school. She had suggested our son Tim apply to be one of the delegates for a CISV village. We had never heard of CISV and were a little skeptical and concerned about sending our 11 year old to a village in the US or a foreign country for a whole month. Fortunately, Tim had spent a few summers at YMCA camps and was more than comfortable spending a week away from home. In our case, it came down to whether the his parents could handle that much time away from their son.
We proceeded through the process of filling out applications, sending reference request forms and completing the selection weekend. Tim was very fortunate to have been chosen as a delegate to Guatemala and so our devotion to CISV begins.
Since then, our family has been a part of CISV in many ways. Garry, the father, has been a leader to a village to Norway, staff member for a village in Miami County and President for the Steering Committee in Omaha, NE. Connie, the mother, is the biggest supporter of the family’s opportunities as well as the treasurer for the Steering Committee in Omaha. Tim, eldest son, has been a village delegate to Guatemala, a summer camp delegate to Michigan city, JB president for the Steering Committee in Omaha and is currently JB Co-president for the Atlanta Steering Committee. Kaitlyn has been a village delegate to Finland and is currently JB secretary for the Atlanta Steering Committee. Ryan, our youngest son, participates with CISV activities and is very eager to be a CISV delegate as soon as he is old enough.
The tremendous opportunities for our children to learn and interact with children from all over the world has been one of the most rewarding experiences we, as parents and the CISV community, could ever offer our children. Connie and I have seen awesome character traits develop in all three children through, and because of CISV involvement. Our children display a higher level of awareness with regard to the bigger picture of our global existence. The older two children have had opportunities to display leadership skills that might not have surfaced with just day to day experiences. The world wide networking being developed at this young of an age will undoubtedly be an asset for their adult lives. Not to mention future vacation destinations.
When we started this adventure our family had very narrow vision of our place in this world. Being involved with CISV has allowed us to open our eyes to all the possibilities. It’s a much better view now. Peace.