"I had the opportunity to travel back to Ethiopia this past summer to reconnect and visit with my Ethiopian friends. I spent two days in northern Ethiopia in a city called Mekelee. While there, we worked at the Mekelee Youth Center (which is very much like a YMCA). The YMCA in Mekelee just reopened after having been shut down by the government years ago and the Mekelee Youth Center has been working with the YMCA to provide computers and books for the YMCA library. The YMCA in Mekelee is just that, a library. The library was packed when I was there. It was great to see the youth and adults really eager to learn and read. The Mekelee Youth Center is also working with the YMCA to eventually start some youth programming so that as a team they can reach out to the youth of the city."
Jamie Waldron
Morrison YMCA at Ballantyne
You're invited to visit the YMCA during your international visits!
Have your picture taken in front of any international YMCA you visit, bring the photo to your Y branch and you'll receive a YWorld T-shirt and we may post your picture here! (Pictures from previous Y visits will work too.)
Digital photos may be sent to joan.keane@ymcacharlotte.org. Please include names of those pictured, name and location of the Y you visited, and your local YMCA branch name in your email message.