JCI Belgium National Convention - Staines Memorial Award

This weekend I had the honor to travel to Mechelen for the JCI Belgium National Convention to presents the Staines Memorial Award.

Every year the President of JCI London presents the Staines Memorial Award to an outstanding member of JCI Belgium.

It was very hard to present the award. No matter how many times I practiced my speech, it never got easier, and when giving it on the stage it was hard to stay calm, something I think everyone noticed.

The award went to the wonderful An Deventer, very well deserved!

Otherwise the convention and the gala dinner was really nice. Good to meet old friends and make new ones. I look forward to seeing you all at our National Convention in November!

And finally a big thank you to the always graceful IVP Serge, International EVP Pierre, Dieter who took us around everywhere, and Diederik who hosted us at the beautiful From Dusk til Dawn. 

Here is my speech:

38 years ago, the 18^th of June 1972, the JCI Belgium National Board was on their way home from the European conference in Edinburgh. In London they boarded flight BE 548 for the short flight from London to Brussels.

A few kilometres outside London, about 3 minutes into the flight, two young brothers saw the plane fall from the sky  in what was to become known as the Staines disaster, after Lockerbie the worst air disaster in Britain.

JCI Belgium lost 7 members of the national board and 2 spouses and 12 children were orphaned.

My name is Solveig Malvik, I am standing here today as the President of JCI London. It is an honour for me to introduce the Staines Memorial Award which will go to an outstanding member of your organisation.

This award is presented every year by the President of JCI London as a mark of the bond between our organisations that came to be because of the Staines disaster.

You can never prepare for something like the Staines disaster, but that doesn’t mean you should stop living.

It is a great credit to JCI Belgium that you took what was the worst accident in your history and turned it into a way of recognizing someone who makes your organisation stay truly alive.

We cannot prepare, but we can build resilience. We can build an organisation that is connected because our relationships give us strength, our friends help us through hard times and remind us to keep on living, and that is what the Staines Memorial award recognizes.

As JCI Belgium you are facing new challenges this year and the next. We as your friends stand with you, and now – like then – as your friends we will not allow you to fail.

I am convinced that you will not only success but come out stronger and your relationships are witness to this.

I would like to paraphrase the actress Mary Pickford, for we can give ourselves a new start any moment we choose, because this thing we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down.

It is my honour to give the word to Serge Goussaert who will recognise a member of your organisation who through their work has made your organisation stronger, more resilient and more alive.

Night at the Zoo with JCI Bellevue-Zurich

Last night I had a great night with members from JCI Bellevue-Zurich. 

Once a year the museums of Zurich stay open the whole night. All the museums, and the zoo. Most stay open until 2am, some until 4am. Lots of things going on - dance performances, lectures, parties and DJs. 

First we had dinner at a nice steak house next to the zoo, we had a great time, lots of laughs, some wine, great steak.

After the dinner we went to the night zoo, which looked quite a lot like what you see to the right here. But fun. A bit like "find 5 differences". Is the slightly lighter gray thing on the rock actually a rock or is it a tiger? Is the slightly darker gray rock next to the rock another rock or is it a giant turtle? Hummmm... I might have seen a tiger, two wolves, a lion (pretty sure I saw a lion), two elephants, a giant turtle and a very scary bat (see below).

JCI Bellevue-Zurich is running a project not very different from JCI London's Go for It! project in two weeks, and I'll be very interested in learning about their experiences and sharing best practices.

I had a great night with a great bunch of people, thank you JCI Bellevue-Zurich for taking very good care of me.

What's your tail?

I have a tail. Depending on the day, on the time and the need its either a cat's tail, a fox's tail or a squirrel's tail.

My tail keeps me in balance, reminds me its got my back, reminds me to walk proud.

Have you ever looked at people and wondered what their tails are? Its fun, I promise. Men are often dogs, wolves on a good day. Something about the shoulders, how they walk. Would you tell your friend if he's a pig or an elephant? A monkey?