Post by Oris Ikomi from JCI Greenwich about his recent experience attending JCI Admin.

Having a been a previous member of JCI London, it was great to attend my first proper JCI training now as a JCI Greenwich member. Attending the Admin Training gave me a better understanding of the organisation and its structure, helping me to ease some of my frustrations from the past. I went away appreciating the complexity of the organisation and with a better understanding and clarity of how and where I can best be of help to the organisation.

The training was filled with laughter, banter about the Ugandan’s taking over JCI Greenwich (it’s an internal running joke amongst JCI Greenwich members), and a healthy-hot debate about the JCI creed (see below), which felt like being in the House of Commons. Despite the debate leading to a minor distraction from the training itself it was somewhat nourishing and good to hear different perspectives and cultural narratives about the creed.

JCI Creed:

That faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life; That the brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of nations; That economic justice can best be won by free men through free enterprise; That Government should be of laws rather than of men; That earth's great treasure lies in human personality; And that service to humanity is the best work of life! 

So, what was my takeaways from the training?

Unity

I realised that there is a great need for all the JCI chapters in the UK to work more closely together in having a united vision on how we can make an impact politically and socially in the UK - like singing from the same hymn sheet. We should most certainly be taking advantage of the globally recognised, re-invoking the spirit of the founder, Henry Giessenbier.

I strongly sense a vacuum in the UK political landscape for an organisation like JCI to be champion of social justice and leadership development for young people. We should most certainly take advantage of the brand. 

To do so we will have to think differently from the current leaders and thinkers, and have the courage to push boundaries.

I’d like to finish off by saying a special thank you to Mary Mambwa for her hard work in organising the training, and also to Sarah Beckwith, 2016 JCI National President for delivering the training. And last but not least to my fellow JCI Greenwich members aka mini JCI Uganda (only joking haha). I love them really!

Together we can make a difference and put JCI on the UK map.

If you would like JCI Admin to be run in your chamber please contact your local Training Director and the National Personal Development Director, James Lambert