|
|
| JCI President Promotes Growth in Peru |
|
|
Late at night on July 22, JCI World President Lars Hajslund arrived in Lima, Peru, and was welcomed by JCI Peru President Jacqueline Alvarado and many local JCI members. The following morning, Hajslund went for breakfast to JCI Senator Cesar Lavanda’s home, where he joined JCI national and local officers, as well as JCI Senators, to celebrate Lavanda’s birthday.
While at Lavanda’s home, Hajslund met with JCI members and Senators. “It was great to hear how JCI Senators are ready to support the growth of the organization,” he said. “We agreed that their role is to help recruit new members and start new chapters. They want to help.”
Meeting with Volunteer Organizations
After breakfast, Hajslund attended a meeting with other volunteer organizations — Rotary, AIESEC, International Youth, Cenavol, Red Cross, and others. There were also representatives from the Organization of American States (OAS). JCI Peru President Jacqueline Alvarado chaired this meeting. “The objective of the meeting was to increase cooperation among volunteer organizations, and to present JCI and seek their support for our projects,” said Hajslund.
JCI Peru gave a presentation on its successful AIEPI Program. “JCI Peru members are conducting great projects with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) to reduce infant mortality in Latin America, which is extremely high,” said Hajslund. “We talked about issues of voluntary organizations in the country and, most importantly, we promoted JCI and established a forum to discuss those issues.”
Appealing to Youth
Enjoying a typical Peruvian lunch at the Dorado Inn with JCI members, Senators, and friends, President Hajslund had the opportunity to share ideas with members on how to increase membership by finding new and effective ways to recruit. “Young people today don’t want to hear the same music as people in the 60’s, the 70’s, or the 80’s,” he said. “The music has changed. They like new music. We need to appeal to youth.”
Hajslund toured the city of Lima, including downtown Lima and Miraflores. “Lima is an impressive city — very diverse, very old, but very modern.” He enjoyed a pisco fair. Pisco is a brandy or aguardiente distilled from the white muscat grapes grown in Peru. A JCI Senator is a pisco producer. “It was a big festival and a lot of fun,” said Hajslund.
JCI Local Organizations Everywhere
At the JCI Peru headquarters, Hajslund discussed priorities with national officers. “Our number-one job is to have chapters everywhere,” he said. “And our number-two job is to strengthen these chapters by focusing on training local presidents. If we want to grow and provide opportunities to more young people, we can’t have only 10 or 20 local organizations in a large country. We need to be everywhere.”
Hajslund also met with local presidents and discussed different ways of achieving objectives, mainly growth objectives. Afterwards, Hajslund marketed JCI during an open meeting with JCI members, potential members, Senators, and the media. “We had fun learning and talking about JCI. Some young people wanted to join right after the meeting,” said Hajslund. “His training, which was very dynamic and motivating, generated an excellent image for JCI," commented JCI Peru President Alvarado.
Father Martín Sánchez Terán
“I met a very interesting person, father Martín Sánchez Terán,” said Hajslund. A young catholic priest, father Martín is leading an organization called Hogar de Cristo. “For the last 10 years, he has been being working with this non-profit foundation that has created 70 homes for orphans in Peru,” added Hajslund. “He has more than 1500 volunteers, 70 employees and his own radio show… He’s young, has a fantastic personality, and projects inner peace. His radio program, one of the most popular in Lima, plays youth and rock music and gives a good message.”
President Hajslund would like JCI members to learn from father Martín in successfully reaching out to young people and helping them become involved.
Visit the President's blog...
More photos…
_________________________________________________
Please send your comments, suggestions and news contributions.
Go back to News Page
|
|
|