“I am stronger and wiser than I sometimes allow myself to be.”

“I have learnt that anything is possible as long as we believe in what we want to
do, need to do for life.”

Quest @ Congress Projects

Human Force Volunteer Camp at UMA in Mexico - July 2010

Alex Woodward, writes about the next step in the implementation of the project she and Osanna Favre worked on at Christchurch.

'Following the first Volunteer Camp at Amanecer, Colombia, last year, (photo) the new and improved Human Force Volunteer Camp will take place at Usaha Mulia Abadi (UMA) project in Mexico. Young people from Mexico and around the world will join forces to help this Susila Dharma International social project. They will unite through education, personal discovery and human effort. Each young person will leave with a stronger sense of the 'I' that is within, as well as their relationship to community and worldwide social change'.

To learn more and download the application form, contact us at: getinvolved@susiladharma.org or alex.woodward@subudyouth.net.

First Union for Life Workshop a Success - Columbia April, 2010

Luciana Aristizabal has successful organized the first of three planned workshops in Columbia.  It was held at Amancer. She plans to organize two more of these youth events this year in Colombia.

Survey Monkey - Using the Internet for Follow-up

Part of the Quest @ Congress process is for the Facilitators to provide regular follow discussions with the participants by telephone, email, Skype or face-to-face (if possible).  The aim to check on their progress with their projects and personally, and to give support when we can.  The first round is happening now.

Thanks to Sofiah Mackay, we found Survey Monkey, an on-line survey tool to gather feedback from people anywhere.  We are using it help Questers reflect on their progress so far and to use the responses as a starting point for discussion.  The responses also help us track the whole process over time.

By the way, the tool is free (to a limit). Check it out at www.surveymonkey.com.

Quest @ Congress Evaluations

End of Quest Evaluations - The Quest @ Congress evaluations from Christchurch were very positive and a selection are summarised below. A full report will be available shortly.

"My key personal achievement is a feeling that my project really is achievable, and that I'm now in a place from which I can really work on it and take it seriously."

Rating of the overall success of the Quest @ Congress

NOT SUCCESSFUL	0	1	2	3	4	5	VERY SUCCESSFUL
	_	_	_	_	2	12

Average rating is 4.86 / Total responses: 14 from 16 (87.5%)

Rating of fulfilment of personal expectations for project

NOT AT ALL	0	1	2	3	4	5	COMPLETELY
	_	_	1	2	4	7

Average rating is 4.21 / Total responses: 14 from 16 (87.5%)

"I needed to feel the energy of a team of young, driven people, and the faith and excitement of people who want to help us!"

Q3.What has been least successful about the Q @ C?

Theme	Frequency
Not enough time for workshops/exercise/too rushed	4
The Pitch – not enough people present	2
Hard to manage with demands of Congress/Volunteering	2
No haber podido ir al campamento er alfo gve me entristeece. Todo el tallee estuuo GENIAL	1
There are lots of personal issues that have surfaced that deal directly with my ability to pursue my ambitions & present myself & my ideas I wish I could go on the camp, because I know that's where this stuff comes up	1
Too many people with different time requirements	1
Energy management in workshops	1
Language differences	1
Specific advice on what my first step in my project should be	1
Convince me about stopping (?)	1
Early morning starts	1

"I'm really glad I was able to come to (the) Quest this year, even though it was often difficult to fit a congress experience around it and I was not as fresh in session as I could have liked to have been as a result."

Q4.What have you learnt about yourself?

Learning About Myself	Frequency
I have the capability/I am stronger & wiser than I allow/ I am the one to do it	7
I need more faith in myself/In others/To be myself	2
Not to hate people/How to trust people	2
My need to focus on the 'heart of things'/get away from the details	1
I need to surrender to God sincerely	1
Que debo hacer las cosas con la misma energra hasta el final	1
To start my project at the beginning and work slowly and surely	1
I can express myself and be understood	1

"It's been good. Just make sure you keep making it about the participants, and their benefit – what ever you do, don't start having an agenda!"