Lahore YMCA Celebrated the 181st Foundation Day

Lahore YMCA Celebrated the 181st Foundation Day

The foundation day of Lahore YMCA was commemorated on June 04, 2025 with a special celebration. The event highlighted the importance, history and service of YMCA. This event was followed by a very special achievement: the opening of Lahore YMCA’s official anthem which was Emanuel Sarfraz’s enduring wish.

• The primary objective was to celebrate the 181st foundation day. The program’s significant focus was on making students aware about the history of World YMCA movement and the history of Lahore YMCA.
• To highlight the services and contributions of Lahore YMCA in terms of community welfare, women and youth empowerment.
• The opening of Lahore YMCA’s anthem as major highlight of the celebrations.

The Foundation day event was attended by students, teachers and the staff of Lahore YMCA. The event included thought- provoking speeches, opening of the Lahore YMCA’s anthem and the cake cutting ceremony. The opening of the Lahore YMCA’s anthem fueled by a dance performance deeply touched the hearts of the students and the staff.

The 181st foundation day event was led by the Program Secretary; Irum Nelson. The event commenced with the recitation of the Bible and prayer led by Mala Nazar. It was followed by the speech of Lahore YMCA’s President Asghar Suleman who talked about Lahore YMCA’s mission and emphasized on youth empowerment and skills development. He also paid tribute to the former General Secretary Emanuel Sarfraz for his passionate dedication and services to Lahore YMCA.

Youth Coordinator; Ramis John discussed the 2030 vision with its focus on building youth through skills, peace and purpose. The Media Coordinator; Augustine Shakeel Zafar introduced the Lahore YMCA’s anthem which was followed by a dance performance carried out by participants named Sania Ashiq and Kinret Waris. Saiman Sam sang melodiously and touched the hearts of the attendees.

General Secretary Ghazala Sarfraz shared a captivating speech highlighting the features YMCA provides including skill- based education, peace-building, women empowerment, affordable fee structures and professional learning. She also talked about the history of Lahore YMCA highlighting that it is the oldest and most active YMCA’s in Asia. The teachers also shared their speeches. The event concluded with the cake cutting ceremony.

The 181st Foundation day celebration proved to be a successful output, with an attendance of 100 people including students, teachers and the YMCA staff. Moreover, the event also featured six speakers who delivered captivating speeches to provoke, empower and spread awareness about YMCA.

The 181st Foundation day fostered many positive outcomes as some of the students shared their experience being a part of YMCA which was recorded in the form of video clips. In addition, the students were fully engaged and felt more connected to YMCA community as they learnt about the long-standing history of Lahore YMCA established in 1876, about its mission, values, significance of YMCA’s certification and about the legacy of Emanuel Sarfraz.

Through this event students gained a deeper understanding of  YMCA’s 181- year legacy of community service and youth empowerment.  From the speeches of General Secretary and President, students learnt about valuable perspectives on leadership and the importance of community involvement. The official release of YMCA’s anthem instilled a sense of pride and connection to YMCA’s history and future vision.

Feedback and Quotes from participants:

“My experience being a part of YMCA is outstanding and the teachers of YMCA are highly qualified.”

– Student, Lahore YMCA

“YMCA provides many facilities and teachers communicate effectively. I am satisfied being a student of YMCA.”

– Student, Lahore YMCA

By: Ghazala Sarfraz,

General Secretary,

Lahore YMCA.

Celebration of “RAJA”: A Cultural Festival for the Community

Celebration of RAJA: A Cultural Festival for the Community

The "Raja Festival," also known as "Raja Parba / Utsav," is a unique three-day festival in Odisha that celebrates womanhood, fertility, and the arrival of the monsoon season, while also honoring Mother Earth. It's a time for women to rest and rejuvenate, mirroring the Earth's own cycle. The festival is marked by various cultural and traditional practices, including feasting, games, and elaborate decorations.

On June 14, the YMCA Cuttack organized various activities for the occasion:

A drawing competition was held in the 1^st hour for school students in 2 groups i.e. junior group for classes 5 and below and senior group for classes 6 to 10. Sixty-four (64) participants participated in the drawing competitions. A jury panel comprising of 3 judges adjudged 3 winners from each group.

Pitha (rice cakes) and rangoli competitions were held during evening for women and girls respectively. Another jury panel comprising 3 judges adjudged 3 winners of pitha competition and 3 winners of rangoli competition. 15 women and 14 girls participated in pitha and rangoli competitions, respectively. RAJA paan and RAJA swing were made available for all the attendees to enjoy during the celebration. A group of women entrepreneurs who earn their livelihood through making “pitha” were supported by providing a kiosk at the premises of YMCA Cuttack to sell a wide variety of RAJA pithas for the public. Visitors enjoyed pitha delicacies and purchased them for their family members to enjoy during RAJA Festival. Prizes for the winners of junior and senior groups of drawing competition and for the winners of pitha and rangoli competitions were distributed by the jury members while the jury members were felicitated by Mr. Sudhananda Bihari, Board of Director of YMCA Cuttack and Er. Alok Kumar Sahu, Secretary of YMCA Cuttack. The Prize Distribution Ceremony concluded with a vote of thanks by Er. Alok Kumar Sahu, Secretary of YMCA Cuttack.

Participants of diverse faith background along with their family members participated in various competitions showcasing their talents. Their gathering also created and portrayed social harmony and inclusivity.

Women were encouraged to involve themselves in various activities and creating awareness among them about their importance in the society, their social responsibility, to realize and discover their potential to earn better livelihood for their family resulting in their self-sustenance. People getting together in a common platform during festivals builds-up communal and social harmony.

Celebration of cultural festivals and knowing their values, importance and benefits in communal or social harmony has become a social responsibility in the present era. The competitions held, encourages participants to discover their own skills and talents. It also builds up their self-confidence and harmony amongst themselves.

Er. Alok Kumar Sahu, Secretary, In-charge O/o General Secretary, YMCA Cuttack

Partner Support Group Meeting with the YMCA Cambodia

Partner Support Group Meeting with the YMCA Cambodia

The Partner Support Group (PSG) Meeting for the Cambodia YMCA was organized by the Asia and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs under its program on Movement Strengthening (MS). The meeting that was held in Phnom Penh on April 28-30, 2025, was the first in-person meeting post pandemic time. The meeting aimed to understand, embrace, adopt and implement the regional and world YMCA MS vision, goal and process to be applied in the current MS approach; clarify roles of the parties/stakeholders involved; facilitate initial conversions with the incumber leaders and staff on the formulation of short-, medium-, and long-term strategies for strengthening Cambodia YMCA.

Current Situation and Challenges of Cambodia

The attendees of the meeting visited the Cambodia YMCA Youth Institute located at Railway, karkab1, PorSen Chey, Phnom Penh. The said facility that is being rented includes a room that serves as the General Secretary and Finance staff office space; and two (2) classrooms that accommodate the daily classes or after school programs under the Street Children Project. The facility is also located in a marginalized community from which the YMCA extends home visit to support children and their families.

The visit to the street children project and the interaction with the project beneficiaries was supplemented by the presentation of the Cambodia YMCA Annual Report 2024 and the Operational Plan 2025. The presentation delivered by General Secretary Nimey Rin provided additional information on the vision, mission, objectives, programs and key activities of the Cambodia YMCA.  Among the other programs and key activities conducted includes youth empowerment programs, childcare for women's employment support, and alternative tourism (international exchange program). It was also mentioned that the Cambodia YMCA is faced with the challenges namely, limited human resources, lack of funding and delays on the fund flow. During the open forum session, the following serious challenges were identified:

• Unstable/Fragile financial base.

• Delayed payment of staff salaries.

• Limited human resources.

• Lack of membership and volunteer-based system.

• Dysfunctional governance.

Recommendations

One of the main objectives of the meeting is to facilitate dialogue and discussion among the stakeholders particularly to strategically plan (immediate, short-, mid- and long-term) the course of action for the strengthening of the Cambodia YMCA.  Thus, learning from the current situation and challenges faced, the APAY MS direction and process and alongside the support that is given by the PSG members, the following areas will be the focus of MS engagement for the goal of Cambodia YMCA on becoming a self-sustaining YMCA by 2027:

• Governance and Institutional Reform

• Strengthening the Financial Base

• Coordination and Support Structure

• Administrative Status and Legal Registration

• Staff and Leadership Capacity Building

 

Reported by: Maria Cristina Miranda

Movement Strengthening Coordinator, APAY

Biblical Reflection by Prof. Rev. Toshimasa Yamamoto

“ Who will roll away the stone for us? “

By Toshi Yamamoto

Mark 16:1-7

April 6, 2025

Ohayougozaimasu, Selamat Pagi and Good morning!

Every year as Easter approaches, I always remember an event that I will never forget. It was more than 20 years ago, during the Lent, Passion Week in the spring of 2001, when 4 Christian Diet members from South Korea came to Japan to protest the textbook issue. As some of you, older folks, remember, there was a big controversy about the textbook issues at that time in Japan. One of new history textbooks for the Junior high school, which cleared the official screening of the Education Ministry, described very little about Japan’s wrongdoing in the past. Just to give you a few examples, the historical fact of the "comfort women " ( who were sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during the WWII ) was completely deleted from the textbooks and the " Nanjing Massacre " is described as only the " Nanjing Incident."

In a very dangerous move, this textbook is trying to close our eyes to past history and to beautify and glorify Japan's history of invading Asian countries. Many letters came to NCC Japan where I was working at that time, from Korea, China, and other Asian countries, protesting this new textbook.

So, in 2001, 4 Christian Diet members from South Korea, unable to stand still in the midst of the situation, came to Japan to voice their opinion and protest. One of them, Mr. Kim Young-Jin, after meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Diet Members' Building, walked in front of the Diet, together with me and Rev. Ryuichi Doi, who was a Christian minister and a member of the House of Representatives at the time. When we came to the main gate of the Diet building, Mr. Kim Young-jin, all of a sudden, stopped and sat down and started to pray. The prayer was so deep and it lasted for more than 30 minutes. After praying, Mr. Kim told us that he decided to hold a fasting sit-in in protest here in front of the Diet building. No one was expecting this, so everyone involved, including myself, was in a panic. Mr. Kim sat in the sun during the day with only water and slept in a sleeping bag at night. In Korea, it is customary to bring flowers to those who are fasting, and many people, including members of the Japanese Diet, brought flowers to present to Mr. Kim. Also, he often read the Bible while he was fasting. He said it was “his source of power to sustain him”. In the end, Mr. Kim fasted for 10 days over Easter. During this period, many citizens and other religious people like Buddhist monk and Shinto priest came and participated in the fasting.

Prayer meetings were held twice a day in front of the Diet building, once in the morning and once in the evening. In fact, before this fasting protest, the government, the media, and we all felt and believed that the textbook issue was over, as the official announcement of approval for this problematic text book had already been made. It was just like the disciples who, after Jesus' death on the cross, thought that they had already buried Jesus and that everything was over. Mr. Kim's fasting and sit-in protest strongly reminded us that “No, everything is not over yet. “It is difficult to express in words, but something deep inside of us was saying that there still is hope, and I received a liberating feeling of being set free from the crippling force of “giving up” that everything was over. It was as if the stone of despair that had blocked the body of Jesus was removed and a new hope came to life.

Although the textbook was approved by the Japanese government, fortunately, the textbook was adopted by only a very few schools, just a 0.03% of the schools in Japan, as a result of our advocacy and continuing protests of many of the citizens' movements and church people's efforts along with pressure from ecumenical organizations like WCC and CCA along with many civil groups in other Asian countries.

I would like to share another story of hope. The Austrian psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl wrote a book titled “Man’s Search For Meaning”. Viktor Frankl was sent to a concentration camp by the Nazis during World War II because he was a Jew, and his book was based on his experiences. In the book, he states that while people were dying one after another, unable to endure the “unbearable suffering” in the concentration camps, three things gave people strength and hope to live. The first one was prayer. By praying every day, they communicated with God, and through prayer, God gave them the strength and hope to live. The second was music. Music has a special power and comfort for the human heart and soul.

The third one was humor. Even in a seemingly hopeless situation, humor can help us put distance between ourselves and the situation. Humor allows us to look at a hopeless situation from a different perspective, and it gives us room in our hearts for hope and the strength to go on, according to Frankl.

The Gospel of Mark, which we read this morning, tells us that Mary Magdalene and two other women went to the tomb of Jesus. It was the women who witnessed Jesus' death on the cross as well as his resurrection.

The first Easter morning, when the women made their way to the tomb, they had just one question on their minds: “Who will roll away the stone for us?” For it was a very large stone. It would have taken about twenty men to roll the stone away, given what we know about tombs at that time. So these three women knew that they didn’t stand a chance. It was impossible for them to remove the stone away.

However, they went to the tomb anyway because they wanted to anoint their beloved Savior’s dead body with fragrant oil. It would be their last act of love toward the one who showed them such love. These three women were not worried about being arrested as followers of Jesus. They might have been wondering why Peter and the other disciples were not joining them. Maybe those male disciples were in deep despair and unable to move out of the upper room. If you put yourself into their shoes, is it possible for disciples and followers of Jesus to have hope in the midst of despair? In fact, this is a question that has confronted Christianity from the very beginning. The promised Messiah died on the cross. That was Christianity's first experience of despair. How can one still have hope after the death of the Savior? The large stone on Jesus' tomb seems to represent the despair of humankind at that time. But the event of Jesus' resurrection was truly an event that transcended our despair. It shows that even when human despaired, there still remained hope in God. Even when human's hope is at an end, there is God's stone of hope that removes the stone of despair. What the resurrection teaches us is that even when human hope has ended, we can still hold on to the hope of God.

Easter means many things to us as Christians. Easter clearly means that Christ is risen. It means that Jesus has defeated death. Easter also means that eternal life is real, that death does not end our life with God. And that the stone being rolled away from the tomb – a detail recorded in all 4 gospels – tells us something else about Easter that I think is quite significant. The stone being rolled away tells us that Easter is also about the ways in which God removes obstacles in our life, which is the ultimate source of our hope and also a source of our hope for YMCA .

This morning, I would like invite you to think about the large stones in your life as well as in your YMCA. Those obstacles that are keeping you from living the full abundant life with Christ and those big stones preventing YMCA from realizing our vision and mission here and now. Please think about those challenges that are trying to keep you in your tombs, so to speak. Those large stones that paralyze us with fear, that trap us, that try to stop us from living with God’s hope. And, then, I would like you to think about what Easter teaches us about how God plans to remove those stones.

Some Christians refer to themselves as “Easter People.” This is a reflection of their belief that they are people who live in resurrection faith, who never lose hope, and who live in hope. I believe that YMCA people are also Easter people.

On June 6, 1844, George Williams and ten Christian youth gathered in his room to establish the first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). George Williams founded the YMCA to improve the situation of young people who, as a result of the Industrial Revolution in England, were exhausted in body ,mind, spirit and seemed to lose sight of the power of life and hope. He put reading the Bible together and praying together at the center of his activities. This seed of hope planted by George Williams has sprouted, borne fruit, and grown into a large tree in many parts of the world.

Our increasingly globalized world is divided into two groups: the few who are able to enjoy the benefits of globalization and the majority who are left behind in a society of inequality. The YMCA's mission and work is being together with the least of those who are left behind. Of course, it is not an easy task. But we can do it because we are Easter People and YMCA is always filled with “prayer,” “music,” and “humor”. And dancing together with YMCA song!!!

I do pray and hope that YMCA will continue to participate in God’s mission and witness that God removes large stones from people who are in despair and hopeless situation. May God bless you all, Amen

-----------------------------------------------------

Prof. Rev. Toshimasa Yamamoto is a Japanese Christian leader, educator, and peace advocate. He currently serves as the Treasurer of the Asia & Pacific Alliance of YMCAs, President of the YMCA of Japan and is also the Chairperson of the Board at the Asian Rural Institute. This Biblical reflection was presented at the

Executive Committee Meeting of the APAY held during April 3-7, 2025, Penang, Malaysia