Connecting at the Crossroads Portfolio

Many of you have flown in for this first
World Child and Youth Care Conference.
This web site has a simple purpose to
serve as a visual record for Connecting at
the Crossroads and the Stand by Me Clan
Gathering which took place prior to the
event. Registrants for both events are
invited to send their impressions in for
inclusion. What or who made an impression
on you? Click on the tiny mouse and send
in your comments.

For some months now, some have
been following a page for the
conference on social networking.
Several were building on bonds formed
earlier and focused at the first Clan
Gathering. A suggestion was made to
go out for supper on Saturday to
Chafe's Landing in Petty Harbour. A
small party of folks was anticipated and
it simply grew to the point of
exhausting the supply of cars and
drivers to transport everyone. The
Chafe family lived in this wee house for
several generations. It evolved into
one of the finer places leading to it
being recommended.

The group overwhelmed the place taking up the
second floor and folks were soon tucking into fresh
seafood, wild game and a combination of all they serve
in one meal. The distinctive dish was a local custom of
adding seasoned, bread stuffing and gravy to one's
mound of fries. Indulgent and fabulous and fitting with
the super moon that evening.

There has been a set back for conference planners hoping to attract and host as many delegates from across the world. Of the 200 letters supporting
Visas sent out, only three have been successfully processed. As an article in The Telegraph made clear, the Department of Immigration not only
dropped the ball here, they perhaps never picked it up in the first place:
http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2013-06-21/article-3285421/Delegates-denied-entry-to-Canada-for-St.-Johns-conference/1

The Clan Gathering opened with a unique Keynote
Speaker in the form of Hedgy, who had attended the
first Gathering. Thom looks a wee bit taken aback with
Leon's choice of opener!

Registrants were given an overview and up-date of
where CYC-Net is at - 1.5 million hits annually and
where it would like to go. Discussions about language
differences easily moved on to discussions on cultural
influences and issues of perception. The goal of
allowing the web site to be even more inclusive with
more translated content remains active. The global
reach of the site remains impressive and possibly it is
the only such resource available to many in the world
when it comes to child and youth care. The sensitivity
around these needs and challenges was accepted
and shared by most in the room.

Conference Co-Chairs Heather and Thom hit upon
a master stroke putting the better part of the entire
delegation on a rather small boat to go out and look
for whales, while they decamped into town and
George Street. What a fabulous experience! Not at
all what this writer was expecting. First time on a real
ocean here for this writer and the swells and
buffeting of the swells gave the term sea legs a new
appreciation. Finding the whales was the second
learning out of the evening. Although no bait or
tackle is involved, whale watching has all the
variability and discipline of a sport. They are not out
there frolicking on command like an animal in a zoo.
Rather they are following their own rhythms and
whims, appearing for a few moments one or two
times before diving off to a new location. Add in the
quest to photograph these sightings amid the chaos
of the boat heaving about with a long lens which
compresses reality and the sport of it all even
becomes more appreciated.

Less expected and a lot less sport like was a
spontaneous streak diving demonstration, salute,
whatever by a group of young men who appear to
wait for the tour boats and dare each other to jump
in nude just because. Good thing they do not put
that in the brochures.