Dear JCI Mariehamn,
Thank you for being our twinning chapter so far. As probably not all of you know JCI Havis Amanda, I will tell you briefly about our chapter. JCI Havis Amanda was founded in Helsinki in 2003 which makes us a bit over 10-year-old chapter. At the moment, we have 58 members and several trial members. So far we have not had any male members, but I, personally, would be delighted to get a member application from one.
Now that it’s summertime, our chapter is laying back as well. However, also during summer time we see each other at monthly meetings which are more relaxing such as picnics and so on. In July we will have our yearly get-together with our ”godchapter” JCI Pori. As I am writing this, we are preparing to travel to Malta where Havis Amanda and JCI Mariehamn will meet at lunch.
After (and also already during) summer, our chapter will focus on preparing a networking event for November. In addition to that, we have some trainings, given by our own members, as well as some traditional get-togethers such as our 11th birthday. In addition to those, we have monthly meetings with different themes.
My theme for this year is ”Dare to fail.” It is meant to encourage people to strive for their best and not be afraid of making mistakes. This organization should be about learning, and sometimes best lessons come from things that feel like failures as they happen. Only later we understand the meaning. I hope that the members of our chapter will grab those several possibilities that JCI gives them and grow as leaders during this year.
So far, JCI Mariehamn has been the only twinning chapter of JCI Havis Amanda, but not for long. In Malta, we will sign a twinning agreement with JCI Randers (Denmark) and JCI St. Petersburg (Russia). That will be a new thing to our chapter and we are eagerly looking forward to that. However, do not think that we will forget JCI Mariehamn either. This will only bring more focus to twinning work and probably also give new ideas to our cooperation.
I would like to wish JCI Mariehamn a lovely and warm summer. You have been super active with PRES academy and now also Summer academy. PRES academy was very well organized so thank you for that! I am sure Summer academy will be as well!
Katja Lipponen
PRES 2014
JCI Havis Amanda
Foto: Aki Rask
