TEN BIG BRANCHES OF Y.W.C.A. AT WORK IN CZECHO-SLOVAKIA

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6842, 21 February 1929, Page 8

TEN BIG BRANCHES OF Y.W.C.A. AT WORK IN CZECHO-SLOVAKIA

PRAGUE, Jan. 16. It has long been an accepted fact that a non-party and non-sectarian organisation like the Y.M.C.A. can become an essential part of the nation’s social life. But in Central Europe, where national and religious struggles havo played a tremendous part during the past generations it was felt by many that such an institution could never be genuinely accepted by the people. The growth of the Y.M.C.A. and of the Y.W.C.A. movements in Czechslovakia, has proved the contrary and has held out new hope for internal harmony within the youth of the nation.

In 1920 the Czechoslovak women invited the American Y.W.C.A. to send over workers to organise Czechoslovakia and to train leaders for the different branches. It was not many years before the new association declared its ability to carry on alone. Since that time there has been no going back. The membership now stands at • 6,000, 'and it is safe to say that almost as many more would join, if the accommodation were greater. The head office in Prague centralises the organisation work for the ten branches, three of which are in Prague, one in Brno, the capital of one in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, and others in important centres o” the different provinces. Two new centres are being set up in Aussig, in North Bohemia, and Uzhorod, in SubCarpathian Russia. There is a great response in all the branches, to the courses in reading, writing, dressmaking, millinery, cooking, bookbinding, needlework shorthand, typing, etc., and in the language, literature and drama classes, which artheld in both German and Czech.

In Central Europe the “summer camp” idea is new; but it has been enthusiastically adopted of recent years both by the Y.M.C.A. and the Y.W.C.A. The latter organisation had eight camps last summer, and a permanent vacation home has been set up in Konstantinsbed.