juntos en accion - together in action - agir ensemble

“Things need to be good for workers everywhere”, says Catherine Van den Meersschaut, graphic artist and member of the KAJ Flanders. Catherine has been a long time member of the KAJ in Belgium, and brings her experience of the movement to the world council in order to design the logo that will represent our vision for a world of young workers together in action.

“When I was designing the logo for the World Council, I thought about the idea of “working together”, “together in action” and the image of the hands seemed to be a natural part of that” says Catherine.

“I wanted to create something that could be simple and understood by different cultures – to be something international. It's strange to think the logo has been designed here and will be used in India – but it's also kind of a nice connection!”

So what is Catherine's dream for the future?

“I am very happy in my life right now. I feel I have freedom and feel I am very lucky. I also think that the workers movement and unions here in Belgium, are starting to see that the reality of other countries is not so far away. I don't feel I need any more than what I have in my life now, but I think is that things need to be good for workers everywhere. We might not see this result in our lifetime, but we need to start. There is a lot of work for us to do!”

“Things need to be good for workers everywhere. There's a lot of work for us to do!”

My Story in the YCW...

I'm 27 years old and I come from a village in Flanders, named “Bottelare” near Gent in Belgium. It's a village of around 2000 people. There is not much activity there, but there is a YCW!

I didn't have much confidence when I was young. I was shy, so I liked the small group that we had in the YCW. We were just 4 people. A friend asked me to join, so I did and I stayed because I liked that we did things in a simple way - like games and summer camp. I was just 12 years old when I joined and I remember our journeys to summer camp on bicycle. Once it was 150km ride to reach the camp, and then we had to travel back! We were all girls at first, but we were the only group in the village, so my brother (who was older than me) also joined our group later on. I didn't like this much at first because he became a leader before me!

A place for me to be myself..

The YCW was a place for me to be myself, and that was the most important thing for me. It became a kind of community for me and it grew from 4 people to around 40 – 50 members after I joined. I could feel this support especially when my brother died suddenly in an accident. My friends in the YCW still remember him every year at his anniversary and continue to support me until today.

We have to help each other...

After many years of being involved, I can how I have changed. Some things in the YCW have also changed. When I started in our group we focused more on global issues. We did this by using games and activities that taught us about power and the imbalance of power in the world, and through this we learnt about globalisation and the situation in other countries.

Now the focus is more about how to find a job and about the reality of unemployment. I think it's a change in focus that matches the reality here, and there is also a link with other countries. When we lose our jobs here, and then people are not paid enough for the work they do in India for example, then we need to work together – we have to help each other. If there are problems here, you can be sure there are problems in other parts of the world

Discovering Art....

When I was at school I discovered that I was dyslexic, which means still today I  have trouble to write, as I mix up the letters in words and sentences. So, I focused on Maths, Chemistry and Physics which I was good at! After spending a long time in science labs, I found it too isolating, and I wanted to do something totally different.

I decided to study a 3 year course in Graphics which involved a lot of different things – drawing, sketching, computer websites, printing, and all the techinical things involved in it. In fact, I used my Maths a lot because it's useful for calculating the measurements and the different sizes of dots and pixels. I was part of a small group of students – around 20 doing this course, but there was a lot of competition between the students: they didn't like to work together! Then there was some support needed for this kind of work in the YCW, so I applied for the job and now I have been working here for 4 years.

There is a lot of work for us to do....

I am very happy in my life right now. I feel I have freedom and feel I am very lucky. I also think that the workers movement and unions here in Belgium, are starting to see that the reality of other countries is not so far away – not so distant from the reality here.

What is my dream? I don't feel I need any more than what I have in my life now, but I think that things need to be good for workers everywhere. We might not see this result in our lifetime, but we need to start. There is a lot of work for us to do!