Hello anybody that reads this! It had been a while since I have updated this blog and I thought "what better than to post about my latest adventure thus far?!"
I am currently on a gap year with an organisation called Oasis, who are a company that set-up academies in schools that were under-performing. These academies are created with a Christian ethos of love and respect. As part of my year I will be on a team called "threesixty" and will be involved in the high and primary school academies, the homeless shelter for young people and the youth group on a Friday night. All of these things together are called the HUB and I am in the Shirley Park HUB in Croydon London.
So far I have already helped at one youth group in which I played a lot of pool with the young people and learned that the best way to help some of these young people who come from very different backgrounds and homes to myself is to just talk to them and build up a trust with them. In doing this however I did end up in a conversation about music with two girls who decided to paint my thumbs as we talked. After tidying up I realised that I still had a green thumb.
After a really helpful few days in central London I feel that I have learned a lot about how to work practically with young people. Especially in dealing with trouble behavior and diffusing tension. I am writing this blog just after watching Jeremy Kyle on t'telly and I could have given him a few tips! (however that may not have made such a good show.)
Today we took eight year 8s to a charity HQ called Beat Bullying to volunteer to help them out with posting a huge volume of letters. I was very proud to see young people put in so much effort to something that they had just been asked to do. It was very powerful and I don't think this will be the last time I'll see this this year!
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