Children From Hell

SOoooo after two weeks of orientation and finally finding out what work placements i was doing, i was ready to say bonjour to le monde réel. So Mondays and tuesdays I am supposed to help run a food co-op at the Fersands and Fountain commmunity center, and Thursdays and Fridays I join in with the Workers Education Association workshops. Only problem was, the lady who ran the food co-op died over the weekend. i know, sad right? So seeing as this week is her funeral, we were informed that we would not start on the food co-op till next week. but would we help instead with the children's holiday club instead? The children's holiday club is part of the community project and it provides the local children, aged 5-11, with a variety of activities which run from ten in the morning till about 4 pm. There is one paid youth worker, Dave, (think the awesome manta ray teacher from finding nemo , he actually yells "alllll above the skylaaaark" every time we get on a bus or a playground ride, awesome) and then there are a handful of volunteers, young hopefuls aquiring work experience in the aim of becoming social workers/teachers, and then there was me, and Nashir. SO, Jenny and Julius , our PSs, drop us off at the community center, Jenny saying "OH you'll have it easy today. its the kid's club!you're going to a movie" YAAAY!! i love kids movies, is it going to be Up? i will cry with happiness if we are going to see Up!! also i LOVE kids which is such a bonus.Jenny: "not sure, you'll find out when you get there". Arrive at the center. Jenny "this is dave, he will be running the workshop." Dave: "kids club eh? so i see they've thrown you in at the deep end!" wot? "Yeah we had 32 kids last week, each one of them got chucked out of the cinema". Jenny : "byeee!." ENsue two whole days of being physically as well as emotionaly abused by people who are half my height and cute as buttons. The blonde twins, they looked like angels, matching clothes, matching hair. they screamed throughout the WHOLE of Aliens in the Attic (which wasn't actually all that bad.) WHilst waiting for the bus, the children, despite being asked kindly and repeatedly not to climb over the cinema seats, cascaded down every single row, like some kind of sick water feature. A few of them even made the point of hiding in the ticket booth, refusing to come out, despite the insistence of me and half the cinemas staff, and drinking the staff's pepsi. THEN, we got thrown out of the botanical gardens. But, not before they had scooped out all the coppers from the bottom of the wishing pond, leaving a wake of terrorised goldfish, and then running off to the corner shop to buy what ever they could find that was made entirely of MSG and sugar. Then the park. But recalling even that with leave me with a severe brain hemorrhage. But i will tell you this much, there was some seriouse verbal and physical abuse.
Anyway. So what can be said? These kids are just a product of their destructive living environment. Fersands is an incredibly poor and deprived area. It's not their fault that they parrot every obscenity they witness in their neibourhood or household. They're just kids!
AT the end of the day, Dave confronted one of the mothers and explained that her son could not come to the following days activities as he had been swearing so badly. and what did she do? she laughed and shrugged.
They're not all bad, there was one girl who i positively hit it off with. But there are some that just seem beyond reach. The community center is important though. because it provides the kids with positive role models that they might be lacking at home. like Dave, a never ending source of cheerfullness and positivity. People that demonstrate that there is a life outside that of the drugs and gangs that they will eventually fall into. There are SOOO many good community projects here, and having been here for only a week, i have a feeling that i have only seen the tip of the ice berg. For example. On the second day, the activity that was run for the kids was by one that was called Blanc Canvas (i think thats the name...) an art based social project. Basically, the center that Fersands and Fountain is Based in is brand spanking new building, giving a home to many local social representatives. But, before, the project had been based in nearby portacabbins (outside the local school) for the past 24 years. Blanc Canvas's idea was to let the children go crazy and decorate the whole thing inside and out before it got torn down (i think its getting torn down tomorow.) Using a hell load of paints and marker pens, the kids were given an ideal opportunity to discover their creative side.
Thing was that that afternoon's activities had to be cancelled. as well as the following day's promised trip up to a mannor house. and that was all because they just didnt have enough volunteers. so the kids got sent home early. dissapointed. volunteers! these kids shouldnt have to relly on volunteers for their well being! they should have proper help. these kids even deserve psychological support ! but the money just isnt there.

oh well. next week they'll start school again and i'll do the food co-op. and i'll never have to see the little devils again. but what will become of them?
I'm afraid to say that le monde réel is just as terrifying and confusing as i expected it would be.

Week 1

So, there is a place. It is far, faaaaaarr away from the home i call Brighton. It's name: Aberdeen. aka the Granite city (it was also once called the Silver city due to the shimmer the granite gave off under the sunlight. i think i prefer this slightly, less depressing-sounding nickname. and so it shall be silver.) It is indeed very grey. filled with many old churches. all grey. and great big town buildings. grey too. colour does appear here and there in the form of parks, shopping centers and pubs. did i tell you the churches are now pubs and clubs too? well if i didnt then here it is: they are. well not all of them, but a fair few. i've also seen churches transform into flats! i first noticed this when i saw several sky dished poking out the side of one of them. SO that is aberdeen so far. it also has a sea front which i havent figured an easy way to yet, an old fair ground and many many council estates. Also pretty much all the city is some how or the other funded by it's off-shore oil industry.
The HQ for all the community based projects we have been delegated is a rather impressive organisation called Foyer. Foyer is located in several buildings across aberdeen and is the center for all those who are unemployed and down on their luck. The organisation provides facilities and resources in the form of motivation groups, job-seeking aids, band rooms, sports facilities, and other sorts of clubs which i am yet to discover.
The two men from foyer who are guiding us through the ins and outs of the local charities and support groups are two jolly scotts called Dave and Larry (or Tweedledum and Tweedledee as our project supervisor, Jenny, calls them due to similarities in their physiques.) You can tell that these two are in the know when it comes to social work. Though they are always cheerful, always winding us and each other up, they are deadly seriouse about, and steadfastly commited to their line of work. Larry confessed that he barely had a home life due to the emount of time he dedicates to his job. Dave had spent about twelve years working for the oil companies before deciding to change his line of work to social work and has never been happy. They dont lie about the hardships of their jobs but both are incredibly inspiring characters.
The GX Project supervisors (PSs) are Jenny (25) and Julius. Jenny is the UK PS. She did the GX exchange herself only two years ago (she went to malawi where, she claims, the only thing she could buy with her weekly allowance was ice cream). having just completed her masters in international development at soas, she only just got offered the job position this july. She is incredibly sweet and i can see that she really wants this to work. The PS's carry so much responsibility (us) and they have so many people to please (VSO, GX, the british council, the woodland trust ...) and they have so much to do (make sure we get our jabs, find the volunteer placements, make sure we are housed and fed and happy, and basically everything else under the sun). Julius is our Tanzanian PS and we still dont know what he has in store for us when we go to dar es salaam. Julius has spent a lot of time working for other international community based work exchanges in Tanzania. i'm not sure if this is his first GX.
My GX peers: everyone on the exchange is friendly and really excited about the project. the uk people i had already met but we are still getting to know each other. The tanzanians are extremely friendly and playful. They have already taught us a series of dances and songs (which we performed to a room full of people at the launch. we also did the hokey kokey and "saturday night and i like the way you move" because none of us knew how to morris dance or do a kaley.) We dont start our work placements till next week as the first two weeks are dedicated to the likes of team building, health and safety, project, placement and city orientation. We spend most our time at the foyer listening to the seminars, engaging in group talks, discussing our fears and our hopes, and running around the room like mad things, playing what they call "energizers" (or what i call "games.") We are all nervous about the next six months. how our are relationships going to unravel? the PSs hope that there will be no group splits. how are our placements going to be? Aparrently one of mine is in one of the most depraved areas of aberdeen, Fairsands, and, being from an extremely priviledged and protected background, i am anxious to see how i deal with it.
So that is pretty much all of it so far, oh wait i am also living with a lovely elderly lady called agnes whose house is all cushions, lace curtains and freshly baked puddings. Apart from that i am going to live for the next six months with Maria who is one of the tanzanian girls, and will be working with a cheeky guy called Nashir.
I will try to update my blog as often as possible and mayhaps will try to slip in the odd joke or fun trivia fact to pep things up .
miss you all lots and lots and will pobably see you in six months as it looks like i will be christmassing in france. BON SOIREE!!!! XXXXXXXXXXXX hazzamungus


So far so enjoyable