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August 13th, 2010

James No:2 and Stubbers

Hey everyone it’s James here, not the usual James you’re used to hearing from, but the Northern James. I’m 27 from Sheffield and have been married for nearly two years to a crazy young lady from Swansea in South Wales.

I first came into contact with Canaan Project (CP) in summer 2004 when I was a volunteer on a basketball outreach team from Youth For Christ called ‘Fly’. I spent a week working with the then head of CP (Dave), and was instantly impressed with the way that it worked with local young people, and how effective it was!

When I moved down to London in October 2004 I started volunteering for CP at the weekly youth club that used to be held at Limehouse Centre every Friday. Then in January 2005 I started working full time for CP as a Sports Outreach worker. The aim of my job was to reach out to local young people through sport, this was done through a variety of ways, whether it was through detached work on a basketball court or running sports courses, as well as working at the Friday night youth club. I worked full time for CP for 8 months, but unfortunately it didn’t quite work out and the job ended at the end of August the same year. It was a very challenging time, during which I learnt a huge amount about myself, the local young people and about how/why the CP was so effective.

I really believe in the way that the CP works, which is why I have been volunteering on weekly basis to this day.

This leads me to a trip that we (James, Fiona and myself) ran last Saturday, where we took 14 local young people to an activity centre on the outskirts of London.  Stubbers is an activity centre that provides a variety of different activities, some of which are very unique to this centre. We were there for a full day, which allowed us to do four activities; starting with raft building. We then broke into two groups, my group did Jet skiing next, then High Ropes and finished with Mountain Boarding.

The day was, in my opinion, a success! We work with young people, so the day wasn’t without its challenges, including most of them taking an age to get ready for the next activity after getting wet whilst raft building, even though the group Fiona and myself where working with where doing Jet-skiing next (which, last time I checked involves quite a lot of water!) However, it was great to see our young people challenge their fears; whether it was of water, heights or falling down a hill.

It’s always rewarding to see young people take steps to stretch themselves and work towards conquering their fears, especially when they may not have any intention of doing so when they start out.

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July 30th, 2010

Volunteers – Reason 2

As in a previous post, I am committed to working with volunteers. The second reason I am convinced in working with volunteers is young people can see themselves as more valuable. How I hear you ask?

Often conversations in youth clubs in my experience go like this:

Young Person: How much are you paid to be here? I bet it’s alot…

Volunteer: Nothing…

Young Person (Stunned silence): Why are you here then?

And the conversation continues, with volunteers giving a range of answers on their motivations for giving up their precious time on any given evening or weekend. Often with the conclusion (at least in my experience) of the Young Person leaving the conversation having a level of respect or understanding of the Volunteer and (in my words) as sense of value of themselves – ‘oh someone is giving up their time for me’. I remember quite distinctly this dawning on me, when I was a young person, I remember thinking about the people that were giving up their time to give me something to do, I also remember feeling guilt for the times I had thrown it back in their faces.

Reason 2 for Volunteers.

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July 9th, 2010

Volunteers – Reason 1

I love our volunteers and I love working with volunteers, I passionately believe that volunteering is essential to not only the Canaan Project but to Youth Work in general.

Why? you might ask. Surely it is better to pay ‘professional’ workers to only work with young people, and surely it is easier. The trouble is (and I speak as a Professional Youth Worker) we do not have real jobs! I got in to youth work because a great youth worker inspired me, and fundamentally I believe that is how we aspire in life, but not everyone can be  youth worker.

Aspirations are built by seeing or experiencing something which changes our thinking, attitudes and values and therefore aspirations. Why it is important that we have volunteers working with young people is because the volunteers come with all of their experience of their working life, and as they share their lives through conversations with young people, young people get inspired.

Reason 1 for volunteers.

james
April 1st, 2010

James

James has been at the Canaan Project since January 2008.  Before this he had experience working with young people in various contexts, including the Drugs and Alcohol field, working with NEET young people (Not in Education Employment and Training) and working with young people in a Church. He also has a degree in Informal and Community Education.

“Working with young people can be like looking for a golden nugget in a large pile of hay. It is generally hard work, but when you find a nugget, it all becomes worthwhile!”

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April 1st, 2010

Fiona

Fiona joined the Canaan Project in October 2009. She has also had experience working with young people in a variety of contexts in Cambridge, Tower Hamlets and Islington. She has a degree in Music and a second degree in Youth and Community Work with Applied Theology.

“I love my job! It’s a real privilege to be a little part of young peoples journeys and to hopefully help them recognize and fulfill their massive potential.”