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February 24th, 2012

Behind the Scenes

Running a small charity like the Canaan Project actually takes an incredible amount of effort. This is a really shared effort, with a majority of it made up of people giving their time for free. Volunteers for the Canaan Project do not just do face to face youth work with young people, they perform a whole range of different functions.

We have a group of trustee’s that are committed in a formal legal way to the charity and its governance, overseeing the financial, fund raising, PR and Marketing, HR and Management and safe guarding, to name a few of the areas. Trustee’s meet every couple of months, I think most important function is to hold and guard the values of the organisation making sure that we do not drift from what we say we are going to do. Thanks to our Trustees!

But there are also a range of other roles performed, for example the design of this website, people helping with fund raising, running and planning events, running special one-off projects like the spoken word workshops, HR advice and guidance, accounting and book keeping. I would encourage you to think about what skills/passions you have, and don’t think ‘well…i don’t like young people’ or ‘i can’t speak to young people, thats for younger people to do’ (i hear that one a lot!) and write yourself off, try and get involved either with the Canaan Project (this would obviously work well for me!) or a charity around the corner from you. As I speak to all the volunteers we have, I get a sense that they really enjoy it, and get something from it.

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January 20th, 2012

Posers

One of our young volunteers is really into photography and actually more than that, he is really good at it and is trying to make a career out of it. We have been talking for ages about the possibility of him sharing some of his knowledge with some of his peers. Last night he brought down some of his photography equipment and his portfolio. It has to be said we were a little apprehensive about how it would go and so was he as we later found at. In a conversation afterwards we both acknowledged that we had thought it might ‘flop’ (slang term for fail). But it didn’t!!

In the de-brief after the session the young volunteer said it was the most hectic session he had ever had, but one of the most enjoyable. Lots of the young people got involved and really got in to it. 2 or 3 of the young people really enjoyed learning about how to take pictures and about lights and shutter times etc etc but most wanted to be in front of the camera striking poses. Sometimes working with young people is hilarious and watching them striking moody poses in front of the camera making sure the light is right to ensure that they get the perfect Facebook profile picture made me chuckle!

This is why we run the Canaan Project. If it were not for the Canaan Project they would not have the opportunity to learn these new skills. But actually, more importantly (we believe), they would not have the opportunity to interact with another member of their local community and learn about what they are interested in and the skills they have developed.

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July 29th, 2011

We are the sum of our Volunteers

I just want to pay tribute to our volunteers. This week we received some external feedback about the volunteers from a knowledgable and reliable source. That having viewed our work and the volunteers he concluded the volunteers are  ’excellent’. He is absolutely right they really are excellent and so committed to the young people.

Last night we had our summer party, we had a BBQ it was great! One our our volunteers wheeled his BBQ about a mile from his home to the centre so we could cook on it, he then wheeled it back afterwards. Our volunteers really go the extra mile, totally committed and it costs them, time, energy and effort. Thanks so much.

It is not just that they turn up each week they, are fully present, they are interacting with young people, building relationships, watching out for them, following up conversations, thinking about young people during the week, one volunteer went to a friend of his to talk about a young person in the session getting a placement or apprenticeship with him. He did not have to do that, I did not tell him to do that, he just did it, because he thought he could help.

The Canaan Project does not function without generous people giving generously of their time.

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May 27th, 2011

Amy’s Story

I’m really excited about writing the blog this week as I (Fiona) have permission to tell you about the journey one of our young people has been on over the past two years.

We first met Amy when she was 15 and her and her friends started to come to our Thursday night youth club. They came most weeks but had often been drinking as they did most nights after school. We regularly had conversations with them about their drinking and often couldnt let them in because they were so drunk. I remember one occassion where I ended up sitting on the floor with Amy in the toilet with her trying to convince me she had food poisonning and ending up walking her home.

We didnt see Amy for a while but she now tells me that not long after this she was out one night drinking with friends and she was hit by a bus. She escaped with a broken colar bone as one of her friends managed to pull her mostly out of the way. But this experience really shook her up. She decided that this wasnt the direction she wanted her life to go in.

We bumped into Amy again on the estate a few weeks ago and she proudly told us how she’d stopped drinking, finished her GCSE’s and was now working full time as a dental nurse. The change in Amy was immediately visible in her manner and attitude and how confidently and maturely she engaged with us.

As we continued to chat Amy expressed a real interest in giving something back to her community and becoming a role model to other young people so Amy is going to become a young volunteer with the Canaan Project. She has already completed two taster sessions and its clear that she has massive potential to be a strong leader and offer valuable support to her younger peers. Amy is an inspiring young woman and we’re really looking forward to journeying with Amy as she continues to progress and develop. We’ll keep you posted!

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March 18th, 2011

Volunteers – Reason 4

We love working with volunteers. We have such a committed team and I believe it makes a real difference to the young people. I think that working with volunteers that are committed to young people and to making a difference in their lives is really important and communicates value to the young people.

Valuing young people is so important and sometimes just saying ‘we value you’ it is not enough, but communicating it through action is so important and volunteering time is a huge way to communicate true value. Committing time is also really counter cultural in busy London lives. Our volunteers rush back after busy day jobs and leave families to come to Canaan Project sessions. Young people are continually pushing boundaries and learning their own values as they mature into adulthood. They are often contrasting and comparing people they meet on the journey, including Canaan Project volunteers, to develop their own values.  So maybe we will have a group of young people that develop values based on giving and committing time to others, if not at least they have experienced this love.

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November 19th, 2010

Amy

I am going to take this opportunity to introduce you to Amy – this is Amy. She has been working with us since March 2010, and clearly she has lost it!

Currently Amy is doing a Young People and Childcare course and is volunteering for us for over 15 hours per week. In fact some of our services, particularly with Young Women in Langdon Park, would not happen without Amy. She is a brilliant natural with young people, she has a great manner and ability to communicate with young people and is also great in a crisis! It is exciting to watch Amy build relationships with young people, watching her challenge, listen to and work with young people. She is always full of creative ideas to engage with the young women particualarly.

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October 10th, 2010

Volunteers – Reason 3

The third reason I love working with volunteers is, they are not Professional Youth Workers. Now this may sound slightly strange, but hear me out (or read me out)! I gave my details to another Youth Organisation on behalf of some young people, the Youth Worker that rang me up to invite these young people to an event thought I was one of the young people. He spoke to me with a noticeably different tone, which can only be described as patronizing to me.

This got me thinking about the Canaan Project volunteers. I think because they have normal jobs outside of Canaan Project activities they tend to speak to young people much more like they are adults. Now I am not talking about them using inappropriate language or anything, like swearing for example.

They have great relationships with young people and part of that is down to how they tend to speak to young people, well in the way I hear them speak to young people. I think this comes down to respect. This is not to say that other trained youth workers don’t speak to young people with respect, I count myself in that category. But I wonder if through training and constant dealing with young people a Professional Youth Worker may adopt a certain tone that could alienate some young people. In the daily grind (and it is a grind) somehow a Professional may become a little disrespect in their tone.

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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.