We have just taken a group of girls to Stubbers Adventure Centre (Wednesday this week) and it was an adventure! This trip was a continutation of our targeted girls work that Fiona wrote about a little while ago. We did lots of activities of which jet skiing was the favourite, but they also built rafts, swung from high ropes and trekked through mud in Argocats. The girls all really threw themselves into the activities – and any bit of water they could find!!! We were especially proud of some who challenged their fears of certain activities and did things they would never have done before. They all said they had an amazing time and are already asking when we can go back.

Speaking to a parent the next day she said her daughter could hardly eat her dinner that night she was so tired! She also told us how good she felt it had been for her daughter to go on a trip with just girls, having 4 brothers who sometimes knock her confidence when she tries new things. And this is one of the reasons we are passionate about doing girls work…

Girls are under represented in youth clubs around the country but especially in the East End of London.  There are a number of reasons for this including the fact youth clubs are often orientated around activities that are traditionally male such as table tennis and pool. This results in spaces that are dominated by boys and girls who are either not interested in participating or too intimadated to do so. We are working hard to create safe spaces where girls feel able to fully relax and express themselves whilst also being able to challenge themselves and develop new skills and confidence. This day was a real success in all of  these respects and was a great end to the summer and beginning to a new term working with these girls.

‘Young people need to be encouraged in order to proceed in life, I know people that haven’t been encouraged which led to bad stuff happening’

Last night I spent a few moments talking to the young person in the photo – he is 16. He wants to be a Doctor. This intrigued me. Why a doctor? Were his parents doctors? No. An older brother? No. Did he hear an inspirational talk from a Doctor? No. Was he saved from certain death on the edge of a cliff with a major head injury having fallen, trying to save a seagull? No. Simply (and it is simple) his Mum said he could be a Doctor – he could do it. He has it within himself to be a Doctor, to do the work in order to be a Doctor.

It struck me that often this is what it takes – a little encouragement. Maybe the key to lowering NEET figures is as simple as a little encouragement.

Firstly, thanks to James G (the Northern One) for the blog last week, if you have not read it – do! He is an amazing volunteer and a good friend and encourager!

Wow – the summer  holidays are drawing to a close. We have run several projects this summer, some residential trips as well as our on going provision on the Teviot Estate. It has seemed to be particularly difficult to engage young people in activities this summer. There seems to have been a higher level of lethargy than normal. As I have been talking to other youth workers around the borough and London more widely I do not seem to be on my own in thinking this.

I wonder if we sometimes forget that young people access our service for social reasons – to hang out with their friends. If every time you went to the pub, someone came in asking if you would like to gain an accreditation for this or that, or if you could fill in this form, or give your opinion about this or that as well as giving you a massive menu of a multitude of events and trips to do or go to, maybe that would put you off your pint (or what ever you may drink)?!

As youth workers we want to see young people develop and progress, to experience new things, gain life skills and accreditations… But we have been reminded this summer that we also need to recognise a balance between structured activities and programmes and having no agenda other than to provide space for young people to just “be”.

Last night at youth club 2 examples of the digital age or the ‘post digital age’ whatever you may call it unraveled before me. As I was leaning on the Cafe counter chatting to one of the volunteers we overheard one young person say to another ‘ when I have no BB messenger I feel empty‘ – I did a double take and both myself and the volunteer looked at each other a little speechless.

The second incident happened about 30 mins later, we have 6 computers in the community centre which are public access computers for the young people to safely access the internet. I walked up behind two young people on the computers (they were sitting next to each other) and began a conversation about what they were looking at on the computers – it was Facebook. After a dismissive grunt, I looked at their screens and as it transpired they were ‘chatting’ to each other via Facebook instant messaging function, as they sat next to each other.

These 2 examples got me thinking and asking a couple of questions:

1. What does this mean for Youth Work and Informal Education, a profession that depends heavily on conversation and spoken communication?
2. What does this mean for the young people? Are they missing out on communication skills? Can they communicate without a digital aid?

Fiona here. I wanted to tell you about the girls work I’ve been doing in the local secondary school, Langdon Park. I originally approached the school about doing some girls work there in response to the very low numbers of girls that were attending our Thursday night youth club sessions. This situation is replicated in youth clubs across the country. One reason is that youth clubs are typically focused around traditionally male activities such as pool and table tennis and with boys dominating the space, girls are often intimidated or uninterested and therefore marginalised. In addition to this there are cultural issues in our particular area that prevent girls from attending mixed, unstructured, evening sessions.

So I started a lunchtime girls club in the school for year 7 girls with the aim of overcoming some of the barriers mentioned above as well as supporting the girls in their transition to secondary school. A previous project I had worked for, Urban Hope, also found that building relationships with girls when they’re younger and sustaining those relationships is the key to being able to work with them in their later teenage years. With very little advertisement whatsoever we had 60 girls attend the first session! Since then we have continued to see between 30 and 60 every week. We lay out a range of games, beauty and arts and crafts activities, play music and let the girls use the space however they want (within reason!!).

As well as having good numbers we’ve had some really positive feedback from the girls…

“Its fun because you can get to do all different activities.”

“Girls Club is good because we can listen to music and be ourselves because the boys aren’t around.”

Its a place where we can socialise and meet with all the girls in year 7 because outside we dont really come across eachother.”

I wanted to introduce you to another young person, he is 17 lives in Poplar and comes to Canaan Project to our weekly session, as you can see from the photo he enjoys football! We sat down for a 10 minute conversation, I would say this is longest I have talked to him and this is what came out of that conversation:

I began with asking what’s it like living and going to school on the Teviot Estate?

He said it was quiet and boring, meaning there is nothing to do. He then went on to say it was a crappy area, and there was nothing to do, apart Canaan Project – and even that is not open often enough. He felt that Canaan Project was important because Youth Workers can have a big positive impact especially in stopping crime (I can honestly say, none of this was prompted). He more generally felt the area could do with some improvements, there is a site on the Estate which he thought was run down and needed some improvements, in terms of buildings. I then asked, would he like to leave the area, he said ‘Yes’ and that his mum already was trying.

We then began a conversation about the people in the area. He said that young people are always fighting people from different areas, although he was clear this was not something he was involved in. He cited an example of when at school once some young people from a different area jumped over the school fence with knives aiming to start a fight in the school. We also had a interesting conversation about bullying in school, he felt it was not taken seriously unless weapons are involved. He said ‘Young People carry Knives - FACT’. I asked him about walking in the area at night he said he felt it was dangerous, I asked why, he said with people from different areas and thieves, and he always hears stories of people getting stabbed in the area.

We then started an interesting conversation about the EDL (English Defense League) that are meant to marching on the East London Mosque soon. He said he was concerned about racism and people getting and being attacked from racist motives. This march has been a conversation point with a lot of young people for the last couple of weeks.

This week I wanted put some work on the Blog from a young person. This was written by a 14 year old boy that lives in Poplar. Below are some excerpts from his work:

I belong to God but the streets are pulling me away, everyday I find a way for the haters to pay, right now i got many lyrics to say…

…the streets full of trouble and haters. I’m trying to be good, I’m trying to be perfect in the neighbourhood, the neighbourhood I grow up in makes me sing the tings that makes me keep winning and I feel God is there but i just keep sinning.

This came out of a session based on the phrase ‘I belong to…..’. The young people explored this with a professional Spoken Word artist.

Fiona and I were on outreach this week and we bumped in to Garry. He has been coming to Canaan Project for the last couple of years and also attended last years residential to Calshot.

This is what he said:

‘Canaan Project is brilliant because it gives young people something to do. The trouble is people round here hang out on the streets and then they get in trouble. Canaan Project is good because it gives us something fun to do. I reckon it even means there is less crime in this area because it is keeping people off the streets. I think it means that less young people are committing crimes.’