Thursday, June 21, 2007

Deprived and proactive

Well guys, today I've been teaching in one of the most perceived and reported 'scary and feared', areas of Nottingham - St Annes, in a resource community centre, with disengaged 16 -19 years old adults.
My, I'd forgotten how hard it can be to reach these guys; They're pretty shutdown, on so many levels and just to get that 'light' switched on again, is a massive task in itself. Luckily, I have a good male co worker, who's extremely active in the local community. A black Trinidadian/American, from Queens, New York, who has worked in such environments before and thus, has a good working knowledge of the issues these youths face today.
What struck me though was, how wonderfully active, buzzing and freindly this centre is, even though it's slap bang in a 'potential flare zone'. I always think that history has shown that communities often rise when faced with oppression and deprivation. A different sense of community and mutual support grows and indeed, one that is extremely important for local people to have faith in, continuing the sort of goodnesss and hope that is needed for the future.
So, I await with anticipation to next week, although I have some good ideas up my sleeve; Music Studio visits, cooking, art and trips to the main college for careers/course advice because many of these people really want to move into something new and now's the time to reach them before their lights become completely switched off...

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