Immersion Trip to Quezon city slum, Manila. Sagele Palaamo

What a good experience, I got to learn a bit about the culture and there lifestyle. Some of my praxis class and I all went on an immersion trip to a slum/squatter area in Quezon City and stayed there for two weeks.  We got split up and stayed with a family; we were walking distance though from each other. I stayed in a house that was pretty small compared to the houses here in New Zealand; it was probably the size of my bedroom. One thing I learnt from this experience was to be happy with I got, because even though they didn’t have much they still were grateful for what they had and for life. I noticed was how close they were with each other as a family and how much love they had for others. I remember when I first arrived there my family took me to a local concert they were running to raise funds to help cover some of the costs for someone who needed it for an operation, this inspired me. During my stay the main thing we had for meals was different type of fish, chicken and rice. In the afternoons because it wasn’t so hot a few of us would meet up at the basketball court and have a game with some of the locals, where they used to call some of us Americano. It was funny because I seemed to look a bit like them, if I went into a shop by myself the shopkeepers would start talking to me in Tagalong, the local language that was funny. A song that reminds me of my trip was “treasure” by Bruno Mars it was on repeat everywhere I went and the “gentleman” song by PSY. I am so grateful for the trip and the people who supported me financially and through prayer. I will always remember my time with my family in Quezon Slum.

 

Doing youth work without being a youth worker

 A recent article written for The Salvation Army by Jon Riki, Youth Worker

For the past three years I have been working with the Roskill South Rec youth team. I was born and have been raised in the community I now serve.

I have seen many youth workers and youth clubs/events come and go in that time with one thing staying the same. Young people are continually growing up with more and more challenges.

What does youth work look like for those that aren’t youth workers? Everybody has some body that looks up to them in some way shape or form; in our roskill south leadership program its focus about leadership development to better our neighborhood contributing back through projects. So what happens when the participants are nearing the end of their time at school or course and they are looking at their possible career options for the future? This youth work thing that they have been apart of is looking appealing? As sad as it sounds not all of us can become youth workers.

The truth is we need everyone to have a youth worker approach to young people in our community but maybe not full time or paid ones. It takes a whole village to raise a young person and in this sense we need every adult in a community to have an active interest in the young people around them. What could it look like for those that still have a interest in the well being of young people in the community whilst still moving on their own journeys. A style off informal youth work without the title is easier then it sounds, it’s a shame that a lot of the positive role models have to be paid as a form of work like youth work to be apart of a young persons journey.

I have been thinking about what it could like; role modeling, mentoring, programs, projects, sports, faith groups and school, all of these things are easy enough to be a part of while still balancing other commitments such as work, why is there a feeling for wanting to do this full time? It is a privilege to have young people stand up and show concern for others and want more for their community but what are we missing when we build them to maybe not become a youth workers but be a leader in their own right in a community that desperately needs them.

October 2013 Holiday Program

2013 Puketapapa Youth Leadership Summit

4 Religious traditions, 22 ethnicities, 12 community organisations all converging on Umu Puia Marae, Maraetai all passionate about uniting Mt Roskill's youth voice.The Puketapapa (Mt Roskill) Youth Leadership Summit is a project that i (michael) have co-ordinated for the past 3 years since its conception. The intention is to bring together aspiring young people from the Mt Roskill area to develop leadership and citizenship for the sake of the next generations of Mt Roskill.

This years theme was ACTION and it came with the bonus of two group who would form during the summit receiving $2,000 grant for a community project developed over the summit. These grants come from the local board youth fund in which we have "Puke up"grants for aspiring youth community projects. To start of the weekend we had Ronji Tanielu share his story and journey from a challenging up bringing to his life now as a registered lawyer and policy analyst for The Salvation Army. The rest of the weekend followed a project scoping template where groups where formed to develop local community projects for young people. This included workshops on leadership, project management, fiancees and marketing.

 Each group presented their project idea and the participants of the weekend then voted for the top two projects that deserved the grants, making this a truly youth led development project. the winers of the grants where:
 1) Kai Time: A cook book with stories to support recipes of different meals that represent cultures or traditions of Mt Roskill.
2) Roskill's Finest: Art gallery events that expose artistically talented Mt Roskill young people.

I have left this Youth Leadership Inspired and with alot of hope with such a strong bunch of young people who will lead our community into the future.

check out this link for short film developed of what went down on the weekend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B4KaEEeeqE

More Photos and info to come