A Birthday to remember.....

I'm well aware that my Blog is a mass of confused thoughts and that when i look back on it I'll realise how I've contradicted myself. But i think that contradiction is great thing....I've been completely honest in this Blog and therefore the people reading have been given an opportunity to share in my journey....i hope that it may have also ignited some reflection in people. Blogs will be read by people who you never meet and it's wonderful to think that in some way they might relate to what is being said. I believe an honest Blog is one that will connect with people and that is why I'm going to offer this confession......

Monday 23rd April, a training day for me where my team we're being taught how to teach sex education in Schools. This was a great opportunity for reflecting on teenage crisis and in some way trying to re-connect ourselves with being thirteen. (not quite sure why i started on about this topic - not really sure how to get out of it).......On Monday evenings i make a fifty minute journey up to Essex to help plant an Oasis youth club. As i got ready to leave for Enfield (Essex) i received a text from my sister: "Andrew, have you forgotten something?".....it suddenly hit me that her birthday was the 24th April (the next day) and i had totally forgotten. I text back quickly: "No I've not forgotten. It;s your birthday tomorrow!". Cat replied: "Andrew you dope, my birthday is today!". For the first time in twenty years (rough estimate) i had forgotten my sisters birthday and i felt terrible. Especially since Cat is always so good at remembering my birthday....in fact Cat always buys me the best gifts.

I never want this Blog to appear as me sitting on my 'good boy' pedestal writing about the perfect church and world changing work. The reality is that my family mean more to me than anything I've ever written in this Blog. To have become so detached that i forgot my sisters Birthday bothers me a lot. Daily i act as a role model for young people and daily i consider how to have a more positive impact on the community i work within....However, if i could only impact one area of the community i would impact families. To appreciate one another by remembering their birthdays, using and practicing love as a natural daily thing. I have no doubt that the struggle existing within communities is partly down to family breakdown.....

Apologies Cat.

feeling accepted in church....is this a common thing?

One of the favourite parts of my job is meeting new people who come along to the church. Mostly we find that the people interested in what we do are people who have had a negative experience of church and have taken time out to reflect on what to do next.....over the last two weekends I've been getting to know a couple who are really unsure about church as they've had many an unhappy experience. I'll call them Harold and Madge for the purposes of confidentiality and they are truly great people. Harold would class himself as an atheist and Madge has grown up in a christian family attending church all her life. Despite their difference in belief they are very much in love and it's great to be around them.

They have been worried how churches would react to their relationship and therefore not attended. Isn't it awful that people would be worried about attending a church because of how they will be judged....when they heard about church.co.uk they decided to attend aware of our inclusive ethos. I think we sometimes underestimate how much it means to people when they are accepted for who they are. Harold in the two weeks he has attended 'head space' our evening service has become really encouraged by the idea of church. He likes the idea of a church community that is more concerned with supporting each other practically, rather than one that only teaches the bible. Our approach in head space is to reach out to all people and as a result we've developed a service that allows people time to reflect on their lives and how they can make more time for themselves and others.

I feel so encouraged that Harold, Madge and others have found a place where they can be comfortable with who they are....in society we are always conforming to demands but in church we should be able to come as we are and feel fine about that. This is called being 'inclusive' it's challenging because when people come as they are they smell, they swear, their drunk.....they cry. As a people are we willing to include people like this into our groups? Right now it's easier for me because it's my job to be inclusive. I hope that after the job is over i will continue to be inclusive and accepting of people. There has been discussion between me and my boss that after this year i will struggle to find another church. The struggle will exist because there are small number of churches in the country who are similar to Church.co.uk.....i hope this changes. If you want to read more about what inclusive church looks like then read "the intelligent church" by Steve Chalke. A great book which is truly inspiring for Christians and non-Christians alike.

caring for a number needing more care than i can give

It's sprummer (a word made up of spring and summer) in London. I've noticed a change in the people, their happier. I wonder whether London sits dormant during winter anticipating the burst of summer. In the space of a few weeks my attitude towards this place has changed. After work we go to Bishops park and play football with some of the young people. There is talk of barbecues and drinking cold beer in the garden.....The youth work I'm doing has taken on a different shape in that we can now make use of the outdoors. No longer are our resources subject to what we can do in a church sports hall. Now we can take groups of kids to the park to play softball and football. Throughout winter parks looked dull disused spaces but now the parks are coming to life with groups of people engaging in sporting activities.

At Kids Hub (kids club) yesterday we took the young people to the park for the first time this year. It was a great idea because in the space we could allow them freedom to enjoy themselves. In a building there are so many restrictions, especially for kids where electrical equipment, stairs, kitchens etc pose such a hazard. Most of the boys opted to play football at the park and so a game of 'no out of play' jumpers for goals football ensued. I takes me back to watch fifteen boys cluster around one ball all battling for possession (even if their on the same team). It also make me laugh to watch the game use up so much space. No matter where the girls played soft ball the boys would end up running onto their turf. With a lack of sidelines the game has a flowing freedom but also a frustrating disorganisation. Sadly, during the football an argument erupted between two of the boys and i stepped in to stop it. However, the result of my intervention was that one of the boys turned on me and began to tell me to get out of his face (this was coming from an 11year old).....I 'got out of his space' quickly and my team mate stepped in. It was a really negative experience for me because he explained to my team mate that he felt i was always on his back and he really didn't want to be around me. What also affected me was the way he was speaking. He sounded more like an adult in the sense that he was telling me to get away before he did something bad. I didn't feel worried for my safety but I'm not totally comfortable with conflict and didn't have the opportunity to put the situation right. I think he's a great kid but he does misbehave a lot and so as a leader i feel a responsibility to step in. Maybe it's been a good learning experience for me because being a leader means that you will be asked to deal with conflict. At the de-brief session afterwards me and my team discussed his behaviour and we discovered that his mum and dad had split up in recent weeks.....

We don't have the benefit of background information at Kids Hub, which means that we often treat kids as a group and not individual cases. I would not be lying if i said that most of the kids at our club exist in a mass of poverty, social exclusion and family breakdown. It is so difficult to find the balance between caring and disciplining problematic behaviour. All year I've been trying to adjust my approach to enable me to make the young people feel cared for and at the same time aware that there are behavioural rules they most follow. So difficult..... I remembered something the other day that i learned in University. We were taught to approach every young person with the mindset that they could be coming from any number of difficult situations. Again this is difficult and for the most part i think I'm consistent with this approach. However, there are times when forty kids is a number to great.....more volunteers would help!

rediscovery as a continued theme

So back in London after two weeks away I'm feeling fresh and energised....i spent the first of my weeks on holiday in Scotland and the second of my weeks working at Spring Harvest (t-in-the-park for Christians) in Skegness. Last week at Springy i began to long for London and my work...i longed for the kids, the families and my workmates. The festival is filled with inspiring christian speakers and i really enjoyed the input as a way of recharging my batteries. However, it also brought me back to a place i had been before. A place where i felt overloaded with input and not being able to transfer that into output. So now back in London i feel really keen to work on. I feel a sense of direction that i haven't felt for a while. It's almost as if i re-discovered why i want to work with people and why i chose to follow this path to fight social justice (i don't think i ever lost it but you know....rediscovered direction)

It was encouraging to work with young people at Springy who were really hungry to change the world. It reminded me of what it was like to be 18 and just realising for the first time that life outside of education was a wealth of opportunities to have a practical influence on the world....anyway I'm writing this during working hours and i don't consider it work so i should stop. I think I've RE-realised that it's important to have a focus in your work. I feel really passionate about a lot of things but i want to have a clarity throughout my social action....i like seeing people fulfil their potential and it disappoints me when people aren't aware of the opportunities available to them...

Sorry mate you cant come in this way.....oh yes i can i've got a press pass

Sunday night was the 'voice of slavery' gig in Kentish Town. Stop the Traffik (part of Oasis) were involved and i decided to go along to help. I've never arrived at a gig two hours early but it was brilliant..... The headline act for the night were Razorlight and i arrived just in time to see them soundcheck. After this i was employed in the task of setting up the Stop the Traffik stand and putting on a Stop the Traffik t-shirt....the latter being the most challenging (it's not always cool to wear skinny t-shirts and being at a gig i felt it essential to still look a little cool). As the punters began to arrive i handed out fliers and asked people to sign declaration cards. Stop the Traffik hopes to have 1million signatures by September to take to the EU and so having everyone at the gig sign up was essential.

The other part of my work that night was to sell key rings priced at £1. This i found really difficult because i didn't like bothering people when they were either chatting or watching a band. In fact i got some very angry looks at the beginning of the night from people obviously feeling they had spent enough on the £25 without being pushed into buying a keyring they might never use. However, this changed as people's attitudes softened and the beer flowed.....

After about two hours i was waiting at the stand as I watched one of my colleagues tip two hundred pounds worth of keyring sales onto the table.....i asked him his tactics (i felt seriously challenged by his sales) and he explained that he just asked everyone if they wanted a keyring! Inspired by his 'let's stop slavery approach' i started out afresh with my bag of key rings and headed for the VIP area. The VIP area was different to the punters area in that it was less crowded and far quieter. This created a good temperature for discussion and i felt confident that my communications skills would be best used in the VIP area. Indeed i was correct and i worked the room talking about Stop The Traffik, the abolishment of slavery and dress styles. I was very quickly selling most of my key rings and engaging people in the whole abolishing slavery thing (most people had come along to see razorlight, Finlay quay and supergrass). During one conversation and sign the declaration card session the girl i was standing with screamed "it's Finaly Quay" and pushed me over to him. I stuck out the signature form and he politely signed it. From this point on i was now the Stop The Traffik volunteer who had collected Finlay Quays autograph.....people all round had seen me meet Finlay and i was crowded by people desperate to sign the declaration form and also see if he had actually signed it.

I watched Razorlight from the VIP area play one of the best sets i've ever seen. I then rushed downstairs to stand at the door as people left in an attempt to promote Stop the Traffik one last time. Once everyone had left the building i stood outside with the people awaiting taxi's in the hope that i might sell a few more keys. Eventually i accepted that no more key rings would be sold and i returned inside to clear up. During the clear up process it was so exciting to be allowed backstage and to see razorlight standing a few yards away. It was such a great opportunity and one that i imagine i would only get in London. Being with Oasis has opened up a lot of doors for me and i will always remember that. However, i was very aware of one thing during the gig and that was how distant Christianity seemed from the whole event.....Steve Chalke bravely took to the stage after one of the bands to speak about Stop the Traffik and i felt for him as delivered a perfect message to the wrong audience (is that because Christians don't always exist within this audience?). His discussion would have been relevant in any church but not in a gig venue in front of hundreds awaiting to see popular bands play. I was just very aware at that time of the gap between the christian outreach and non-Christians. Sadly the christian world doesn't have a razorlight!!

Staying on in London with Oasis would present me with many fantastic opportunities. However, at the same time i know i would struggle to exist within a christian bubble. I hope this doesn't come across as a criticism because it's not. I love Oasis and in the future would love to work for them but for now i see no point in being a spiritual young man existing inside an already spiritual environment....i think that Jesus might agree.

so who are.....? i'm a church volunteer!

I'm doing this really exciting piece of family work at the moment which I'm really enjoying. I'm enjoying being involved in a crisis situation. That might sound strange enjoying somebody else's crisis but it's the buzz that i enjoy most about people work. I really like the communication between different workers and piecing together how we can improve this families situation. Obviously i can't go into much detail about the circumstances because of confidentiality but i can say that this family has been victim to gang crime and have decided to leave their council home. This has led to many issues for them, namely the threat of being classed as intentionally homeless. If this happens they would certainly struggle to find housing in the future.

Because of a gang related incident one of the children is now in hospital. I had arranged to meet the mother in the hospital to discuss the options available to her. The walk to the destination went well and i was very impressed with how quickly the green man appeared as i waited to cross roads. Inside the hospital i was also successful at navigating my way to the Children's ward. However, once there i found some obstacles. Two women were sat at the security desk and neither of them possessed welcoming smiles. As i approached the desk i felt neither confident or very able to describe why i was in fact there. As i explained who i wanted to see both women continued to give me a blank unimpressed look. After my introduction one of them asked if i had the patients date of birth and i said 'no'. This wasn't a piece of information I'd asked the mother for. Had the women asked, i could have told them the patients address or surname but without the date of birth it seemed i was going no where. I tried to pull out the trust me I'm a nice young man with a nice smile and nice accent card but again i was greeted with secure looking security staff faces. I was beginning to feel really worried because it looked more and more certain that i wouldn't be allowed in and therefore i would be breaking my commitment of meeting the mother (although i do it, i hate letting people down....especially blow up people). I decided as a last ditch attempt to convince the guards of my genuine position i would call the mother. However, her phone was engaged and i was quickly asked to leave and next time to arrive with the appropriate and essential information.

On leaving the hospital i considered my position. I mean, to the security staff i was just a community centre worker.....i had no position of authority or declared responsibility. This i felt was very frustrating because if i was approaching the same situation as a positioned social worker i probably wouldn't have the same problems. I would have an identification card, a smart bag and probably the confidence of being an established family support worker. Instead i was a twenty three year old male, dressed casually and looking very out of his depth (when i reality wasn't) because i didn't feel confident about my role. I love the Church i work for and it's ethos but the part of work I'm trying to establish (advocacy and support) is a tough challenge because currently i have no professional authority. Some might say that this kind of authority is irrelevant if you care but i don't think care alone is enough....in order to find out certain information you need to be someone who's title speaks for itself. I'm sure that people's perception of me changes once we've chatted but at first glance they must think how can this young church worker have any relevant involvement in a Caribbean family's life. I've had this discussion with people throughout my years of people work and still feel that once i have a few grey hairs I'll be more accepted in this people work environment. My role now is to show that despite my few years experience i care a whole lot about the welfare of people in this world and my feeling that this passion entitles me to be where i am. It may be that in years to come my passion is substituted for my experience....I hope not.

On my way home i received a call from the mother explaining that in fact she had not been in the hospital when we had arranged to meet!

Brixton is a great place.....in the morning!

I always get worried about my trek home to Brixton at night.....Throughout my whole time living there i have witnessed little of the horror stories that have embedded themselves into my head. Daily i am offered drugs and the Police presence often makes you think that something has happened. (just to clarify i have rejected all offers of drugs!). When we first arrived in Brixton there was a sign at the end of the street asking for evidence regards a fatal stabbing but since then i have not heard of anything. No matter how much time i exist in safety i will always be affected by the fairy tales that are attached to Brixton. Fairy tales of gang riots, muggings and shootings.....The reality is that the crime exists within gang circles and the muggings happen as often as in any other city. If your stupid enough to walk home through brixton at 3am then you may be mugged......Despite my safety I don't think i'll ever feel truly comfortable in Brixton!

However, in the Morning Brixton is just buzzing with activity.....i really like leaving the house to join the other ten thousand people heading into the centre of London. At the Bus Stop i await the number 59 and watch as a continuous line of people walks past me. It was only this morning that it really struck me how difficult it was to get from one side of the pavement to the other. My team-mate Steve was standing on the other side of the pavement and in order to get to him i had to time my move to perfection. In order to dodge the next person i had to be sharp, silky and a little cheeky. People were flying by at an incredible rate (faster than the average 5mph for a walking person) obviously focused on their journey to work. I noticed a gap in the line of people traffic and made a move......out of no where a pram appeared (yes, without a parental driver) and i was forced back into my position. Undefeated i steadied myself to make another move across the pavement and next time was more successful. So overcome with my achievement that i hugged Steve and he hugged me.....we had done it!

Although a little dramatic the above highlights one of my biggest frustrations about London. How i long for days where i can walk or cycle to work.....oh and if you get a chance to see the film 'freedom writers' do it. I took my Oliver twist esc mentee to see it today and it was great. Educational yet inspiring.

Frontline for 18 -25 year olds.....oh and the odd fifty year old

Please do not let this most recent post distract from the one I've just written below but I'd like to point out my latest media appearance. If you visit www.oasistrust.org you'll see that a 50yr old looking Andrew Nelson has made it onto the front page advertising Frontline UK.

It's certainly not my greatest picture that i agree........

Living for today.....

This whole Gap year thing is strange because there are such distinct stages. You start and it's difficult adjusting to a new environment but eventually you become settled. Then you begin to work hard and perform well but by the time you've got to here it's time to prepare yourself for moving on. This is how the year has felt to me. As time goes on i feel more and more comfortable in London but more and more anxious about my future.

On Sunday we were discussing the concept of living for today. Does anyone ever live for that day alone and nothing else? Dave (senior minister) used the example of people going on Holiday to aid our understanding. He explained how people always say "but, we're going on holiday in July" indicating that they're looking forward to going on holiday. This is fine but it suggests that the here and now is miserable. I feel as guilty of this as anyone. In fact i constantly think about the future because i like to feel in control of whats ahead. However, I'm very aware that this stops me from enjoying some days for what they are. It stops me from embracing every day spent in London so that i don't reflect on it years later and think about how i should have appreciated it more. The days when I'm content and enjoying life as it comes are rare because constantly I'm reminded of the future by other people. I realise that it's just part of life but how wonderful would it be if there was a wider acceptance in society of today and what that brings.

It was also discussed that people too often dwell on the past and how good things were. But in reality the past is only good because we block out all the negatives and only remember the positives. I know for a fact in five years i will only remember this year for diverse London, great people, great food, culturally engaged church and not the times i have struggled. In Social Work i was taught about Solution Focused Brief Therapy where people going through the therapy are encouraged to focus on the future. It is considered that the past although important is a reminder of how things were and exists as a negative influence. Whereas, the future is unwritten and people are asked to think of their issues only in a future sense. It is felt that this helps people to overcome their problems in a more positive way.

Dave used a really useful analogy to help us think about living in today. He talked about teaching his son to ride a bike and how frustrating it had been for months to see him make no progress. But suddenly on Saturday it had just clicked and he could now ride a bike without any assistance. One of things his son had struggled to realise whilst learning was that he had to keep pedalling. If he stopped pedalling he'd fall. If he looked back on the bike (checking to see if his dad was still holding on to him) whilst pedalling he also fell over. However, when he began to look forward and pedal hard he found that he could ride the bike. The future is only meaningful when we've enjoyed the journey to get there. If we don't pedal today then we'll always be living for the future and that holiday that's three months away. This is something I'm really gonna focus on in order to really squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of this year because because before i know it it'll be over!

TV Appearance

Yesterday i had the priveledge to make my first national tv apearance. The heaven and earth show is on BBC1 at 10am on Sunday. I'm an extra in an interview with Malcolm Duncan from Faithworks. Faithworks is part of Oasis and they were doing some filming in the centre. It just so happened that i was working in the coffee shop when the filming took place and they asked me to sit in the background....

Please check it out

No picture of inky face but one of my weekend in Suffolk....

See if you can guess which one i am....here's a clue i'm wearing green!

If i wanted to document my day i'd show you my diary....

Just wanted to quickly reply to a comment left on my last post. I've not had any Blog abuse yet but i feel that this comment verged on abusive.

I would like to think that no friend of mine would ever use the word 'retard' especially when describing someone. I find even using this word within my Blog offensive and would like to point out that if this word is so readily used within someones vocabulary then they are a danger to the peace that we crave within society.

The comment also pointed out that i "did nothing today" when i actually got ink on my face and observed London in the sun. If this Blog was just about work then i don't think it would do my year in London justice. Much of my experiences happen outside of a working environment and it is these i care to write about. Also, I promised right back at the start of this Blog that i would include stories about 'the embarrassing things that happened to Andrew'. These incidents happen rarely and so i tend to document them when they do.

I would encourage 'anonymous' to read this Blog with an open mind and hopefully think more carefully before posting a comment with such abusive intent. Or i would ask that 'anonymous' be a little braver with their comments and at least give themselves a name so that i can respond. I would gratefully appreciate peoples comments in response to what 'anonymous said'. Thank you Suzie for already doing this.

carrier bags and sunny days

Aw man the weather was so good here today.....

Because the weather was so good i decided to walk into Oxford Circus on my lunch break to visit the borders book store there. I got completely lost on the way but thankfully ended up in Oxford Circus without really thinking i was going the right way. Once in the book store i purchased the magazine i was looking for and made for the exit. Outside the store i was again welcomed by the warm sunshine and i decided to walk back to work instead of taking the tube (the buses were all held up by protests today. Something about spending 70billion on our nuclear submarines...).

Again i managed to get lost on the way home but thankfully ended up at millennium bridge and i enjoyed the walk home along south bank. In the sun London really comes to life and your greeted with such a diverse group of people all enjoying themselves. On one park i saw homeless people enjoying the sun alongside people who were not homeless (i rather liked this). It was nice to arrive back to work and find people sitting on the steps outside and i had a great conversation with a disabled guy I've got to know really well....I walked back in the coffee shop entrance to find Oasis officials chatting about the future and felt good when they took time to say hello to me.....i felt a spring in my step as i walked through the coffee shop back to my office, smiling at all the customers.

Once back in the office Sam my team mate asked me if I'd been using ink. I asserted that i hadn't and then he asked why i had black ink all over the side of my face. I looked at my hands and found that all the print from the 'borders' bag had come off in my hand so when i touched my face it had transferred......not the best look i feel!

Creating a culture of over protection

Again i approach another Blog entry with the guilt that it has been some time since i last wrote about something. I think i used the 'I've been busy card' to early in this whole Blog thing because busy back then doesn't compare to busy now. I'm now cooking on Gas whereas in the past i was cooking with a solar powered torch. I really like writing on this Blog but it's very difficult at the end of a long day to write something. I guess one of the benefits of a Blog is the self discipline. Anyway on with the blogging......

We had a team meeting at the beginning of the week and we were discussing our approach to work. As a volunteer its hard to be as disciplined about work as you might be in paid position. Perhaps this isn't the normal experience of voluntary work but i think for me the pay acts as a reward and within voluntary work you have to find other rewards for your work. I tend to feel pretty guilty if i don't work hard and this has been the driving force behind my work. However, at times i have still felt the temptation to take a morning off with the pushing factor being that I'm not getting paid for my time.

Our manager expressed that his biggest worry for us as Gap year workers was that we would develop a false reality of work and therefore has pushed us to consider our voluntary years the same as a paid years work. Our managers other concern was that we were creating too protective environment for ourselves. Throughout the year we've spent time with our mentors who encourage us not to work to hard and to watch our stress levels. Whereas perhaps a Gap year should be a time when you should work harder than you sometimes feel capable of. To do this allows you to test your limits and to also really test your capabilities as a future employee.

In a world where depression and stress affect so many people, the generation above us are desperate to protect us. Having trained as a social worker I'm well aware of the dangers such as 'burn out' and 'depression'. However, i wonder whether the current problems are creating a generation of workers who are over protective of themselves and never really push themselves without a bout of tiredness affecting their determination to work hard. Is it possible to get burnt out in a gap year....in the past i would have always said yes and now I'm not sure but i think i have to be very careful about the balance of work and fun in my life.

Stray shots and direct punches

I can quite confidently declare that my youth and children work skills are improving while I'm here....it may not appear that way as i stand shouting at a group of thirty kids who don't appear to be listening to me. This has happened on many occasions. I have also been victim to shouting louder than i've ever shouted in an attempt to try and regain some control of a room full of kids. Whenever this happens i think to myself 'that's what I'll be like when I'm a dad'. Its the fact that my skills are being challenged that tells me I'm improving.

For example, tonight at football i tried in vain to remain positive and encouraging throughout the session. However, as soon as we stepped into the sports hall i failed - J decides not to work on his passing and instead decides to shoot at the wall, eventually hitting F in the face with a volatile left footed volley....seeing only the injured child and the culprit i instantly roar at J to sit out for two minutes so i can speak to him once i've dealt with the injury. Meanwhile T has gone in the huff because he can't do the passing exercise and C has run out of the building because S punched him....That's a normal night.

Under those kind of conditions and my people skills stretched to their max i can only be getting better at crisis intervention....or maybe my physical health is taking some severe punishment.

Blog Back

Apologies for my obvious lazy attitude towards my Blog (work has been very busy and the Blog as well as my health has suffered!)....I have to go and do under 14's football now! Ever a joyful struggle. However, i'll write something after the football is over.

Stop the Traffik...

Please do support the cause 'stop the traffik'....it's part of Oasis and based in our building. Basically the aim of the group is to stop human traffficing around the world. Their current campaign is based upon the chocolate industry where they are encouraging people to eat fair trade chocolate only....there is some really interesting stuff on their website:http://www.stopthetraffik.org/. Please check it out.

I'm writing about Stop the Traffik because i think it's a great cause. However, it also brought about an exciting end to my day. Dave Parr (currently doing a voluntary gap year as Steve Chalkes driver) asked me at around four o'clock whether i wanted to help him attach a Stop the Traffik banner to the front of the church....i happily agreed. As Dave later said "you always feel like you've done a good days work when you've been up a ladder". So up a ladder i climbed, banner in hand... Now it might not sound so exciting but it really was. The Church is right in the centre of Lambeth so we were drawing a lot of attention from the commuters walking by. One guy even came up the steps to ask us what Stop the Traffik was....that was before we had even put the banner up! Now the banner is up and i am pleased with our work. Sometimes i get frustrated that the community we serve doesn't know how much we have on offer here. I would love to be able to find a way to tell all people but i realise that these days it's harder and harder to reach some groups within society....especially in London with such diverse language and culture barriers.

I'm now into my sixth month in London and i feel like time is slipping away.....we've achieved so much as a working community centre but i feel like there is so much still to do. We now have the coffee shop pulling in good numbers of customers, the kids clubs are establishing themselves as popular events within the community (one kid has refused to go to his drama lessons because he wants to come to our club)....At the school where i work half a day a week Oasis Mentoring is 'well' cool....within the year group we work with all the kids want to be mentored by Oasis! The Football Training is looking like producing a successful football team which will be entered into a local league come next season. My main project 'the advocacy service' is growing wings and it looks as if it will be fully in place by the time i finish to be carried on by the Church congregation and volunteers.

Then sometimes i fear what will happen when me and the other volunteers leave and the team will go from 12 to 4....then i remember that the great thing about this Church is that it's part of a bigger agenda. One that i'm in no way control of and one that i will never fully grasp....

Imax.....

Today's been very cool.....

We had our first Kids Club trip and we visited the i-max cinema to watch 'Lions of the Kalahari'. What a brilliant event it turned out to be after i had lost my glasses, cleaned up sick and facilitated a mental game of 'duck duck goose'. I remember when i was at primary school and we had school trips. Teachers were so organised they had everything under control. We on the other hand were a group of eight young people with the kids of twenty parents learning how to do an outing for the first time.....

When H told me he needed to go to the toilet i could tell by the colour of his face that it wasn't because he needed a pee. Scared that he would be sick all over the pizza i rushed him to the nearest toilet where he did the inevitable. I hadn't been expecting that! His mum works across the road so we went to get her. She arrived and told us he was fine and so we carried on with the day. As soon as his mum left I saw him go to the toilet. When he returned i asked him if he had been sick again? He informed me he hadn't! I wasn't so sure and so i went to the toilet because i knew he wouldn't have flushed it away....in the toilet i found the inevitable and returned to tell H that he would need to go home. It was a real shame because he didn't want to leave. I knew to check the toilet because once when were at a football centre he needed a pee and so i showed him where the toilets were. I also needed so i went after he had gone and found that he had actually peed in a shower! I decided to use the toilet....

When we arrived at the imax i needed to go to the toilet (a theme appearing here) and so i asked S aged five to hold my glasses (i dont know why i couldn't just have taken my glasses to the toilet!!). When i returned the glasses had gone and S didn't have a clue where they were! Just as i started looking the film started and i had to wait until the end before i could find them. I did find them..... crushed up against the chairs in front!

As for Duck Duck Goose, well its always mental no matter who's playing....there's always one kid who slips whilst trying to run round the circle at full speed! I think today i learned that despite difficulties these kids have cemented themselves in my heart. The longer i work with them the more i see their potential. For weeks we've been working on passing at football training and the kids just weren't getting it! But last night i watched as three of the boys passed the ball from one end of the pitch to the other and then scored....the feeling inside was amazing, like i had just overcome the greatest of challenges. As i tied my shoes this morning i started thinking how great it was that we were working with kids of age 7+ because as long as their living in this community we'll be involved in supporting and encouraging them.....Even just walking home from the imax today was brilliant....being out of the centre you see the kids in a different light.

I thought i'd add some pictures of me working.... in case it was in question i actually did work.

Does God love chickens?.....probably

I report sadly that Andrew's hair was cut at 12pm today....i'm sure each of you reading this Blog will have at some time taken a constructive look at his mop! I can report that Andrew is happy with the cut but sad to have now lost what can regarded as a useful homeless outreach tool....Many people made commented how Andrew's hair looked like that of a rough sleeper.

The image below is a wonderful one.....i encourage you to follow your dreams. I led the evening service on Sunday night and i used this image. I felt pleased that everyone could open mindedly see the beauty of this cartoon. It's by edward monkton who is quickly becoming my hero alongside jesus, my dad and the tellytubbies (what they did for this world is a constant inspiration).

Woke up this morning and found it had snowed....that was a nice surprise. Managed to squeeze in an early morning snowball fight before it all melted. It's not just the people that move fast in London it's also the weather. It rains quickly, the snow melts quickly.....so now there is no snow left!

Carrying on this theme of good deeds i wanted to write about a couple of things I've seen in the last week. On Friday i went out with my team to celebrate my Birthday (I'm now 23) and we had a great time. It's the first time since we arrived in London that we've all gone out together and we really benefited from it. Things were getting a little tense at work mainly because we were spending too much time working together and not enough time socialising. But after Friday night we all felt great having witnessed each other's company in an environment outside work....Anyway, we were standing at the bus stop awaiting our bus home when we were approached by this guy. He asked us if we had change of a fiver so he could buy his bus ticket. Each of us raked in our pockets but were unable to find five pounds worth of coins. We apologised and turned to walk away. Then in a moment of inspiration i said "we could just give you the one fifty to buy your ticket!" and each of my team agreed. At first the guy hesitated but took our money gratefully and bought his ticket. It was so wonderful to see his face once the ticket was bought. It was like he had just realised what had happened and was like wow! He asked us how he could repay us and we refused recognising it as a kind deed that would cheer him up. We found out his name and chatted until our buses arrived.

Then last night i was travelling back to Brixton on the Bus and i noticed that the girl sat behind me was crying......Here goes i thought searching for a sweet in my bag ready to cheer her up but then i noticed she was on the phone, talking the issue through with someone. But i was ready, i had rhubarb and custard sweets in my bag. There is a definite routine in London of get up go to work come home and sleep. People are in that zone and i think very unable to deal with things that don't fit in with their routine. On Wednesday i was walking from my house to the bus and suddenly a guy behind me just yelled.....I got such a fright. I turned round and saw a man with his face was all smashed up and cut. What surprised me was not his appearance or actions but instead the reaction of people around him. No one seemed at all concerned or bothered. They were just walking focused and efficiently....they were in their zone.