funky doo

Could this be your Church/Vicar??

BBC Songs of Praise have joined forces with Children in Need for a special programme to be presented by Sir Terry Wogan on Sunday 17 October 2010. A 'Vicar Challenge' is to be launched, in which vicars and ministers across the country are encouraged to raise money for Children in Need by participating in weird and wonderful fundraising events. The organisers are looking for good ideas from early adopters that can be featured on the programme. A leaflet with further information is below.

HT Church Times Blog

The Fairy Jobmother

 

 I spent some time this afternoon watching The Fairy Jobmother which was on Channel 4 the other night. 

Having worked for 3 years with a charity supporting homeless women into independent living (Aquila Way) and also being a trained FE Teacher in Basic Skills of Literacy and Numeracy, so many of the issues that were raised resonated with my experiences and the experiences of the residents and students I worked with:

• Cyclical unemployment, benefits and poverty culture.
• Sense that the benefits system is fleecing them but not being able to get out of it.
• Debt and need, need serviced by credit which is immediate and debt which is long term and crippling.
• Poor financial literacy in terms of understanding 'value' for money - which affects them in their choices in everyday life. 
• Fear of a change in lifestyle, of embarrassment at success, fear at being unable to provide.
• Lack of 'achievement' at various stages in life and for various reasons - but with a long term impact on motivation and sense of purpose in undertaking further training and employment.
• Determination to do it alone and yet desperate for people to support them, understand them and listen to their situation. That sense of isolation perpetuates the sense of distance and usually impacts on how much help and support is sought and received.

Alongside all of that is the lifeskills element - Maxine and Dean featured in this programme had got together young and fell pregnant. They don't see many people other than each other. They find it difficult to deal with conflict amongst themselves let alone with other people - benefits officials, loan sharks, the employment adviser featured in the programme. They saw employment as a negative because they only saw it in terms of what they would lose in benefits rather than what they could gain long term.

They didn't know how to cook from scratch and so spent lots of money on cheap processed foods which sapped a lot of their income and continued to make them feel bad for not feeding their daughter enough and particularly affecting Maxine's sense of self esteem because of her weight.

I was fascinated by Hayley Taylor and her approach to Maxine and Dean, building confidence and belief in themselves and helping them see their potential. She exhibited many of the skills and characteristics you'd find in youth, schools, community workers in various settings but with a very focused purpose and with a gritty compassion which was endearing and got the job done. She earnt and commanded respect but was not allowing them to push her over. I liked her. She herself wasn't embarrassed about what she was offering - the prospect of a better life. 

She had simple methods and simple messages - simple actions like working through their budget and having a bit of a reality check with it; working with them 1:1 and sharing new experiences and making headway on their behalf and then encouraging them to keep the momentum going; helping them realise how much cash they brought in by laying it out visually on the table. 

Hayley had a way of tackling 2 or 3 issues at one time - small goals achieved but done in a short space of time. 

The interview skills section was particularly touching but so positive - "How can you teach interview skills to someone who has got them perfect?" was her comment to Maxine and the smile on that girls face...a picture.

I think there are many lessons to be learnt here for youthworkers and those of us engaged with the marginalised of any age. Hayley was hard, focused, positive all the time but didn't let Maxine and Dean make excuses. She mentored, coached, managed and supervised and above all believed in her methods and her own ability and wanted to pass on those skills.

There is much to be taken on board from this series and Hayley's example and I look forward to the rest of the series.

LCGC and Street Pastors in one episode!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ry9v4/The_One_Show_05_04_2010/ click here for brilliant performances from LCGC throughout as well as a profile on Street Pastors in Derby (my husband is one in Chelmsford) from about 37 minutes.

Great profiling of Christians doing their stuff out there in the world...

 

Requiem for Detroit...

   
 
During the week, I've been invited to 'join' a group for this programme on Facebook and also came across an article in the Guardian today about it here.

The programme looks at the history of boom and bust and decline in what was once America's 3rd city, now a place where 30% are unemployed and where the reliance on one industry - the manufacturing of cars - has now left the city with trees growing out of abandoned skyscrapers and shells of burnt out houses and cars littering the streets.

It looks like a fascinating and yet distressing programme - on BBC2 at 9pm this Saturday 13th March - and as I read the article, my love for America and it's complicated urban identity and the almost apartheid like community that the Big Three car manufacturers created here, resurged. It has echoes of New Orleans and Hurrican Katrina already - and as the article points out, I wonder whether this would have been 'allowed' to happen had the city been populated by majority whites?

From a youthwork point of view, a fascinating quote comes in the penultimate paragraph of Julien Temple's article:

"Unable to buy fresh food for their children, people are now growing their own, turning the demolished neighbourhood blocks into urban farms and kick-starting what is now the fastest growing movement across the US.

Although the city is still haemorraghing population, young people from all over the country are flocking to Detroit - artists, musicians and social pioneers, all keen to make use of the abandoned urban spaces and create new ways of living together."

I wonder whether, included in the writer's understanding of 'social pioneers' - the church could find a place...what a mission opportunity, what possibilities lie in this post-American city for real urban engagement with those in need....at every level. Surely the church is the epitome of the phrase 'new ways of living together'...if we only just get on the front foot for once...?

I'll be watching on Saturday night - or maybe on Sunday when it's Mothering Sunday and I might get some time to myself?! Check back for my review and comments and join in the conversation.

http://www.filmsofrecord.com/content.php?id=138 see further film summary here.

TV dinners and work reflections...

My TV watching has been enhanced recently by the return of some old favourites and some new regulars.

Jo Frost returned with a new show, moving on from the SuperNanny format. Her Extreme Parental Guidance, is a really interesting hour of telly which as a youthworker I think offers some fascinating insights and tools into supporting and encouraging young people and parents.

From a slightly different parenting point of view, the series One Born Every Minute on Channel 4 on Tuesdays has been both laugh out loud and scarily poignant. This weeks' episode included Darren - a management graduate who boasted that he liked to employ his learning from the course in his family life, with the Scouts and threatened to use his skills with the midwives too...needless to say he didn't quite manage the calm, reflective, careful management of his wife while she was in labour that he'd planned. Well worth watching, even if just for that!

Alongside those, I'm enjoying The Good Wife, Brothers and Sisters, Glee (though it's getting slower paced as the series goes on) and Seven Ages of Britain...and having had a week off sick this week, getting the Freeview+ box all to myself has been lovely!

Robert Beckford on Barack Obama

Dr. Robert Beckford presented an excellent programme on BBC 2 this evening - God Bless you Barack Obama?

You can view it again here on iPlayer.

Beckford is someone who always stimulates thought, discussion, debate and much agreement in the Smith household. We have deeply appreciated many of his previous documentaries, particularly the recent Christianity: A History episodes and the Nativity Decoded last Christmas.

This documentary was clever and merged once again his own perspectives with some really interesting guests with varied opinions. To include the interviews with both Jeremiah Wright of Obama's previous church and the current (deluded and unable to answer a question straight) president of the Southern Baptist Convention was brilliantly contrasted and made his point about Obama socio-political and also liberal evanglical standpoint very well. Add into the mix the brilliant Jim Wallis and this is another excellent example of Beckford's accessible, contextual and relevant theological relationship with the media.

 It was a great programme charting the journey of Obama's faith and particularly looking at his social action and outreach initiatives in Chicago in his early political career. It was a fascinating insight into his application of what he knew in the civil rights movement, what he saw in the community's poverty and what he believed about his faith and what God had to say in it all.

Robert Beckford is also very cool - this evening's documentary sees him sporting a nose ring, shaved head and a very sleek brown coat with upturned collar. A contrast to his looks at greenbelt this year (or so Andy reports!) when he saw him in huge red hoody and dredlocks! Cool whichever look you prefer!

If you'd like to know more about Robert Beckford, check out this profile from the Guardian Higher Education supplement

The History of Now...

Will attempt to do a proper post tomorrow (weather dependent as the snow has wrecked most plans this week..) but just wanted to comment on a great TV programme we watched this week - and there is one episode to go if you want to catch up!

The History of Now - the Story of the Noughties charts the last decade and it's impact on our culture, social mobility and general attitude and characteristics as a nation.

This is the official blurb: The first of three films exploring what it was like to live through the last decade, and the surprising, often hidden connections which are shaping the 21st century.
During the Noughties, an ageing Britain became obsessed with recapturing its youth. The result: trends and fads such as kidults, micro scooters and 'middle youth'. But at the same time, the generation gap emerged as the most significant split in society. While older people pursued a more youthful image, real young people were demonised as 'hoodies'.

Reflecting on the decade we spent 'growing young' are a host of leading commentators and experts including Andrew Marr, Tanya Byron and Will Self. Along the way we discover how rave culture led to binge-drinking, learn about Britain's 'baby gap', and find out why downloads saved the Millennium Dome.

It was really fascinating and I'd recommend watching the first 2 episodes on iPlayer and watching the 3rd episode.

thoughts on Question Time

It's been interesting to read the responses to the Question Time controversy over the last week. I didn't watch it live as I was delivering Child Protection training in Havering Deanery on Thursday night. However, on the drive home there was some live commentary on 5Live particularly picking up on the issue of Mr Griffin's Holocaust denial. 

Some of the most helpful reviews and commentaries on the show itself have been for me:

http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2009/10/bbc-commissions-nick-griffin-show.html

http://benedson.blogs.com/benedson/2009/10/nick-griffin---texts-of-terror---immigration.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/23/nick-griffin-question-time-audience

http://maggidawn.typepad.com/maggidawn/2009/10/nick-griffin-bnp-and-question-time.html (this post is particularly good for the comments discussion that follows)

My brother in law also summarised the feelings of many I know in his facebook status - asking how it is that Nick Griffin can call himself a Christian? Obviously many heinous crimes have been committed in the name of religion over the decades and centuries and continue to happen. However, for a man who states that Britain should only be for the indigenous British, it seems rather incongrous that he should say he religiously follows a dark skinned, apolitical, Jewish Arab criminal, whose followers, from non-white backgrounds brought the Christian faith to these shores.

Ultimately tho, it is not the usual audience of Question Time, nor the enhanced audience of Thursday night who are Mr Griffin and his cronies 'targets'. My guess - most of those who subscribe to the policies of BNP were not watching Question Time on Thursday, don't care what he said or did. Hopefully, if nothing else it will have shown Mr Griffin for the spineless and inconsistent bully and bigot that he is.

big bedroom project...

As today is Thursday I was scheduled to be at home with M, working around her...However, I got home last night in mighty amounts of pain (which started on my journey home from Southend) and have since then been on strong painkillers. A resurgence of my previous endo issue which is not a surprise but did make today a little hectic. We arranged for M to go to her childminder for an extra day as I wasn't really able to look after myself or her since I was pretty doped, but I did have to be with it and awake between 12 and 4pm for the arrival of an IKEA van!

I was impressed with the service - we initially had a whole day delivry window, which got defined yesterday by text message so we knew it would be between 12 and 4. An hour before they arrived, we got a further phone call to say they'd be an hour so you had a bit of warning and the whole day wasn't wasted. So we have a new sitting room arm chair and all the stuff for our 'big bedroom project' resting for the time being in the garage. May is the month to rip out the current old fashioned fitted wardrobes, strip the flowery border and repaint, recarpet and then build new sliding door wardrobes and generally make it into a proper boudoir bedroom rather than just a dumping ground for clothes and a space to sleep for the minimum time possible!

When we moved in here, 3 years ago in June, we had a short period of time in which to get rid of the chintz, dust, horrible light fittings and brown kitchen. We did all we could before Matilda arrived and what we did was pretty impressive considering I was between 5 and 8 months pregnant during all the painting, stripping, building, installing etc. Our bedroom was the only room we didn't tackle, perhaps because we haven't had as much sleep as we've been used to since M's arrival! But the time has come...so May will be a working month, evenings, weekends and 3 weeks worth of work and roping in friends...shouldn't be too bad! The biggest delay has been the fact that we function as a B&B for many weekends of the year, hosting friends and family and since we'll have to move in to the spare room while work is happening, we had to wait til the diary is clear. Just so you know, if you're thinking of visiting in that time, we're closed!!

So that little bit of excitement wore me out and I went to bed for the afternoon, waking up very hungry but with little inclination to cook as I was still dopey with drugs. We had a take out curry which was nice and minimal effort and I feel a lift in my body and spirit. We've been watching Rachel Allen:Bake as comfort Telly and I have also been online and joined BookArmy to submit my book choices and gain recommendations for future reading, to try and widen my scope. It's a good site and you can share with friends so I will soon!

Have a good weekend whatever you're up to...

criminal justice

As I sit here tonight writing this post, I am a jumble of emotions. I have just finished watching the last episode of BBC1's 5 night series Criminal Justice that has been running all this week. The Independant and the Guardian have published mixed reviews on it, mainly around the accuracy of the behaviour of the legal team around the accused, Ben.

That I don't know about, but what I can vouch for is the damning, damaging and harrowing effect prison has on young lives. This week has caused me to think again, for the first time in a while about my time working at Aquila Way and of some of the young women who lived at Naomi Project with us. I remember going to interview one young woman, we'll call her Jo, who had been in a Young Offenders Institution for 2 years for possession of class A drugs and intent to supply. She had previously lived at Naomi Project in a different property and had asked to be referred to us again.

While in prison, she had gone cold turkey from heroin and had managed, gradually to rebuild her health and deal with her addiction through a variety of means offered in the prison. She came across as a quiet, sincere and broken young woman who wanted to give herself the best start possible. We offered her a place and upon her release we picked her up from the prison and brought her back directly to the house. We knew that if we left her to make her own way to us, previous dealers or others would get to her first.

Within 6 hours she had been out, spent her release money - apparently on clothes, fags and some food but we later found out she had purchased a mobile phone from an old 'friend' she had met in Gateshead town centre. The number she was now using had quickly been distributed to her old 'friendship' group who were quickly in touch, encouraging her to come and meet them and hang out. Within 48 hours, she had returned to the project, high on something and frantically packing her bags as she had been offered a bed in the house of her friend's boyfriend's mums' place or some similar story.

Jo was not a typical story within the project, we only had 4 women come to us directly from prison in the time I was there. BUt she was desperate not to be alone. She had specifically requested to have a shared room and was very jumpy when the house was quiet. The group of friends she connected with so quickly had a hold on her because of the environment she had experienced whilst in prison. Isolation, not knowing who to trust, feeling dependant on others all led to extreme responses to the outside world and a quick descent into heroin use again.

I don't know where she is now, but I do know that the system failed Jo. We were not allowed to protect her from those influences, we couldn't keep her captive inside the house and yet nothing had been done to prevent her descent back into her old life. Rehabilitation within the prison was a small fraction of the work done for her or with her and from other 'ex-cons' I know how corrupt and gang cultured the prison staff and prisoners alike can be. Fear rules and a safe place is something unheard of and therefore to be feared in itself.

Resurrected in me tonight is a desire to prevent young people ending up in these institutions because they are ruined when they come out...that is not a reflection on those who work with them inside, but it is a reflection of the lack of provision on the outside. The church is afraid of  this sort of work - the church generally I mean. Fearful young people and a fearful church are not a good combination. But mission is right at the core of this stuff, dealing with the needs and life of people we meet. Jesus said preach the good news and heal the sick...what is our sickness today? If the current pattern in London of teenage murders and violence continues, how are we to respond? We cannot put this down as a random series of isolated incidents.

Frontier Youth Trust and Worth Unlimited sent out a flyer today in response to their consultations on The Future of Youth Work. Without responding to these issues, there is no future to youth work. Young people are killing each other, ending up in prison and coming out as damaged, broken and shamed adults. If we do not respond to this in a practical, heartfelt way, we should not call ourselves the church, let alone Christians. What would Jesus do?

A flyer came through the door tonight- a summary of recent decisions made by the Neighbourhood Action Panel about community policing. There's a meeting on Wednesday night to agree the next set of priotities. I'm going to go and I'm continuing to pray about and work on relationships with the staff at Pavilion Cafe - I do think that place has potential for outreach and contact, a safe place. Who knows where that fits into the 'priorities'...but perhaps I can ask the questions.

Thank you, producer, director, actors etc, for a gripping, well acted and affective piece on TV. There has not been anything like it on TV for some time.