ENDNOTES
Open for business
It was Thursday the 17th May. A movable calendar over the blackboard lied: "It is Tuesday the 15th May". I envied someone who could be only two days behind in keeping the gadgetry in her office up to date. There are parts of my office where I haven't even got the year right. I always relied on the excuse that I was a child care worker I mean, everyone understands a busy schedule getting in the way of efficiency and tidiness. Yet this was also a child care worker's office.
The calendar may have been a little tardy, but nothing else in here lied. There were no token gestures (like those regulation teddy bears marshalled on the children's beds in some places). No relics or keepsakes which implied that this was somebody else's room or yesterday's room. No clever posters to say what the room was; the room simply was. Stiff with things, things to look at, things to do, things to engross, things to enchant, things to challenge and bemuse.
The room was waiting
There were living things plants in pots, fish in bowls. A
guitar, drum and tambourine coaxed from their corner shelf. A forever of
pencils, paints, paper and crayons enticed from the table which was set
for play. A zillion books posed on the shelves, some to entertain, some
to help, some to answer doubts and fears. There was a doll-house with
rooms ready populated and furnished; there were creative things to make
what you will; there were clever things like weights and scales and
science sets.
There were nooks and crannies where one could hide; some flat open floor space for movement and games; a desk and chairs for serious stuff. It seemed organised down to the last square inch yet was joyously chaotic.
The message: This is a child care worker's
room come in. Open for business.
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Always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground and step off
alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of
curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient
fear of the unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you
are going into. What you are doing is exploring. You are undertaking the
first experience, not of the place, but of yourself in that place. It is
an experience of essential loneliness, for nobody can discover the world
for anyone else. It is only after we have discovered it for ourselves
that it becomes a common ground and a common bond, and we cease to be
alone.
Wendell Berry
The One Inch Journey
__________________________
It will be a great day
when children's programs
get all the money they need
and the air force
has to hold a cake sale
when they want to buy a bomber.
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|
A Letter
I would just like to take the time to thank you again for all the work that you and everyone involved puts into this wonderful site that connects Child and Youth Care workers from around the world. It is truly a wonderful and priceless contribution to the field. As a student, I realize that I have so very much to learn, but having so much information available to me makes my learning, quite frankly, possible. Currently, I am printing out about 50 pages of journal articles to read tonight, and I am just so excited about it. As a former street kid, I would like to add that I am completely realistic about my chances of success. I have read the statistics and they are not great. And there are times I wonder where all of you were about 15 years ago. But to be honest, I am overjoyed that so much progress is being made that it only makes me believe more that no child needs to fall between the cracks. I am motivated and extremely optimistic and hopeful of the future. As a future Child and Youth Care Worker, I am making a pledge to the profession right now, that I intend to give you all I got. I am going to work my hardest to ensure the profession progresses positively, I will work with governments to ensure our children our protected, I will share and I will listen, not just to my colleagues but also with the children and youth. As long as I live, I guarantee you that, every child has someone who cares, even if they think no one does. That is my promise. |
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The Child Care Workers
Jenny Kander from The Compassionate Friends
(Author of So will I comfort you -- Support for Bereaved Parents,
their Families, Friends and Counsellors)
Why can I not find the words
To say how moved
how deeply stirred I am
By the quality-love
of the child-care workers ...
Marvellously nurturant, tough?
I need to offer tribute, say
"I love you for your courage:
The beauty of your giving
Moves me to tears".
Struggle-weary child-care women
Face the missing, discarded grief
Of the blunted youngsters,
The raw wounds of the rest
And ask,
"Is it worth the pain
When we feel we do not
Make a difference?"
And yet they carry on
Giving of themselves and of their skills.
This is why I cannot find the
words
To say how moved
How deeply stirred I am.
How possibly can tribute paid
Be adequate
When the compassion that I see
Reveals the face of God?
Dedicated to Aderyn Exley
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