An Interesting afternoon at the Mission!

Today was quite a special day for me.  It was the first day I volunteered to work in the local town's Christian Mission.  Not something for the faint hearted I must say!

Today also marked the 10th anniversary of my old dad's passing and the throwing of his mortal coil...  So it's probably going to be a date that will stick with me for a while!

The volunteer-ship at the Huddersfield Christian  Mission had been undertaken to help a 3rd year (mature) student who also volunteers with the group.  In it, he provides simple art classes to the less fortunate in our society, many who are afflicted with mental health issues, alcohol dependency, drug use, homelessness, and in some cases, all of these at once!  So I kind of knew who the likely client base might include in a round about way.

I should point out that I'm not a cymbal bashing religious sort.  In some ways (even though on official documents I'm a Church of England 'ticker', - more for convenience and sort of conformism), I would describe myself as being without any one single religion, as there are parts of many religions that I agree (and try to conform to), and at the same time, disagree with other points.  Ultimately, I suppose I live within my own moral code, never to cheat, never to steal, never to knowingly insult or upset anyone, and as much as is safe to do so, to help those in need where I can, but without detriment or danger to myself or others.  I'm a keen smile maker.  I get a lot from seeing other people smile!.... So, that's me.  If there's a formal name for a religion for me to fit into, then I'm happy to conform, but I suspect there are many.

So, back to earth.  The reason why I decided to help my 3rd year pal was to help those less fortunate than myself, by giving some time to them.  They've probably had it pretty hard for much of their lives, but they still deserve respect.  Why not? Even if they've fallen on hard times more recently as adults, there is still some spirit within that could do with a bit of attention, - and respect.  

My first afternoon was certainly a baptism in deep water.. (no pun intended, ... - ok, - well only a little bit then).  My chum, the 3rd year student who agreed to take me under his wing for a while at the mission, was ill, so couldn't attend afterall!    So I really did have to jump in at the deep end to some degree.   I swallowed my anxieties and just got stuck in to encouragement and praise for whatever the various group members were doing. This was also made a lot easier however, thanks to one of the Mission's leaders, who knew most of the visitors well and was generally on first name terms to most of them.  He was ably assisted together I'm glad to say, with two other student helpers, - both, incidentally from the nearby University, but nursing / psychology students... who probably knew a far lot more than me in how to engage with the members of the group and no doubt better equipt to communicate with their special needs than I.

  Nevertheless, my very nervous and unsure start soon dissipated.  I got down to just chatting and encouraging the folks and a little bit of guidance, or doing a quick drawing for them perhaps (today, they were "doing Sharks" as a promotional activity to help a campaign to "Say No to Loan Sharks!"  The task had already been set by my friend the previous week, so folk were just getting on with some more of the same).

An example of one of the attempts, from a lady who was clearly pleased with her work, is proudly show here;

The intention is to get a number of these drawings from the visitors and chose one to be printed  (probably by screen print or transfer) on to ceramic mugs for the mission, to promote both the "Say no to loan Sharks" campaign, and to help promote the Christian Mission itself.

Generally the session seemed to go well, and the two hours soon passed to finish on a reasonably high note for me, in that I felt I had contributed, even just a little bit.

I will try to work out what I can do to help further in my next week's session, and then after a short break, I can return too provide further exercises.  My initial thoughts is to help them individually get a sense of achievement, however small, to give just a little pride to lead to the road towards more confidence and better self-esteem.  Not an easy or quick task by any means, but gentle guidance I hope I have in abundance to share...