Ubunye - 25/03/12

Ubunye, as mentioned in a previous post, was the name of an event Coco, my counterpart, and I were put in charge of running. We chose the name when Coco suggested words to put into an English-Zulu translator and then we chose one that was relevant and sounded nice. Unity returned Ubunye - however I have kept the fact that it directly translates to English to 'singular' quiet as to not defeat the reasons for picking the name.

The event was put together with the organisations our volunteers were placed with - with performances from each. We also had stalls for each charity along with others who were also associated with homelessness.

The purpose of the event was to show what can be achieved if people/charities/communities work together. GX has a big thing about doing something sustainable - not just a moment or two - and so we hope Ubunye was just another step building connections and relationships between like-minded charities. Simple things like being aware of what one another offer; if one service does not meet a person's needs they can direct them to one that does. Supporting one another like this will benefit everyone massively especially with the budget cuts going on.

On stage saying something very inspiring about unity and homelessness

I was particularly proud of the members from Crisis Skylight Newcastle who Coco and I had been working with to plan their contribution to the presentations. With all the ideas coming from them they put together a wonderful display demonstrating the fantastic things Crisis has to offer. They even had the audience singing along with them at one point. All of the members were a joy to work with and their enthusiasm and praise for Crisis is extraordinary.

The afternoon had testimonies, presentations, songs, poetry, and films.

One highlight for me was when Coco got her words slightly muddled and said thanks to all the organisations for "contributing to homelessness" - luckily most people knew what she meant. That's not to fault Coco as she always displays an abundance of confidence with public speaking.

Over 75 people came along including service users/members, paid staff in the sector, volunteers in the sector and others who were interested in homelessness.

Thank you to everyone involved for making it possible...

Crisis
SVP
NERS
Riverside CHP
Scotswood NCG
Aquila Way
Sunderland YMCA

Action Foundation
The Prince's Trust
Progress to Work
Tomorrow's People

Namibian Independence Day Celebrations - 23/03/12

Last Wednesday - 21st March - it was Namibian Independence Day. This not too distant day in 1990 marked when Namibia gained their independence after being colonised by the Germans from 1884. I'll leave it to you to wikipedia the history if you are interested since I am not the best person to explain it.

Whilst in Windhoek, the German influence was very apparant still in the street names. Also Afrikaans is a West German language and so the history with Germany is always visibile.

Since it marks such an important day for Namibia and their struggle for independence we held a celebration. This came in the form of a brai (barbecue) with lots, and I mean LOTS, of Namibian meat. We even had 'real potato chips' ordered in - the mass variety of crisps here in the UK just does not cut it for Namibian Independence Day!

Dancing - spot the awkward white male dancer.

With the sun coming out for the occassion a short Namibian history was presented by AM and a few words spoken by other volunteers. Namibian music was played throughout and I was instantly taken back to the early hours in Rundu when the same tracks were constantly played by some nearby room or house at full volume.

One of many falls - see me rush to assist

Later on the GX team took to the ice rink. For many it was their first time on ice. AM had a valiant effort, entering through one gate, edging along the wall to the next and not returning after. Others stuck at it and despite lots of falls everyone had a great time and was a great way to end a lovely day.

Rundu in the Metro - 20/03/12

When in Namibia no stories came up in the local news about how a dead pig that some thought was a turtle, rock or an amalgamation of all three appeared in the River Parrett in Bridgwater. However now back in the UK it would appear Rundu is making headlines as well as myself. A piece about a crocodile attacking a lady in a River near Rundu appeared in the Metro - an always reliable source of top quality news.

I couldn't help but just think "I've been there and probably no one else on this train knows of the place!" rather than care about the story itself.

I Am Bald - 17/03/12

See - I told you!

As mentioned previously, one of the GX volunteers has been fundraising for their placement organisation, Norcare, and as part of this people were invited to shave their heads for sponsorship.

Now, I was one of those people and last Thursday (15th March) I had the trim along with my Namibian counterpart AM. For AM it was good news, he has been wearing a hat the whole time he's been in the UK because he hasn't had his usual, very frequent, shave - so it was essentially a free haircut for him! However, for me it was not quite as exciting.

Just before the cut

AM getting his much wanted haircut

Me getting my hair cut

Andrew, AM and I with our new look

Now of course this was to raise money for Norcare so please donate some money on my JustGiving page - you can give as much or as little as you like!

www.justgiving.co.uk/PeteGoingBald
or text
'BLDP70' followed by £1/£2/£3/£4/£5/£10 to 70070

Ubuntu, Open Mic Night - 15/03/12

I may have mentioned the idea of a CAD (community action day) previously and in each phase we have to hold at least two of these. In Namibia (phase 1) we did a hospital visit, a clean up day and a summer school.

So Ubuntu was our first CAD of the UK phase and it happened last Friday. This was the name of an art and creative writing workshop one of our volunteers, Eden, ran through her placement, North of England Refugee Service (NERS - but be careful googling this since the first hit is North of England Rat Society) focussing on the concept of Ubuntu. According to good ol' wikipedia, Ubuntu is an African ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other.

Displaying Ubuntu Workshop Work

The CAD was a spin off - an open mic night to raise awareness about different types on homelessness involving the work from the workshops.

The Venue

We found a coffee shop run by a church called The Basement who offered a room for the event at a discount price. It is a very nice venue and with the room they provided us with a sound man and a P.A. as well as putting all the chairs away for us.

The Event

With beanbags, stalls, sofas and blankets we went for a relaxed atmosphere. We dotted around a couple of board games to play too. As well as displays of artwork and photographs there was a homelessness quiz or two being circulated.

The Audience

A couple of street performers came along to make sure we had someone playing however with over 60 heads through the door (maybe people caught on to the fact we had money behind the bar for a free coffee per person) the performance list got quite busy.

Performers on Stage

A youth group called All Points North joined the audience and also contributed performances. Poetry about homelessness; a talk about asylum seekers and a video; and an advert about an event they are holding to further raise awareness. As well as this we had a presentation and video played to also raise awareness.

My Job on the Night

So I some how landed the job of organising who is going on stage and when. It proved very stressful and hard to keep track of. At one point I accidentally started to say thank you to an act and introduce the next one before I realised she had another song to perform. The advantage was I could use a wireless microphone and have my voice heard whislt hidden way in any part of the room.

All in all the night was a great success and we were all very pleased with how it went!

Stardom - 09/03/12

It turns out I have a pretty high profile piece in a rather popular newspaper. Won't be long before I'll be making appearances on the Jonathan Ross show or being interviewed by Stephen Fry on the radio.

The Bridgwater Mercury have put me up there with the likes of people who drive their cars into ditches!

Click it to see the online version but the gist of it is sponsor me getting rid of my gorgeous locks of hair. To do so just select 'Norcare - Shaving Heads' from the drop down menu at the top of this page and click sponsor me. Even if it's just a quid! It's a really good cause.

Norcare have suffered from the cuts our government have made and they really help empower vulnerable people so please donate.

Ubunye Event with Crisis - 06/03/12

Coco and I have been given the task of holding an event at the end of the phase involving all the organisations we are placed with and more. We have called the event 'Ubunye' which means 'Unity' in Zulu. The idea is to have 10 minute presentations from the service users of the organisations showing the positive impact it has had on their life. After this there are 12 (at the moment) different organisations associated with homelessness present with stalls giving a good chance for people to network. We hope that the event builds bridges and stronger relationships between the organisations as well as bringing in volunteers, service users and donors interest for them all.

Member Focus Group
For Crisis Skylight's contribution to the presentations we have been working with members to create a small performance. The group are very enthusiastic and we meet every Thursday to plan Crisis Skylight's participation in the event.

What is particularly nice about the atmosphere here in Skylight is everyone feels equal and no-one puts anyone else down. Though Coco and I are there to run the session, really the members run it; the input from them means that Coco and I really only need to make note of all the ideas and progress made. In their spare time songs, scripts and art work have been made for the performance and they never seem to argue about anything.

When talking about what they think people should know what you can get out of Crisis, although skills/qualifications/support were mentioned, these weren't the ones that stood out.

"Happiness - isn't it? That's what you get from here."
"You find friendship."
"Since coming to Crisis I have grown so much and gained confidence."

Ordinarly if I had seen some of these people in the streets I would assume negative things - but this isn't the case.

A singing group held in my secondary school would most likely attract a small group of girls and that would be it - a lot would still be rather shy attempting to sing. Here there was a mixture of gender and age and every single person give singing their best go.

Anyway, the five components of Crisis Skylight they decided on including in our presentation are:
Technology; I.T. skills etc.
Performance; drama, singing, ...
Personal Development; Progression Co-ordinators, Job Clubs, ...
Communication; Creative writing, ESOL, ...
Creation; Art, Sculpture, ...

I will finish with a small scenario I witnessed.

Two members waiting for a session. One comments on a rash developing on their wrist because of the metal on their watch. The other member says, "You need to get one of those velcro strapped watches - I have one. You can have it if you want because you are a friend, you know, and I want you to have it."

The conversation then goes on to say, "There isn't a single person in this world I don't love, whether black, white, straight, gay, I love them all. I love talking to people on the bus. I love meeting people at the bus stop."

This is the kind of things you are likely to hear everyday in the Crisis Skylight centre and that in itself shows it is doing a brilliant thing. Some of these people have had it incredibly tough through their lives - yet we could learn so much from their attitudes!