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!