By Steve Van Bockern, President
Sarah and I have been in Australia since December 30 with twenty university students. We return to our homes in the United States at the end of January. Our intent has been to compare and contrast what is happening with at risk youth in Australia and the USA. Students read the Reclaiming Youth at Risk book and completed the Response Ability Pathways training to give them a working understanding before their shadowing experiences with youth workers from Youth off the Streets (Sydney) and the Allambi (Newcastle) programs. In Bimberri, outside the capitol city of Canberra, we visited the 150 million dollar juvenile prison. The director told us it costs about $2000 per day to hold their kids in this facility. In a refuge, we did a service project by helping the kids build a veggie patch. We heard from wonderful guest speakers including Clair Jackson, Andrew White, Peter Walsh, Diana Boswell, Frank Smith, Sally Fitzmaurice and Tim Moore. Their gifts of experience and insight were invaluable.
Allambi Refuge, Newcastle, Australia
It hasn’t been all study but every bit of our time has been a learning experience. The students have had their photo ops with Koala and kangaroos. Some paid the $265 to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We watched a show in the Sydney Opera House. Most of us burned on the beaches even though we slathered on the sun block. We “swam” with the dolphins, surfed (sort of) and descended into the Blue Mountains near Katoomba. We heard from more than one Aussie who wondered why universal health care is so hotly contested in the United States. Tonight we are off to a dinner cruise.
I’ve been impressed with the university students on this trip - 18 young women and two young men. I was worried about how I would manage this group. I’ve traveled to a number of countries but never with students. I had heard the horror stories about drunk, lost, sick and uncooperative students. So far, I don’t have any of those horror stories to tell.
Sometimes I wonder who will carry on our work; particularly at times like when I try to ride a surf board. My students alleviate that concern. Read Anna’s response to one of our class assignments. Like so many of her classmates she is unsure about the exact shape her life’s work will take but clearly her passion is driving her in all the right ways.
“Australia’s youth workers came from an awesomely varied set of careers. This is lacking in the United States. I took an education course and loved much of it but the idea of a classroom to manage and making lesson plans got me to run in the other direction. How many people would be great working with children but miss the boat because its’ sign declares “Welcome Aboard – Teachers Only”. There are twenty thousand foster kids in New York City alone. How many waiters and waitresses are struggling to make it – who, with the right training and a leader like Peter Walsh [Allambi Association in Newcastle], could really change a child’s life. I’ll find my way. It will be with a history degree and knowledge in all things obsolete, but I will help children. And, I’m so excited because I know all of you [the other students in class] will too! Now, let’s go – time to change the world!”
Here is a short list of ideas and thoughts (some are paraphrased) we have been hearing from our students. I think it will also assure you that our future is in good hands:
• “It seems to us that the tough kids on the street are better off with one another than no one at all.”
• “I’ve had to confront that part of me that is too eager and willing to judge so called bad kids.”
• “Spending three nights with 9 other girls in a youth hostel room that lacked air conditioning but had plenty of mosquitoes created a meltdown for more than one of us. No wonder kids who night after night, with little food or no one to tuck them in, who are subjected to insufferable noise and smelly bed sheets find it hard to perform the next day. I supposedly have it together but I was ready to hit something or someone.”
• “I wonder if our little connections to the kids are a good thing or if our contact is just one more smiling adult face who will be gone tomorrow leaving one more small hole in the child’s heart.”
• “It is easy to see the pain in the kids who are acting out. I challenge us all to remember that sometimes behind talent, perfection, good grades, and a smiling face is a young person in pain.”
• “I can’t believe how strong and loving the little girl is even after being thrown away by her adoptive parents. Would I have that strength?”
• “Some of the kids on the streets had better skills than me. In a matter of seconds, one of the kids knew my name, my favorite sports teams, what I liked to do and the music I listened to.”
• “The boy wasn’t interested in helping with the veggie patch so I asked him what he wanted to do. He wanted to play chess. We played chess.”
I’m so thankful that these young minds and hearts have been part of my life. No worries, Mate!
