For those of you who read this blog regularaly, I guess you know the background of the kids I worked with.
The one`s who have lived on the street come from some of the most impoverished and wretched parts of the city and country, where with little other hopes in life, robbery and glue sniffing (the most common drug around here) were regular behaviour.
Here at Casa Alianza we try and provide sustainable alternatives fir the kids, so that they no longer see life on the streets, combined with robbery and drug tacking, as their only option.
Sports and recreation is one of the main ways we try and do this. Most days we have various sporting events, and everyday, at around 3.30pm, when the intense heat gets a little bit more manageable, we have a football match.
The trouble is, in the time I have been working at Casa Alianza, we have "lost" around 30 footballs. The kids love to play football, but they also are still ingrained with the behaviour patterns based on the way they had to survive on the streets. A football is an expensive comodity, and can be good way of buying cigareetes, glue, or other stuff they feel the need for.
It is, therefore, a challenge we face. The kids are clearly in need and wanting sustainable and fun activities, such as sports, away from the lives the lead on the street, but for many of them, the harsheness they faced on the streets is still very much part of them.
We will keep trying to provide activities through sports etc, and I guess can just hope, that for every kid who steals a football to buy glue, two or three other kids are benefitng from the activities. In the long-term, I think we will eventually "lose" less and less footballs.
About Me
- Simon Walters
- My name is Simon Walters - I work for Casa Alianza Nicaragua. Casa Alianza Nicaragua is a non-profit NGO, working to protect, support and rehabilitate children living on streets, victims of abuse, violence, abandonment, commercial and sexual exploitation and human trafficking. I work as a specialist member of staff, coordinating healthy and sustainable activities for the kids in our protection, and on the international development side of things - working with all the Casa Alianza sites in Latin America. I hold a MA in International Law and Human Rights from the United Nations University for Peace, and a MA in History from the University of Edinburgh. I am very involved in the Model United Nations, and in 2009 served as the Founding Secretary General of Mostar International Model United Nations, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I also have experience in English teaching, coaching public speaking and debating, acting and radio presenting.
Wednesday 23 March 2011
Monday 21 March 2011
That Monday morning feeling
As I arrived to Casa Alianza this morning, I was greeted to the sight of one of our new young kids living at Casa Alianza, covered in blood after inflicting self-harm to his arm with a piece of glass. Sadly, its not the first time I have seen such a sight.
Sometimes, it can be hard to remember the horrific and traumatic background that many of our kids have gone through, and a sight like this brings it all crashing back. To see a young boy like this, who, without knowing his story looks like a normal and healthy teenager, covered in blood after trying to damage himself so severely, really makes me focus once again on the horrendous injustices faced by far too many young people. For any young person forced into a situation where they feel such drastic action is there only escape, then it once again reinforces the importance of working to protect, support, and show love and understanding to these kids.
On the other side of things, I continue working in my area of Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation to try and provide as many sustainable projects and events as I can to help, in some way, provide that sense of love and understanding. All the members of Casa Alianza Nicaragua continue doing a really remarkable job to try and make that all-too necessary difference.
To conclude this little entry, I guess my work today was left me with a somewhat bitter-sweet feeling. I spent the weekend at the Laguna de Apoyo, a volcanic crater lake, and one of the most beautiful spots I have ever seen in the world. It is a strange contrast when after being surrounded by such beauty during the weekend, to come back and be greeted by such a difference. It is tough when dealing with such a contrast, but only further inspires me to keep trying to do what I can.
Sometimes, it can be hard to remember the horrific and traumatic background that many of our kids have gone through, and a sight like this brings it all crashing back. To see a young boy like this, who, without knowing his story looks like a normal and healthy teenager, covered in blood after trying to damage himself so severely, really makes me focus once again on the horrendous injustices faced by far too many young people. For any young person forced into a situation where they feel such drastic action is there only escape, then it once again reinforces the importance of working to protect, support, and show love and understanding to these kids.
On the other side of things, I continue working in my area of Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation to try and provide as many sustainable projects and events as I can to help, in some way, provide that sense of love and understanding. All the members of Casa Alianza Nicaragua continue doing a really remarkable job to try and make that all-too necessary difference.
To conclude this little entry, I guess my work today was left me with a somewhat bitter-sweet feeling. I spent the weekend at the Laguna de Apoyo, a volcanic crater lake, and one of the most beautiful spots I have ever seen in the world. It is a strange contrast when after being surrounded by such beauty during the weekend, to come back and be greeted by such a difference. It is tough when dealing with such a contrast, but only further inspires me to keep trying to do what I can.
Friday 4 March 2011
Just by being there.......
For those of you who saw my last little update, you will know that I am currently off work after busting up my leg in the football tournament. All is well, however, and the game of hopping around Managua on crutches trying to avoid the multiple potholes has become quite enjoyable!
So anyway, this update is, as promised, not to speak about life on crutches.
Yesterday I went into Casa Alianza. I was limited in terms of what I could do, but mainly I wanted to show to the kids that I had no forgotten them, and that my absence was due to the cast on my leg and the two adjacent crutches. It was in the first place a very humbling experience to be told by many of the kids that they miss having me about. As I have said in a previous entry, a large proportion of my work involves simply hanging out and being there with the kids, and it is nice to see that doing this makes a difference and a presence.
Secondly, my visit has reinforced the concept of trust in working with kids who come from such traumatic backgrounds. Sadly these kids are used to people coming in and out of their lives on a frequent and abrupt basis, thus making healthy relations based around love and friendship far more difficult. What so many of these kids need, therefore, is people like the members of staff at Casa Alianza, who are there for them, and are willing to show support and understanding even in difficult times, and just simply are willing to be there with them. Even yesterday, by being there and not doing much, just mainly hopping around and spending time with the kids, can help a lot.
So to conclude, I guess this is one of the weirdest things about making a difference, that sometimes doing a little does a lot. To all of the members of staff who devote themselves to being with the kids, supporting and helping them, by being there with them, they are making a remarkable difference. For as long as I can, I hope to keep trying to doso as well.
So anyway, this update is, as promised, not to speak about life on crutches.
Yesterday I went into Casa Alianza. I was limited in terms of what I could do, but mainly I wanted to show to the kids that I had no forgotten them, and that my absence was due to the cast on my leg and the two adjacent crutches. It was in the first place a very humbling experience to be told by many of the kids that they miss having me about. As I have said in a previous entry, a large proportion of my work involves simply hanging out and being there with the kids, and it is nice to see that doing this makes a difference and a presence.
Secondly, my visit has reinforced the concept of trust in working with kids who come from such traumatic backgrounds. Sadly these kids are used to people coming in and out of their lives on a frequent and abrupt basis, thus making healthy relations based around love and friendship far more difficult. What so many of these kids need, therefore, is people like the members of staff at Casa Alianza, who are there for them, and are willing to show support and understanding even in difficult times, and just simply are willing to be there with them. Even yesterday, by being there and not doing much, just mainly hopping around and spending time with the kids, can help a lot.
So to conclude, I guess this is one of the weirdest things about making a difference, that sometimes doing a little does a lot. To all of the members of staff who devote themselves to being with the kids, supporting and helping them, by being there with them, they are making a remarkable difference. For as long as I can, I hope to keep trying to doso as well.
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