What I do....

"We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends." - Dr. Mary Mcleod Bethune 1955

Growing up I always heard the saying that youth is wasted on the youth. I get this now. Its not so much that its wasted as it is misdirected. As a youth worker I work with kids who are violently injured. Kids who feel they are victims feel powerless, feel trapped by circumstance. Trapped by the way things are in their lives. Very few feel they can change anything about this at all.

Thats where I step in. I work with kids who are dis-enchanted, and feel powerless about what they can change. The trick is not so much that they change what is happening around them, but to change who they are in reflection to what is around them.

The point to what I do is to help them with that, help them become more self aware of their own strengths and abilities. To support and help them sustain positivity in such a negative world they can live in. I can only help as much as they allow. Its a tough job, somedays it gets the better of me . Somedays I get a little overwhelmed by the tragedies that these kids go through and feel some what powerless to change anything. But then there are days like today where I know that I will be meeting with a group of about 20 girls who are all victims of violence in their life- Girls who by all means are statistics to their community. And I will show them someone cares enough to set some time aside to help them build themselves up. That its a long road to not become just another victim, but there is support along the way. Days like today make me very proud to see that everyone of these girls decided to do something to change their lives. Plant a seed and hopefully watch it grow.