Perfecting the balance of workshops and west wing

Time works differently over here it seems, the days feel long. For each one requires so much brain work, I am now coming to the end of my second week and it feels only an hour ago that I was writing up last week. This makes no sense to me.

We have an Internal Review Meeting every Friday morning, we share stories and cases from the different legal clinics and social justice projects. This week I have been to five projects and talked about the following things: peer pressure, children’s human rights and the women’s marches following Trumps Inauguration (see placards made by the women at St Anne's).

Got introduced to this song that was part of the protest at the Women's March, would highly recommend giving it a listen:' I can't keep quiet' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeQD9QwYC5M

I have seen one of the young people slap another right across the face with no reaction from prison guards, I turned up to a session where we were expecting 20-25 boys and were met with 54, I have been turned away from a prison because policemen had been bought into help search the boys for weapons after some had been found on the premises.

Additionally I have led an activity of match up with key words, definitions and images with 54 boys all of different ages and abilities with success! They behaved well, listened and took pride in their teamwork. I have spoken to a mother who has been trying to get her child into a disability school for years thank me many times when I told her that the school thought it would be two months before her son could have a place. My heart has only just started processing what I have been experiencing. This makes me feel small.

Another thing to add into the mix is goodbyes, already the legal team I was introduced to last week has diminished in size from 6 to 2. Come Monday there will be 5 volunteers with one starting last Friday and two more coming this morning.
This chop and change in the team and unpredictability in the workshops probably explains why time doesn’t make sense, my brain is playing catch up constantly. I have been processing this by trying to leave work at work and have separate activities to fill my time at home.
This feels a bit odd, but am sure it is worth it. When I get home I eat, sleep, watch west wing and read books. There isn’t wifi at home so can use data to get in touch with the world but don’t have it on for more than a few minutes at a time. This stops me from getting drawn into wasting time scrolling through BBC News or Facebook.

Goodbye meal last week, AMAZING food!

I am on the third book in the Narnia series, have begun Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell and am 13 episodes into the first series of West Wing.
My love of West Wing persuaded me that it was necessary for my sanity to bring the entire box set with me, all 168 episodes.
This was a good decision.
These fictional spaces allow me to switch off and spend some time in a familiar world. Furthermore one of my house mates is a West Wing fan and is interested in global politics, this allowed us to talk about electoral reform within 24 hours of knowing each other – how exciting is this?!

This is how I packed my hand luggage!

Overall this week has had its frustrations and joys, I am taking each day one at a time in a way I have never been able to do at home. I also find myself praying much more than I did at home, instead of the twice a day I am used to I seek wisdom during my planning time, for patience and compassion as I walk into the prisons and rest as I go to sleep.

Also this week I went skydiving! It was absolutely incredible! Will share photos in my next blog post, am still waiting for them to be sent through to me.

Prayer requests:

-          - To continue to take each day one at a time and enjoy living life in such a different way

-        -   To build good friendships with Ryan and Julia (people I have met at church who I am spending the day with on Saturday)

Thank you for making it to the end of my seventh blog!