From the Windowseat

Yes, I am still here in Jamaica. January slipped through my fingers, but now it is February (!) and, hopefully, blogging can slip back into my life.

January was characterized by an intriguing shift — work became less about figuring things out (although I still do a lot of that!) and more about action. My day-to-day worklife is full: very, very, full. A new year has brought a new budget and new programs to the Youth Integrated Services Centre (my daytime home). Myself and my Jamaican counterpart (who is fabulous) organize a growing entity. We now have volunteers and practicum students; however, when you combine our increased human resources with our tendencies (she is as bad at overworking as I am!) this simply means that we have drastically increased our workload.

We have twice daily workshops (I facilitate the one of journalism and writing skills). We have film sessions and discussion groups. We have media and school outreach. We have networking and funding meetings. We have a Youth Summit to organize for March. We supervise volunteers/students working on career handouts, employer job calls, and an Employer Resource Guide for working with youth. We have funding proposals. We have…so much! Sometimes we look at each other and say that we will not take on any more new projects…and then we do

However, in addition to all of those “we haves”, we also have smiles and laughter from youth participants and we have true individual successes. We have youth who have found jobs. We have youth who have created their first resumes. We have youth who have made their first email addresses and connected with friends in other countries. We have youth who have begun to speak aloud in group settings. We have youth who are volunteering. We have moments and, therefore, we have fun.

Of course, our main goal is to keep the Centre running in a long-term, sustainable fashion…except that we still do not have long-term secure funding…does anyone have deep pockets