Volunteer Spotlight - Step Up Volunteer Avril Halligan

Continuing with our celebration of our volunteers this week, we took some time out to catch up with Step Up Volunteer Avril Halligan

When did you start volunteering?

I started volunteering at a young age in my home town with Meals and Wheels, and also when I lived in Galway I was involved for many years volunteering with a homeless shelter for women. I started Volunteering in Dublin with Solas Project in 2014.

 How did you find it at first?

 I hadn't worked in this type of setting before, as a one to one mentor, so both the young person I am mentoring and myself, had to find our feet and get to know each other to build up trust. So the first stages were tentative, but over time a unique friendship develops. 

What have the highlights been for you?

The highlights have been developing that trust and bond with each other,  getting to know each other better, and being in some small way involved in this young persons life. 

 Why do you choose to volunteer?

I choose to volunteer because I feel we all need to contribute something to society and give back some of our free time to our communities. 

What do you get out of it?

I have always really enjoyed volunteering over the years, most especially the people I have met a long the way. It also great to be part of something bigger like the Solas Project grassroots community project, and it is a joy to mentor a young person. 

 How have you seen Step Up impact one or more young people’s lives since you joined?

 I have seen a lot of the young people grow more confident in their abilities and building bonds with their mentors. 

If you are interested in finding out more about any of our volunteering opportunities, please email Emily@solasproject.ie for further information.

Meet Our New Interns

We are delighted to welcome two new interns to our team this term, Lilith and Elisabeth.  

Lilith is a psychology student from Stuttgart, Germany and she will be working with our  Senior Afterschools Club.  She decided to do an internship in Ireland with Solas Project to help improve her English and gain valuable experience for a future career in psychology.  Lilith hopes to grow personally as she faces new challenges and opportunities.  Lilith will be with us throughout the summer and is already looking forward to helping out with Summer Project.  Unfortunately Lilith arrived in Dublin during one of the wettest weeks in April, so her impression of Ireland so far is that it is very windy and cold. (We have assured her that summer is on the way!)  On the up side she thinks that Irish people are lovely and welcoming and she is very happy to be here.

Elisabeth is also from Germany has been working with our Junior Afterschools club since January and will be with us until after Summer Project.  Elisabeth finished secondary school in Summer 2015 and applied for an internship with Solas Project because she loves working with children and is thinking about studying Social Work at University.  We asked Elisabeth about how she thought her internship was going so far.  

She replied, "When I started my internship I was really nervous, everything was new: the city, the language.  But I felt really welcomed by the friendly and open hearted peopled I met in Ireland, which made it a lot easier to feel at home." Elisabeth continues, "I am really grateful for everything I have experienced already and I am looking forward to the following months I will spend in Ireland.  The longer I work with the kids the more I feel I get to know them, understand them and hopefully make a positive impact on their lives."

We are grateful to our very hard working, international team of interns at Solas Project.  This year we have had interns from America, Spain, Wales, Germany, The Netherlands and Ireland.  If you would like more information about interning with Solas Project please contact emily@solasproject.ie  

So Close and Yet Worlds Apart

As you can see from the map above the two cities of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso are exceptionally close but their location is about the only similarity these two cities share. Ciudad Juarez is in Mexico and is embroiled in a vicious drug cartel power struggle and has one of the highest murder rates of any city in the world. Whereas El Paso, Texas is ranked consistently as one of the United States safest cities. It made international news and caused outrage when a stray bullet from Ciudad Juarez managed to strike El Paso’s City Hall. It seems staggering that so much inequality can exist in two cities only minutes apart.

Yet what about our City- the City of Dublin does this inequality exist here?

The answer is yes it does.

Compass works with young men from all over the city of Dublin who have spent time in prison for the crimes that they have committed. A large proportion of these young men though are concentrated in the North Inner City area of Dublin 1 and it is here that you can most vividly see the contrast and the inequality that exists in our city. Drug abuse and crime are rampant in this area- even as I have waited outside houses to pick up one of the young men Compass works with it has not been uncommon for me to have been offered drugs by a young gang member passing by. Compass supports two brothers from this area and they both have spent serious time in prison and various youth detention centres. The older brother describes what it was like for him growing up in this area:

“It was tough, hanging around with all the other young fellas doing drugs. My own Da was on drugs I had to watch him take a bad road- doing drugs, hitting my Ma and stealing from our house.”

These two brothers have grown up in Dublin 1 in terrible circumstances where entire communities are ravaged by fear, drug abuse and criminality and yet only a stone’s throw away still in Dublin 1 we have the IFSC and many other important financial services that are so vital to this City’s wealth and development. It seems staggering that so much inequality can exist in our City with such contrasting fortunes only minutes away.

Compass is trying to close this gap of inequality and we would love your help. Of the two brothers one is back in prison serving another sentence and we would love volunteers to help us run activities in prison to reach him and others in similar situations. The other brother is currently doing well in our post release mentoring programme and we would also love help reaching out to young men like him as they transition from prison back into their communities.

For more information check out our volunteer page or email Emily@solasproject.ie  

Tim Gaston - Compass

Who wants to build a rocket?!

 

Who wants to build a rocket, the question every 9 year old dreams of hearing! For 7 weeks Solas Project are partnering with University College Dublin to inspire the next generation of young scientists.  Each Tuesday the kids from The Club make their way out to UCD.  On arrival they are greeted by scientist Philip Smyth, who takes them to the new O'Brien Centre for Science.

Once the kids have completed homework in the outreach classroom they enter the labs where science comes to life.  So far the kids have made catapults and launched their own rockets, as they learn about the effect mass has on movement. It's been a hugely exciting project for everyone, learning all sorts of new interesting things. 

Thanks to Philip and the staff at UCD who make this possible.  The kids now have UCD in their sights as a place to study when they are older.   

An awesome trip to Awesome Walls!

The young people from Step Up along with their mentors recently enjoyed an evening at Awesome Walls to celebrate the end of term.

Awesome Walls is one of the largest indoor climbing centres in Europe with 2,000 square metres of climbing surface and over 200 climbing routes.  The wall certainly presented both challenge and adventure.   Throughout the evening there was wonderful team spirit, as all involved were cheered on, encouraged to overcome fears and celebrated as they journeyed towards the summit.   Some even accepted the blindfold challenge, where they had to climb with a blind fold on, relying only on their mentor or mentee to guide them.  This was a real test of trust!

Trips are a vital part of the programme, rewarding our young people for their hard work and commitment over the last term and providing a relaxed environment where we can all relax, have fun and continue to build relationships. 

Well done to all who took part.  A big thanks to all the staff at Awesome Walls and to our mentors who helped make it a memorable evening.

We are hoping to run a Step Up Summer Project this year to ensure we can continue to support young people over the long Summer holidays with fun structured activities, if you can help make that happen by donating €24 to support one teenager  - please click here to donate - for further details please contact Clodagh