Good News Family Care

As I’ve mentioned previously my particular placement in Buxton is working half time at the Charis House, which is associated with Good News Family Care. The rest of the time will be spent working with Buxton Community Church.

Good News Family Care was started 13 years ago as a family center. It has transformed into a women’s refuge mostly serving homeless and victims of domestic abuse. The house is massive with 11 rooms and a “flat” for occupancy by clients. There are also several common rooms both upstairs and downstairs. Also the two couples who are the directors of the entire operation each have their own flat upstairs where they live with their families. This branch of GNFC is called the Charis House.

Attached to the Charis House using 5 rooms downstairs is the Good News Nursery. They serve mothers living in the house as well as other families in the community. They care for children from birth to 5 years and are open from 8 to 6.

Once women have moved out of the house they are assigned a community support worker. The two women who currently serve in this position are responsible for ensuring that the former residents are continuing and healthy and responsible lifestyle out of the house. They are available for making appointments, taking them to appointments, taking them shopping, spending time with them, as well as supervising finances. I’m sure that there are many other responsibilities of a community support worker that I have not yet encountered.

GNFC also has a rehab that used to be housed in the top floor of the Charis House but recently moved a separate house. Women must already be de-toxed before admittance to the house. They are taken daily to the GNFC farm to work—rain, snow, or shine.

The GNFC farm is several miles outside of Buxton. Its purpose is to give clients a valuable work experience. They have approximately 500 hens. The eggs are sold at the house as a way to raise money for the charity. They also have a wood-working project for men as another way to fundraise.

Along with the dedicated staff of the many branches of GNFC, they have several volunteers who usually spend a year in Buxton. Most volunteers come through an English organization called Time For God. This is the organization that the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission have teamed up with. They support Christian volunteers from all over the world creating a global community for GNFC.

The last ministry of GNFC is the church. When the organization started the associated church was naturally named Good News Church. But because of the growth of the church, it eventually split into two congregations: Good News Church, now homed in Whaley Bride, a community near Buxton, and Buxton Community Church, homed in the house. It is a non-denomination church with the congregation made up primarily of residents and staff along with a few other community members. The pastor is Mick the husband from my host family.

Within the church there are several ministries—all of which I’m involved with in some regard. They sponsor the Buxton Christians Football (Soccer) Club, Little Fishes (a weekly group for moms and children under 5), Women’s Group, various small groups and Bible Studies, and Rock Solid (youth group).

GNFC is a growing ministry that is doing a great job supporting families and making a difference in the Buxton community. I’m really enjoying learning more about the work done and having my own opportunity to do good in my new community.

Back-to-School

“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.”
--Tom Bodett


Last Monday several of the residents of Charis House began their new term in college (upper high school). For most of them this is the first time they’ve been enrolled in school in several years. They have all been excited and really enjoying their first week of school. They are coming home early to work on homework rather than simply milling around the house with their children in the evening. During dinner-time when I’m at the house I’ve been offering to help them with homework ranging from dividing fractions to letter writing to working on Macbeth.

Their excitement rubbed off on me and I realized that I’m actually sad that I’m not in school and learning new things everyday. That is something I never thought I would say since I was about 5 years old. I guess you could say that I’m a student of a different type of schooling, but it’s not the same. I think I can attribute my excitement to start graduate school next year to the women living in the Charis House. I’m really hoping that all our excitement will endure over the year. Most women are enrolled in courses that will ensure jobs upon completion. I’m so proud of them for taking this difficult step in bettering their lives.

I’m still working on figuring out the schooling system in England—it’s rather confusing so I’ll get back to you on this one…

Great Expectations?

I’d like to say that I came to England with little to no expectations. But the longer I’m here I realize that although I said I didn’t have any I actually did have several. At orientation we were told that it would be easiest to adjust if we a) didn’t have expectations or b) expected our expectations to shatter.

My first expectation that I’ve had shatter was that living in the UK would be a simple adjustment from living in the US. The US was the UK’s child (that’s how it was explained to me in 8th grade history) so the similarities should be more prevalent than the differences. But I’ve seen over the past 3 weeks that even the simple things are different, which makes my life just slightly more complicated. From the vacuums—or hoovers—to even the envelopes, I feel that I have to learn everything all over again. And this process is rather frustrating. I like to consider myself a very independent person and wait till the last possible second for help, but since being here I feel that I’ve lost all sense of independence and have asked more questions than ever before in my life.

My second expectation was that most laws would also be similar creating a similar social setting. But as my work at Charis House becomes more involved, I learn more and more differences between the two countries.

Many of the women here are on welfare equivalent. However, their benefits are so great that there is rarely an incentive to find a job and begin living a more independent life. I am a full supporter of giving mothers/families extra help where needed, but when they are receiving more money than people working full-time jobs without any incentive to do more than watch TV all day, that’s where I have a problem. They receive weekly checks for spending money, housing money, and extra money for their children with no limitations on a time limit—at least that I’ve learned about so far. But if a job is found they usually don't pay enough to cover basic living expenses but pay too much to continue receiving assistance, essentially giving no reason to ever want to get a job and get of benefit.

But the maternity leave is much better than the US. This past December they changed the laws to give new mothers 9 months off with full pay (it used to be 6 months) and 3 months off with 60% pay. The fathers receive 2 weeks paternity leave.

In order to have to personal TVs in rooms, the household must register for a TV license for each TV. These are purchased annually for approximately £125. Personally I find this a bit excessive and ridiculous.

In Buxton they’ve just started a new recycling campaign called “Binnovation”. But from what I’ve learned from it so far is there are so many rules for the recycling that everyone can easily become overwhelmed and give up before any progress is made. It’s interesting to me to see people who in the United States would be stereotyped in a certain political party, but have a deep desire for recycling. Quite a contrast from what I’m used to at home. But perhaps that is just my cynical American nature surfacing.

The “Protestant Work Ethic” is another expectation I arrived in England with, unaware. I figured that I would more often than not be busy and occupied. I’ve never considered myself to be one who whole-heartedly followed the theory behind the Protestant Work Ethic, but being here I seen that I am most often sitting—unoccupied. And it drives me crazy! I’ve been volunteering for jobs that I would otherwise rather not do, simply because it keeps me busy for at least 2 minutes. I’m trying to be patient…but it’s hard!

I think the last one is the most significant—as well as the most difficult for me. It is the child protection policies followed in England. I think it would be fair to say that the U.S. has an okay policy when it comes to child abuse, protecting the children, and taking the necessary steps with the perpetrators. However, compared to England we have an outstanding system. Over the past couple of days I’ve realized that a child’s word is not considered evidence in a case, no matter how concrete it can actually be. A child can be initially taken from the parents’ care if abuse is confirmed, but just as easily the child is given back—repeatedly. It is a very rare occurrence for parents or whoever is abusing the child to have any legal action taken against them. I find this system heartbreaking, tragic, and sickening. It makes me thankful and grateful for the measures—no matter how small or insignificant—the US takes to protect children from abuse.

I expected to arrive in England with little to no expectations and this week I’ve realized that was the biggest expectation that has been broken.

Manchester Excursion

Last Saturday, Binod, Amy and I took the 10:30 train from Buxton to Manchester. This was the first time we had been to the train station since our arrival about a week and a half prior. It looked different than it had on August 28 and I’m sure it was because it was no longer new and unusual.

Arriving at the Manchester Piccadilly train station about an hour later we tried to find our bearings. The only map we had was from my Lonely Planet Great Britain travel. It proved to be helpful, but a more detailed, larger version would have been much easier. Our first desired destination was the Manchester Art Gallery.

As I almost always do enjoy art galleries, this one was no different. Although there were not many artists that I’m familiar with I enjoyed it none-the-less. I also really enjoyed the fact that on several paintings throughout the museum they had modern takes on the paintings in cartoon form for children that are “dragged” there, by their parents. As a child that was often “dragged” to museums as a child, this approach to entertaining the younger audiences would have been much appreciated. They also had a section of hands on activities for children. It was essentially a children’s museum and art museum combined for a great family experience. On the top floor was a craft section with a dollhouse exhibit, which I loved. I’ve always loved miniatures and dollhouses. But the highlight of the museum was free admission. Apparently most museums in England do have free admission.

After lunch we were walking around and came across a parade. It was the oddest parade I’ve ever seen and I could never figure out what the purpose of the parade was. We also heard a marching band. This all took place in front of a large Ferris wheel, which looked identical to the London Eye, so I’ve decided to call it the Manchester Eye. At this point we headed towards the Science museum. As we were walking we passed the Manchester Cathedral. We stopped inside and heard a children’s choir practicing for that night’s prayer service. They were amazing! I thought it was very interesting that the cathedral looked like every Catholic cathedral I’ve seen on “the continent” I going to make the assumption that it was Anglican rather than Catholic. We also passed the John Rylands Library, which was a memorial for him from his widow. Last summer I discovered my love for libraries and am looking forward to a visit when I can explore this one!

By the time we made it to the science museum Amy and I were pretty tired and uninterested in the museum. Binod had already been there, so he left us and were going to meet up an hour and a half later. So while Binod was off exploring, Amy and I sat in the museum café. Around 5pm we headed back towards the train station for the 5:30pm train back to Buxton.

My overall opinion on my trip to Manchester was “meh”. My Lonely Planet guide hyped-up the city to be the “cultural center of the North”, but my opinion was it was great for shopping—which I sadly didn’t get to experience—but the museums were sparse and not easily accessible for tourists. But I am planning on returning at least once again this year, this time hoping for some shopping!

Learning a new language

When I first learned I was going to be serving in the UK I was very excited that I was not going to have many language struggles. However as I'm beginning my second week in Buxton, it's become apparent that I am having language struggles and they won't be subsiding anytime soon. Most of these are just funny anecdotes, but there are the occasional frustrations and they mostly come when I'm working with children.

I've began a list of odd words I've encountered over the past week and I'm sure as the year progresses I'll have many more. But here is the start of my list:
*bin- trash can
*dummy- pacifier
*poorly- sick/ill
*tea- dinner/supper/and of course of the drink
*dinner- lunch
*supper- late night snack
*knackered- exhausted
*hoovering- vacuuming
*jumper- sweater
*mobile- cell phone
*crikey- geez (or any other equivalent)
*fortnight- two weeks time
*pudding- dessert
*chips- french fries
*crisps- chips (as in the potato kind)
*football- soccer
*college- last two years of high school
*university (more commonly uni)- college
There are others that I've noticed but can't remember now...

Another difference I struggle with is the way they say times. Half seven means seven-thirty. However, in my German studies I learned that "halb sieben" (half seven) means six-thirty. I'm still clarifying when someone tells me times. It's a little frustrating, but I'm used to asking language questions, so it's not terrible.

Last week I was playing with Liam (7) and Ethan(5). Ethan picked something up off the floor and was playing with it. I asked him to put it in the trash. He looked at me so I repeated myself. He asked me where to put it and I quickly remembered the "proper" word: bin. Once I asked him to put it in the bin he sprang into action.

On Monday I was playing with Mercedes (5) and Holly (3). Mercedes kept coughing. I asked her if she was getting sick. She looked at me in confusion so I repeated my self. Then she replied "No I'm not sick, I don't feel well."

It helps to have the mother's of children around when I'm talking to them for "translation" purposes. Since they are used to American movies, TV shows, and music they understand me much better than their young children. But I'm put to the test when I'm by myself with the kids. I've also noticed that they have a hard time understanding me and I usually have to repeat myself once or twice. It becomes a little tedious and frustrating.

Yesterday I was being introduced to a woman at Little Fishes (a weekly group for mom's with children under 5). Sarah said "And Christina's from America aren't you?" The woman I was being introduced to said "Well I think I've gathered that". I laughed and said "What gave me away". It had obviously been my accent--or lack of one.

It also makes me giggle a little to hear the Brits pronounce words ending in "a" since it sounds like "er". So my name goes from being Christina to "Christiner" whose from "Americer". Although I love hearing English spoken with a British accent, I've noticed that if I'm not in a position where I can add lip reading to listening I really struggle to understand them. Speaking on the phone has proven to be the most frustrating for this reason.

Stay tuned for more language blunders between American and British English. They certainly are two different languages.

A pence. A pound. A quid. A what?

Money makes the world go around. It's sad, but true. Over the past week or so I've become very aware of money. Which is good in some ways since it's a lesson I need to learn.

The first thing that I'm still trying to learn is all about the British currency system. There's the pence, which is the equivalent of a penny. Then a pound, one hundred pence, which is the equivalent of a dollar. Then there's a quid. It took my a while to figure out what exactly that is. I even googled it and learned that it's slang for a pound. Basically like us calling it a buck.

Another thing I'm still trying to sort out is which coin is which and which bill is which. It doesn't help that in my wallet I still have American coins and Euro coins mixed in with the British coins. What I'm doing so far (and it's working) is trying to count the coins out, handing it to the clerk and telling them, "I hope that's right". They have pence coins, 5p coins, 10p coins, 20p coins, 50p coins, 1 pound coins, and 2 pound coins. It's all very confusing and tricky.

A piece of advice that we received at orientation in Chicago was to not convert the price of things into dollars. This has proven very difficult for me, but I'm trying to get better at since it'll make me feel not as bad about spending so much money. The exchange is currently about 1 pound for $2.16. So for everything you buy, double it, add a little more and that's about what you're spending! I bought a birthday card the other day and it was cheaper that what I spent on postage to the States. I saw a rain jacket yesterday for 140 pounds. Double that and it's close to $300. For a rain jacket. But fortunately another store was having a 50% off sale, so I bought a brand new rain jacket for 29 pounds. That's even cheap in the States!

My last struggle is with having money and not having money. The ELCA sent us off with $100 to last us till our first stipend is paid. Well when we got here that was only 40 pounds. To last a whole month. It's gone already. I have more money of my own, but I'm trying really hard to save that for traveling--however, my pretty new raincoat did come out of my bank account. Our first stipend comes in Sept. 20 and I'm very excited, even though it won't be a lot of money. It'll be interesting to see how I can survive by only getting money once a month. Stay tuned to see how well I succeed at this endeavor. I'm excited to learn how to challenge myself to live simply and this definitely helps!!!

Who are you?

Warning: This one's long and very stream of conscious-ish

So in these first few days I have met so many people. All of them have been absolutely wonderful, welcoming, interesting, and just about any other positive word that you can think of! Almost everyone that I've met has some type of connection to the previous person I met and it's getting a little complicated and confusing to sort out. But I'm working on it.

Tonight is the end of my first weekend in Buxton. Amy and I are referred to as either "the girls" or "the Americans". And oddly enough I kinda enjoy that.

Friday was supposed to be my first "real" day at work. First Tammy took us to get registered at the doctor which really only entailed getting forms for us to fill out. Then Tammy and I walked to the Charis house. Since most people have been on "holiday" the house has been very quiet. Tammy showed me how to do a few procedural type stuff in the office. While in the office someone asked me my "surname". It makes me giggle when they say my name because it sounds like there's an "r" at the end. Brian then said "Well that's a posh name isn't it". I have a posh name, haha!

Then she needed to run some errands for her boyfriends birthday and Brian (staff at the Charis House) sent me along with Tammy and Naomi. They showed me some more things downtown, like where the "posh" shops are and then we had Subway for lunch. Definitely not the same!!! When we returned to the Charis House, Tammy sent me home since there wasn't much else for me to do that day. I spent the rest of the afternoon playing on my computer and watching British television.

Saturday, Amy and I went to the market that's held in front of the city hall every Tuesday and Saturday. It was fun but very small.
Then we headed to the Cavendish Arcade (where the posh shops are). We wandered around there for a while. Afterwards we walked through the Pavilion Gardens again. I think they're so beautiful and I think I'll end up spending a lot of time there--at least before it gets too cold!

Last night Binod (turns out I misunderstood his name) made Amy and dinner. He made rice, lentil soup with curry and chicken curry. It was delicious. Tammy invited us to go out with her and her friends. We met up with Lisa (who also works at the Charis house), her friend, and Naomi along with Tammy and Matt and Binod. I went to my first British pub and had Strongbow--which is basically alcoholic apple cider. While we were there a man that Lisa knew came to sit down with us. After learning that Amy and I were Americans he said, "I don't like Americans." My response was, "Geez, thanks!" He tried to take his foot out of his mouth by replying, "Well not Americans individually, but the government." One of the guys we were with tried to help buy saying he doesn't like the way their government plays puppet to George Bush, Tony Blair specifically. In an attempt to stop any further political talk in a pub, I said no government was perfect. After a long pause of silence the big goon asked if anyone smoked, I said I was a non-smoker. He responded "Said with that American accent". It was at this point the whole group left.

This morning we went to church. It's held at the Charis House and is one of the churches that I'll eventually be working with. It's made up of staff from the Charis house, residents of the Charis House, and others that have some type of connection to either one of those groups. Beryl had Amy and I come up to the front to introduce us and encourage the congregation to take us to do things with them. We had several people excited to met us and talk with us. People ask us so many questions--but hey! who doesn't love talking about themselves!!!

Tonight we went to Matt's parents house for his birthday party. It was all people from church. When I first walked in a girl about 13 said "Hey, you're the person from church". Later, Abby, Matt's 5 year-old half sister asked me a question. When I answered her, her next question was, "Who are you?" I'm assuming my "strange" accent was the clue that I was a stranger. I told her who I was and asked who she was. She's absolutely precious and I could tell she just found me odd. One girl (who's 15) was asking me if New Mexico was near New York, Florida, or Alabama. She was disappointed that it wasn't near any of those places.

Although all week I've been the "new volunteer", "the American" or just a stranger in general, it's all been very fun. I've loved sharing about where I come from while learning about this "strange" and new culture!!!