My first paid youth and community role was as a development officer on a blighted estate in East Hull. Coming from large working class family in same town never know how deep the poverty was. How come you could be asking. Already worked since leaving school at 15 with no qualifications. Apprenticed into a trade then whole bottom fell out of that industry ..( Bespoke tailoring replaced by cheap ready made imports)....
We never knew where the wage nor decent living would arise from so many experiencing the very same thing. The very same resolution and detachment from decent standard of living.
We persuvied and got more qualified wages improved. Questions arise how come my family plus friends had got better standard of living .? How come we stewarded better? Why was poverty there so much more evident?
Getting to know the client group plus their families, found there was a lot of faithlessness, no sense of values like the ones we used, that others held shared and used to live lifes! Then we arranged activities the committee disliked our mention of God or Jesus plus the Christian faith. This was very active. But the funding and volunteers were provided by faith followers they spoke against. It was like a false grip held them and the estate. There was a real lack of Christian presence.
That was one of my primary learnings. It changes return to that another time but that awareness was unmistakeable and clear.
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