Day Five - The team leave the drop in centre

So the week is drawing to a close – today is Friday and we’re spending our second-to-last day at the centre with the boys. They don’t usually come in to the drop-in centre at the weekend, but are making an exception for a kids party and what’s sure to be a very sad goodbye on Sunday.

Today the team leader’s hat was handed over to firefighter James Martin for a musical-themed day, he’s the most tuneful of the group by a long way by virtue of being able to play a single instrument and sing without upsetting people. We handed out maracas, tambourines, triangles and whistles to the horror of the Retrak staff and set off on a rendition of ‘I am the Music Man’ in which all the kids copied Jim’s northern accent to brilliant effect.

The boys showed us just how musical they are, to  the point that after an hour the neighbours complained. Everyone stopped, but the banging continued – it was one of our team who had been locked in the medical room the whole time.

In the afternoon we spent time with the boys decorating and personalising their clothes – most of them only have one set of clothes so we spent a few hours fixing them and teaching them to sew. Our lessons obviously weren’t that good as one lad managed to sew his jeans to his underwear.

Quieter activities gave us more chance to communicate with the boys which is still quite difficult as they have about ten words of English at most. We’re getting better at understanding each other though – with a little translation help from the staff. It turns out we’d misunderstood Yared – he has been on the streets here because his mother died, his father found a new partner and as is often the case here , the new couple don’t want any existing children. He doesn’t want to be a builder, but wants to learn to repair mobile phones and dreams of building his own house.

The staff here are amazing. Street kids are viewed by many as a nuisance and so working with them can be met by bewilderment from others in the community. There are teachers, counsellors, a nurse, cooks and a team of social workers. We’ve made firm friends and it clear how passionate they are about their work. The social workers are on the streets at 5:30 each morning and again in the evening talking to street kids and convincing them that Retrak offers a better alternative.