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| 27/07/2009 |
UNISON Living Book Event - 21 July |
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On Tuesday the 21st of July UNISON held a small Living Books event for 2 hours featuring 3 members at the Beacon Centre in the Charlestown and Lower Kersal area of Salford during a drop in session for 10 young people who are homeless or who have experienced homelessness recently.
 The drop in sessions are held every Tuesday by the Centre and allow the young people to meet with people from a range of services (education, social services, employment etc) and gives them the opportunity to engage in various activities such as cooking and art classes.
We were invited down to give the young people there the chance to listen to the stories the books had to say and hopefully help them learn something new.
The young people have what the staff at the centre term as "chaotic lifestyles". Ranging from 16 to around 20 years old they had already experienced many problems in their young lives. Some had been or currently were drug addicts, had experienced domestic violence and already been through the prison system.
It was therefore not the usual sort of setting for a UNISON event to take place in and it was not without difficulties. Some of them found it hard to sit down, hold a conversation and maintain eye contact whilst a few had only come to the session for the free food on offer and didn't like to take part in any of the events that had been put on for them, but that wasn't too surprising given their backgrounds.
However a few of them did manage to sit with the three books and hear what they had to say and they did get to learn something new and gain a different perspective. They were also made aware of what a trade union actually was, the sort of things they get involved in, and the importance they attach to give working class people the opportunity to get on and learn new things.
The UNISON members themselves (none of whom normally work with people like this) gained an exposure to people living at the bottom of our society and an insight into how they live their often very difficult lives.
It was undoubtedly an eye-opening and valuable experience and provided a stark reminder the important and tough jobs that many UNISON members do in working with such troubled young people and how we must ensure that people like this are not further left behind.
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CONTACT DETAILS
• To find out more about membership benefits contact our helpline, UNISONdirect on 0845 355 0845. Lines are open 6am-midnight Mon to Fri and 9am-4pm Sat.
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