"I think I am in the right place." This thought entered my mind last night on my 16 km bike ride home after meeting members of the youth group Back Up. While admiring the 10 p.m. sunset I caught myself trying to put my emotions into Swedish so I could share them with the youth at the next meeting. "Jag... cyklar... hemme... och.. för dett först... (time?)... (felt at?)... hemme! Tack sa mycket!!" (~ I biked home and for the first felt at home! Thank you very much!)
Yup, the youth got me back on track. They are doing community service by making sure that other youth on the streets of Norrköping are safe. Accordingly, they ´work events´ such as parties, weekend nights, and other gatherings of crowds, at which they take the role of a middle man between the police and other official security folks and youth that are out partying. Michele, one of the two employees running Back Up, told me that some of the youth just completed First Aid and CPR because they often come upon passed out folks whom they put into recovery position, as well as people with injuries due to their fighting, etc. The Back Up youth are given permission to take away alcohol from other youth and poor it out if the drinker is underage (18 generally speaking - there are weird exceptions e.g. an 18 year old can drink in a bar but only a 20 year old can buy booze at the store... or something along those lines). Back Up is asked by an increasing pool of organizations to help out with safety. As a result the youth now work at the city pools during the summer, football games, swing by the movie theater at closing times, and other places. During the school year they help out at schools. Obviously the youth are given training to do their work. They are an eclectic bunch that feel a bit like family and laugh a lot. I am stoked to be given the opportunity to shadow some of their work and eager to help out however I can. Tomorrow I get to go on one of their Friday evening shifts. Needless to say, I am thrilled.
Back Up is relevant to my future job here, also. The program that I am helping to develop will be phase one (wilderness therapy) and phase two (adventure therapy) of a three phase program (with Back Up being phase three). While phase one and two will be residential (albeit in the woods), the youth will be living at home with their families while they volunteer with Back Up. The organization offers them a place to meet, a vital role in the community and supports them in their personal and professional development. While sitting at their weekly meeting yesterday - making out a couple of Swedish words - I realized that I have never worked with youth in a city environment. Guess I am not only learning Swedish here.
Yay, Sverige!
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