February 12th, 2014 | Uncategorized
Everyday life in Belfast has always taken me back to the reasons why I am here. A great visit from my friends from school brought me back to the meaning of true sisterhood. The sisterhood bond that I have experienced with my friends is the same type of bond we try to install in Ehoops. From the simple things like giving each other a high-five, to a fist-pond after anything for encouragement, or even just being there for one another in order to establish a brotherhood for those young men. Bryan Wilson (Victory Scholar in Belfast) once said at an Ehoops session, “Hands in… Wait do you know why we are doing this?… We do it because we are a team, which builds chemistry, brotherhood…”
Henry Ford even once said “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”
Just before my friends came to visit for the weekend, the week started off with an Event at the University of Ulster entitled “Children and Young People: Engaging Youth”. The event gave information on policing and justice powers in Northern Ireland in order to raise the profile of the rights of children and young people who come into contact or are at risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system. It also spoke of how programs such as Y-APP, RADAR, and the program I am with (Ehoops), does just as Henry Ford said. 1. Coming together is the beginning–every Wednesday young males in the community, PSNI, local community workers, and SCL come together. 2. Keeping together is progress–and this doesn’t happen over night, however since joining the program before Christmas break, the young males keep coming back… 3. Working together is success, and I can honestly say that we are seeing success right before our very eyes as these young men learn to work together as one unit. I’m grateful for the relationships I have in my life- on and off the court and I know that we all need that sense of community, appreciation, etc. in order to do well in life!
