Our Karen Youth Group is taking a school holidays break. A little celebration for the end of term reminded our co-ordinator and case worker Nay Chee why this youth group means so much to him. It's such a beautiful insight into why our staff do what they do. Too good not to share with you. Please enjoy:

Many people may not know about these amazing young people who love Bendigo Community Health Services and love to participate in our youth group.

I started this group about four years ago. Back then it was actually not part of my role as a case worker to run a youth group but I always have strong passion about young people and like working with them. 

I wanted to create a safe and comfortable space for young people where they could get together and socialise.

My aim for this group was to reduce isolation and increase social participation among Karen youth and also to have fun.

Over the years many young people from Karen background living in Bendigo at some point participated in this group. Which means I have worked with more than 100 young people if not 200.

Of course, they comes and goes as they have other commitments.

We meet every single week and we usually have 23-26 people each meeting. Although it is not compulsory for them to come along every week, many of them are very keen to just get together once a week and just be with other young people.

Some of them have been with me since the beginning and some are very new to the group as they have just recently arrived here in Australia.

All of them are Karen.

This group is very causal group so no serious commitments or whatsoever. Sometime we have some interesting guest speakers, we do different workshops and activities and even go on youth camp and excursions.

They are just fantastic young people to work with and it has been wonderful working with them.

It is a real privilege to have the opportunity to somehow being part of their settlement journey.

I just want to walk side by side with them and support them in any way I can as a worker and as a community member.

This is the only Karen youth group in Bendigo if not in Australia that is very diverse. What I mean by that is that they are from different Karen community groups, different faith groups, mix gender, from schools across Bendigo, some are new to the country and some have been here for years.  

And Friday June 28 was our last day for this term because of school holiday.

I wanted to do something for them for this break up but unfortunately we don’t have the budget so I didn’t know what to do to show my appreciation to them for being with me for this whole term.

Then I realised that I could cook for them. And I did. I made Pad Thai Noodle at home and brought it to them to celebrate their commitment to the group and I think they liked the food.

What I didn’t know was that they had secretly planned a little birthday surprise for me because I had my birthday on Wednesday. When I walked in the room there were cake and candles and a birthday song and cheering. They were all happy and smiling.

 

They didn’t have to do that but I was so happy that they did because they really made my day.

They were just amazing.

And since it was the last gathering before the breakup everyone turned up to catch up and we had a record of 31 people.

I have facilitated many different groups over the years and this group is by far the most amazing and the best group ever. Some of them turn up every single week and never miss one meeting.

We will catch up again in two weeks and I can’t wait.