Saturday, August 15, 2009

Mr. and Ms Bourkanyana visiting Peter and Mary

Situation: Mary/Peter and Mr. and Ms Bourkanyana is sitting around a table drinking coffee.
Mary: I'm really glad you could come over. I think we have a lot to talk about.
Arkan Bourkanyana: Yes that's true. As I said to Peter there has been some trouble with youngster and my wife feel unsure when she goes to the park these days.

Peter: Yes I can understand how you feel, I experienced them myself when we had the football game the other day. I don't understand why they behave like that. Maybe they are just boring and frustrated.

Arkan: But there is something else I would like to mention to you both, maybe you can help. You Mary have been working in the school and I think that Karhan is dropping out of school. (Arkan looking at his wife) We are both very worried about him.

Mary: oh, that's not good!

Arkan: The police came to my shop the other day and told me there had been a fight in the park among the boys and the police asked me if my son had been involved in that. They had seen him around during the day with a group of boys which they were keeping an eye on.

Mary: yes I have seen these boys when I have been in the park with the kids feeding the ducks , and I have been thinking that why are they not in school at this time of the day. But I can't tell if Karhan has been among them.

Arkan: The only thing I could tell the police was that I did not know anything about this, and that I really hoped my son had not been involved in that, and that I would talk to him when he came home.

Ms. Bourkanyana: Karhan is a good boy, but he is in a difficult age. He don't know what he wants to become in the future and he is not very fond of doing school work. He tells me very often that he rather would work and could help his father in the shop.

When this came up I phoned his teacher and he could tell me that Karhan had been away from school many days lately.

Peter: Did you talk to Karhan about this?

Ms. Bourkanyana: yes we did but he is not very willing to talk about it. He just said that he had not been involved in the fight, but that he knew these guys and that he liked to be with them.

Mary: well sometimes youngsters can be difficult to talk to. I know that from school.
But it is good to hear that he was not involved in the fight.

Peter: I talked to the Gardener - you know John - the other day. He told me that he had been interviewed by some social work students that were going to start some projects in this area. I wonder if we could ask them for help with this group of youngsters. Maybe they can sort out why they behave like this and guide them into other activities.

Ms. B: Well that is a good suggestion. Maybe we can get some peace again in this park.

I think we have to go now. I very much support your initiative Peter. Let us hear the result.
Ms and Mr B:Thank you for the chat and the coffee, it is really good to have you as neighbours.

Mary and Peter: we also appriciate your company very much. Bye, see you another day


(THIS SCENE is recorded in studio with four actors)

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Peter talking to Mr, Bourkanyana

Peter is phoning Mr. Arkan Bourkanyana, the local shopkeeper, and his neighbour.
Riiing....
Arkan: Hello this is Arkan Bourkanyana speaking.
Peter: Hi Arkan, Peter here. We won! What a losing streak but it’s over.

Arkan: Yes, I saw the end of the game, after I closed up. You played very well.

Peter: You think so? Thanks. We were so happy but these youngsters were laughing at us. They were giving us a hard time, being a bit rude and insolent because they wanted to come on the pitch and play. But in the end, they got impatient, and went to play on the nearby grassy area. We need a few more football pitches here. There’s not enough.

Most of those kids are okay, but there’s a few of them that really like to give you a hard time.

Arkan: Yes, they sometimes give my wife a hard time when she comes to the park. She’s not in good health, and with our five children, she can’t cope with a lot of stress. I don’t like when they say those things to her. Some of them are racists. Not all of them. Most of them are quite nice, but a few of them, need to be taken in hand. I don’t know what we can do about it. But my wife is thinking that maybe she no longer wants to come to the park.

Peter: That's a shame, I think we have to do something about this. I saw your interview in the magazine the other day about integration. I think you are making an important point. Let's come together and talk about this. I'll talk to Mary maybe we can invite you and your wife to come over for dinner in the weekend.

Arkan: that would be good. Let's see if we can come up with some good ideas. Bye
Peter: I'll call you later after talking to Mary, bye,bye

Mary talking to her father-in-law

Mary is making a phonecall to her father-in-law.
Mary:Hello dad, its Mary.
Father-in-law: Hello Mary, nice of you to call me.
M: Did you go to the park today?
F: Oh yes and I met Peter here.
Mary: Oh, so he came up to you after the football game? I guess he was very happy for his team winning the game for the first time in about a month.
Father-in-law: Yes, he couldn’t help himself but came up here and told me about it. By the way, did you see that broken bench by the Cafe? It’s not broken anymore. I told the gardener about it, and he had them come it fix it really quickly. It was done within a week. But it’s such pity someone’s already written on it. Brand new, and already covered in grafitti. It’s going to need a paint job already. They should use that anti-graffiti paint for these benches. It’s not enough that they have a grafitti wall, they still have to write on the benches and other places as well

Mary: Oh yes, I saw it on Monday when I was meeting at the Cafe with the other mums. It was already covered with the graffiti, so they must have done it over the weekend. What a shame!

Say hello to Mom, and tell her I really enjoyed the cookies that she made for us the other day. She must give me the recipe. Bye then.
Father-in-law: I will tell her, bye,bye

Living situation for the elderly people

Changes in our community have resulted in elderly people living alone without any family nearby. Many elderly are afraid of going out alone in the evening and even visiting our park during daytime. A resent survey made among our elderly population tells about isolation and depression. Health authorities find it very important that efforts are made to give this group of people a social life and contact with other people. We know from research that active aging is increasing the health condition and also the life quality for elderly people. A new project adressing these problems will start soon.

To day we bring an interview with three elderly ladies that seems to enjoy each others company. We found Ms. Schneider, Ms. Rivera and Ms. Kleiber sitting on a bench in the park to day and asked them what they thought about the results from the survey.

Ms Rivera: We three are lucky to know each other. We come here every day at the same time, and if one of us does not turn up we contact her to hear if there is something wrong.

Ms. Kleiber: Yes it is really important to have good friends. I'm a widow and my children is not living in this area anymore. I feel great comfort by knowing that by friends here will contact me if I don't turn up one day.

Ms. Schneider: it is the same situation for me. I don't hear very well and therefor I don't care going to cinema or concerts. It is difficult for me to go to these elderly centres also because I get a headacke when there is too many people talking around me.

The interviewer: So for you three there is no problem coming here to the park.

to continue....
In addition to the interview we need to write some blog posts

Can we get some peace please???

As one of the neighbours to the skate ramp in the park I feel very annoyd by the noice every day. The noice goes on my nerves. When is anybody going to respect that people living around here need some peace??? Either it is the skaters or the big conserts, or the music from these foreigners dancing and playing around here. We never had this situation when we started to live here. I saw the note from Eve 14 and I really hope that anyone will listen to her claim for a mega ramp. Then nobody can live around here anylonger.
Is it too much to demand to have som peace and guiet around ones own house???

Angry neighbour

Dialogue - Bob and Eve

Bob and Eve meets at the skate ramp and talk to each other.
B: Hi Eve, have you been training?
E: Hi Bob, Yes if you can call it training in this mini ramp?!
B: I read your note in the magazin the other day. The video you linked to was really cool. Jake Duncombe is really somebody!
E: Yes these boys are so good!! I really wonder if we ever can get a mega ramp like they have here in our park city? What do you think?
B: Well I don't know either, but if we don't try nothing will happen, will it?
E: you are right, but I don't know how where to go, do you?
B: I talked to John the other day, you know the gardener, he told me that there was some social worker visiting the park the other day. They have some plans for project here. Maybe we can talk to them? What do you think?
E: This is a GREAT idea Bob.

E: may be we also could talk to them about the conserts they arrange here. Have you ever heard about the band "Sweet Dreams"?
B: Never.
E: They are arranging these conserts for the youngsters, but they never bother to ask what we would like to hear. I think it is about time that we can have some band we want! Agree!
B: Yes! you are right. Let's see if we can make a change here.

(THIS is a video scene recorded at the skate ramp in the park)

FREE CONSERT: "SWEET DREAMS" visiting our Park

SWEET DREAMS
IN CONSERT SATURDAY AT 20:00

FREE ENTRANCE!


(PICTURE OF A BAND)

Skateboarding - give us a mega ramp

I'm doing skateboarding, and when looking at the video you can see below showing the Mega Ramp
I'm really frustastrated about the tiny little ramp we have here in the park. No wonder that we use all the staircases, steep roads and other possibilities in the Park. How can we become professional skaters when what we are offered is this playground for children!!! Let's get something really challenging that can give us the kick we want!!

Jake Duncombe is really cool! Just take a look:

http://www.grindtv.com/video/skate/jake_duncombe/#23231
http://www.grindtv.com/video/skate/jake_duncombe/#41718

If you are interested in skateboarding I recommend you the site: http://www.skateboard.com/

Eve, 14.

Segregation or intergration?

During the last 20 years many people, immigrants and refugees from Iran, Irak, Turkey, Marocco, Pakistan, Poland have some to our district. Most of them are working but do they feel integrated in our community?

Walking in the park we can see that people coming from other countries seems to sit by themselves and very seldom are in contact with the natives. We wonder why it is like this and would like to know what the immigrants thing of this themselves.

In this number of the Street Magazin you will find an interview with Mr. Bourkanyana. He is representative for the immigrants who has been living in our country for many years.

Editor, Street Magazine

The life of our immigrants

In this number of the Street Magazine we bring an interview with one of our politicians who also is the owner of the immigrant shop, Arkan Bourkanyana.

Arkan Bourkanyaia and his wife came to our country 20 years ago. They managed after some hard years to establish themselves in our district and Mr. Bourkanyaia got some help to start his own shop. The couple has two children and they are now teenagers both of them, the son Karhan 15 years old and the girl Leki of 18.


"Many of the readers will know you as the shopkeeper and your famous good bread, specific vegetables and exotic food Mr. Bourkanyaia, how has it been to establish yourself in this country?"

"Well, it was really hard in the beginnning when me and my wife came to this country. Everything was uncertain and so different from where I came from. The language was difficult to learn and we did not even know for how long we were allowed to stay. After the citizenship was settled we felt that we could start to live and to day I feel I have something to give to our community. That's why I'm also active in politics. To become member of the city council is a great honour for me as foreigner".

"What about the rest of your family? As I understand you have now two kids and your wife what about her? Does she feel the same as you about the situation?"

"The change has not been so easy for my wife. I think she miss her family back home more than me, and if she could I think she would prefer to go back. She has been home with our children and kept the household and is doing a great job with this even though she also have her health problems. She has some contact with women from our own country living nearby, but she has never learned the new language very well so she is not as comfortable as me to participate in the activities in our community"


"Our youngest son would prefer to start working. He is struggling with his school work Ijust hope he manage to fulfill now. It is not so easy to know what to do as parents when the kids struggle with school and want to drop-out.

It is a great contrast to our older daughter. She is doing rather well in school. But you know she challenge her mother a lot. The young girls in this country are used to have their own will and freedom in quit another way than is common in our culture. She is now in the age where she is going out with boys and we are very worried about her. But I suppose this is also what other teenage parents are??

I have seen how much problems there has been in families when the daughters fell in love with an ‘autochthonous’. We have not experienced this yet."

"What would you say has been the most difficult thing by coming to this country?"

"I think that must be the constant conflict and compromises you have to do between keeping your own culture and heritage and addapting to the culture and tradition in this new country. How to do this in a good way? I don't think I have found the answer yet even after 20 years."

"What is the main consern for you as a politician?"

"I am concerned about the intergration of the people coming from different cultures. To day there are still too few meeting places where we can learn from each others and exchange our thought about what is best for our community. When you have kids you have the school and you meet other parents there, but as you can see here when you walk in the park the "immigrants" stay by themselves and there is very little contact with the "autochthonous’. It is as we are afraid of each other. For me to be involved in politics and having the shop is one way of getting in contact with all sorts of people which I think is important"

"As a politician you are in power to do something about this? What kind of solutions do you see to make people more integrated and mixed?"

"Well there are some plans coming up, but we are discussing this now and I don't want to say too much about this before we have come to a conclution. What I can say is that the plans will involve our park area. I hope this is ok."

"Then we are looking forward to hear the result of this planning process and hope to come back to you later. Thank you for the interview"

(THIS interview can be made as a roleplay/video recorded. I'm thinking about one immigrant working in the Red Cross that I can contact and that might be a very good mr Bourkanyana. If we choose to do this a an interview I can contact him. Otherwise this could be done with voice over and pictures maybe?)

Welfare system and homeless people

The Street Magazine present to day the story of Anthony the homeless old man that died in the hospital. He prefered to live outdoor despite he had money to choose otherwise. How can we understand that some people choose this kind of life? What does this tell us about our welfare system? For most people persons like Anthony provoke our idea about the civil society and how to behave when you are living in a city. We are likely to think that the people living like this is either alcoholic or mentally ill. Many people seems to think that they are a danger to the society. Bearing diseases, smelling terrible, and is a hunt to our welfare system. But is this true? In the next number of The Street Magazine we will focus more on the situation for the homeless in the park and you can read what the salvation army know about these people, and what our health and social service think they can offer these people. We also offer the readers to bring in their thoughts about this.
The Editor, Street Magazine
(I suggest that we leave this open and that a task for students if they would like to focus on the homeless situation could be to interview the salvation army in their own city and the social autorities and to compare what is done for this group of people. How many are they, what do we know about them? How could John the gardener use the money to the best for these people?)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Living as homeless

Article in the Street Magazine
There is no evidence of the numbers of homeless people in our park city, but we know that the difficult economical situation and difficult labour market have caused more people to live on the street. Reports from the Salvation Army Shelters tell us that they are fully booked every night, and that they even have to refuse some to come. As long as the weather is not too bad, they know that many prefere to stay out door instead of coming to the crowded centre. Many of the homeless are having severe health problems as well.
In our portrait today we present Anthony, who has been sleeping in the park for many years. The interview was made one month ago, when Anthony was hospitalised because of serious pneumonia. Anthony is no longer with us, but we bring his history because we think his voice should be heard.


Anthony was 72 when he died at the hospital. He had been living as homeless for many years and used to stay in the park, where he had made a shelter for himself.
Anthony was a peaceful man, but he could not stand living indoor. He felt like being strangled and had the feeling of not being able to breath freely.
Anthony had his pension, but he did not use much of it. He did not spend much money on himself and when he died he had much money in his bank account. The only person Anthony felt he had some contact with was John the gardener in the park. They seemed to have a sort of understanding for each other and John talked with Anthony regularly and looked after him when the weather was too cold.

The hospitalisation of Anthony was probalby what killed him. He understood that the authorities would not allow him to continue sleeping rough and wanted him to stay in an elderly home. Anthony knew that he could not stand this.

Before he died Anthony made his will where he left all his money to John the gardener. He also made a letter to John where he explained what he hoped he could use the money for.
This is what Anthony wrote:

Dear Gardener:
If you're reading this letter you will know that I have passed away. My latest will was sending you this letter and the attached package..

The first I want to do is to sincerely thank you for all that you has done for me during last years...

If you open the package you will find some of my loved personal belongings. The old gold watch of my grandparent… A photo from time when a served the Army…

You will also find a bearer check with all the savings I have done during the last years. You can do what you want with this amount of money, but I am sure you will do the best.

Yours Anthony
(THIS passage could be presented with a picture of Anthony and his voice over)

The Street Magazine has contacted John and asked him what kind of contact he had with Anthony and what he will do with these money.
John sais: " I have known Anthony for many years, he was a lonely soul, did not want much contact with people. I think I was one of the few persons he talked to and I have to say that I liked him and his way of thinking about many things. I was the one who found him with high fever and brought him to hospital. He did not want to go, but I insisted although I knew that he could not stand to stay inside. I think that what made him die, might not be the pneumonia, but his anxiety for staying inside. But what can you do? I could not let him lay there on his bench with high fewer without getting medical help to him! - or could I?

I was very supriced when I received this letter from Anthony and I'm really sorry that he passed away in this way. I think he would have liked to end his days under the open sky. He had his problem yes, and it's difficult for other people to understand how he could choose to stay as a homeless even though he had the money not to do so. I don't know yet what to do with the money, but they are not mine. I would like to discuss this with the other homeless in this park to hear what they need. I think this is also what Anthony would like me to do, then we have to see if there is anything we can do to support them in a way they can be comfortable with".

Facts about drug addiction in Park City

The Street Magazine
In this park 140 people have died as a result of overdose during the last ten years. During the four first months this year the medical ambulant service have treated 150 fall over overdoses in the park. This is an increase of 44 times the number at the same period last year. The need for Medical Assisted Rehabilitation (MAR) for heroin users are the double of what can be offered. While waiting for treatment the drug addicts have to use illigal drugs. Injection rooms cannot take the place for MAR or other treatments, but to day we leave the drug addicts to themselves and indignities conditions.


Our interview today is with Johnny who has been "living" in the park for many years. His story is not unique, but as he says: "there are many here in the park in the same situation and with the same background as me".

I'm 44 years old and since I was 13 when I started to use speed. I was introduced to the stuff by some older boys and I was tempted to try what they did. I was a problematic kid, did a lot of things that caused med and others trouble and I nobody managed to help me with my problems. I left school very early and have a lot of breaks in my education. I was an undiagnosed ADHD-kid and the speed made me calmer and more focused. However since I had to get the drug illigal it also caused me trouble. I tried to work for a while, but the drugs made me unstable and I did not have enough confidence in myself to go back when I did not turn up after a week without any medical certificate. I think that when I was working I did a good job.

Without any job the money I received from the social office could not cover my need for living and drug abuse and I started to steel and even to prostitute myself. As you probalby have understood I ended in prisson, and have been there several times. I have tried to quit the drug, but did not get proper treatment and I'm not very optimistic any longer. You know - you always have the hope - the dream of having a normal life without the constant struggle for the next doses, but it is so hard to quit.

The park is in a way as a home for me. It is here I meet my friends every day and we understand each other, even though there can be some fights sometimes. I think that the neighbours should be happy that we do not cause more harm than we do. I don't think there has been any steeling from their flats, but of course they can be annoyed by people pissing in their gardens and setting their needles.

I'm really curious about how the authorities are going to solve what they find problematic with this Needle Hill. I welcome them to talk to us.
Johnny (interviewed by the Street Magazine)
Street magazine is available in a blog format. Students might get possibility to post articles there...

From a drug addicts view

Many people seems to have an idea about what is best for the drug addicts. What do you know about our situation? You are just conserned about the problem we cause for yourself, your nice and perfect life, pritty neighbourhood and your kids. Let me tell you, we don't want this life, many of us have struggled hard to get sober and free from the drug, but the system that is supposed to help is not working properly. When you start to get motivated for treatment, you have to wait too long before you can get an offer. When you get out of prisson there is no support that can stop you from going back to your old drug friends. Of course it is a problem with the needles in the park and we don't want it to be like this. Give us an injection room, and give those who want, an easier way to Metadon treatment. This is what we need!
Johnny from "the Needle Hill"

Don't discuss - do something!

As mother to small children growing up in this area, I'm really worried about their future, but also about what can happen when they are playing in the park. Too much garbage is floating around espessially the needles from the drug users. What can happen if our children step on these or even start to play with these because they do not know better!!?? When will we see the first HIV positive result of this among our children. I do challenge our authorities in this Park City to do something with this problem. For me who has to walk through this park to come to the play ground for my children I have to see men with their trousers on their knees setting their injections! It is embarrising!
To our police, health autorities, politiciens I say: Stop talking - do something!!!!
Mary, mother to two small kids

Injection room is no solution!

We in the Christian Democratic Party (CDP)have followed the discussion about the our drug abusers at the "Needle Hill" with interests and surprise. It seems that the authorities and Daniela Otte in the RSP have lost their belief in human being being able to recover from drug addiction. The CDP do not believe in establishing injection rooms as a solution for these people. What is needed is treatment and to help these people to get rid of their addiction. More and better institutions for treatment of drug addiction is what we will fight for during the following years.
Injection rooms will not solve the problem these people have in their effort to overcome their addiction.
Emma Toft, CDP

How to solve the problem at "Needle Hill"?

Mr.Backer in the Park neighbour committee is addressing a serious problem in our park, which we in the Radical Socialist Party(RSP)would like to address when we come into power after the election. There is no dignity in the life of these people, having to do their injection in front of people walking through the park. The large amount of overdose cases and even death as result of that is a medical problem. To give the drug abusers a safer place to do their injections and to reduce the number of new comers to this problematic milleue we suggest to build injection rooms where the drug abusers can do their injections in a clean place with medical care nearby. This will as we see it reduse the problems for the neighbours to our park and give a much better and absolute needed health care offer to the drug users.
D. Otte, leader of the local RSP

What is the solution for "Needle Hill"?

The leader of the Park neighbour commitee Mr. Backer, is upset about the situation seen in the park. As representative for the Police we can understand this and also the frustration of nothing beeing done with the problem caused by the drug abusers.
The Police force has made a priority to arrest drugdealers and to hinder newcomers to get into the mileue, but as Mr. Backer writes, this has not been very successful.
The Police has made contact with the health autorities and we hope to come to a solution, but yet we don't know what are the best to do. We do not believe in splitting up this group of people, because then we will loose the kind of control we have today. We have also seen the negative results when the police splitted up the drug milleue in our Capitol, this just transfered the problems to more areas.
Drug abuse is a health problem that has to be solved by the health autorities.
R.Potter, chief of the local police district

There must be a change (reader's voice/blog)

The Park neighbour organisation demand changes in the park.
As representative for the neighbours living next to the "needle hill" I will explain what problems we experience every day because of the drug abusers using the park as thier area for distribution and injections of drugs. Unfortunately they do not only use the park as an area, but we also find their needles in our gardens, or they sometimes use our staircase for setting their injections. It is scaring and it makes us feel afraid. We see many youngsters in the park together with the "old" users, and we think it is terrible that so many newcomers are recruited into the abuser group. Many of us are thinking of moving to another area, but we do not think that we who is not doing anything wrong should do this. The police should take some action and split up this mileue instead. There will soon be an election and I challenge the political parties in our city to come forward and give a statement about how they are going to deal with this situation in future.
Mr. Andre Backer, leader of the Park neighbour committee.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Fight in the news!

Have you seen the news about a fight in the park. Here is the link: http://Utube...

(This is not the video!!)

Manus video: A news reporter make following statement on the fight from the niddle hill:
blabla....
Interview of politician: blabla
Interview of the neighburg....

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Casting

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Gardeners introduction to the Park City

THE PARK CITY
Introduction:
(voice by a commentator)
Welcome to PARK CITY
This is a community case where you will meet people living in the City. The Park area is used by everyone and you will be presented to some of the citizens by John the Gardener who has been working in this park for many years. Please join him for a walk in the park.

THIS SPEACH WILL BE CHANGED A LITTLE: The Gardener will talk to the students (who is watching the video) and he will look back on the summer that now has gone and tells about the activity that could be seen.

This text and recording must be done in October, when the other text has been produced. THen the Gardener will give some short presentations of the different groups of people using the park and some events that has been special and that makes it easy to remember and trigger students curiosity.em>

1)The Gardener:
So you are social work students and you want me to introduce you to the people using the park? Well then you are coming to the right man. There is not much going on in this park that I don’t know about.
I love this park, because so many different people are coming here. I do my very best to keep it nice and especially at this time of the year when the rhododendron is blooming and the weather is good many people come to the park.(REMARK! we have to change this if the recording is done later in the year)It is strange, but it seems that different groups occupy different parts of the park. When we enter the park from this side you will meet the families coming here with their kids, playing and feeding the birds in the pond.
(ENTRENCE HERE COULD BE FROM THE VILVITE CENTRE)
(The family presented by the gardener
Gardener’s Introduction to the mothers at the duck pond)

2)This is the duck pond, and to day you can see there are a group of mothers with their children feeding the ducks and the swan over there. The ducks and the swan are so fat they can’t even take off to fly away. Maybe we should have a sign that says “Please don’t feed the birds” J.
Some of the mothers here I’ve known since their parents used to bring them here as children. That lady over there with the two young children is Mary. I remember her as a little girl from long ago. I see her occasionally over the other side of the park where they have the football pitch. I guess it’s because her husband, Peter comes here to play. But sometimes you also see the fathers and grandparents coming here playing with their children or feeding the ducks.



The Gardener continues to walk…

The youngsters presented by the gardener


3)Let me show you where some of the youngsters like to be. This is where the skateboarders are training on their tricks. Since we got this area here many of them have become really good! We also have the football ground as you can see, but many have started to use the grass in the park for football playing as well. I don’t like that because the grass is not made for that kind of activity.
Sometimes there are good outdoor concerts here in the park and then thousands of people can be present here. However it seems that the youngsters are not satisfied with the situation I’ve heard from Eve who comes here regularly with her skateboard.
There has been some complaines from people living nearby about the skaters making much noice, and the building of that skating area was nearly stoped because of that.


The Gardener continues to walk…

Well as I said it seems that different people prefer different parts of the park. Over here you have an open space where most of the immigrants use to come.


4)(The immigrants presented by the gardener )

This group enlarged a lot the last 20 years! They are so colourful! Talking, eating, and dancing together with their families. First the Italians came, later Moroccan, Pakistanis, Iraqis and Turkish families and sometimes they offered me their food. Strange, but most of the times I liked it very much!A pity though that they don’t take the leftovers with them when they leave! And they sometimes make a lot of noise, too!
What is funny to see is that the women are together, separated from the men, talking, playing with the children. Some of them you will see are wearing headscarves or burkas. The Bourkanyaia family is one of the families coming here very often, you have probably met Mr Bourkanyaia who is running the immigrant shop outside the park?

I heard there was some trouble with his youngest son the other day.

But not everybody seems to like the situation with all the foreigners coming to the park. Some of the elderly people (none immigrants) told me that they don’t feel at home anymore in their own park! I think there is a lot of predudice among elderly towards the immigrants.


5)The Gardener presents the elderly people (this part might be adjusted?)

Here on the benches near the pond you also find most of the elderly. They like to sit in the shadow of the trees and talk and look at what is going on. Very often you see three ladies over there Ms Schneider, Rivera and Kleiber. They seems to have an appointment nearly every day.But there are also some elderly coming here sitting by themselves, not talking to anyone. I wonder if they have any contact at all with other people.


The Gardener walking….

Now when it is not too cold in the weather some of the homeless in our city are coming to the park and even stay here during the night.

6)(The homeless presented by the gardener)

Here we have the bench Anthony used to sleep on. Officially it is not allowed to stay overnight, but I closed an eye for him because he did not do much harm. I was one of the few people that talked to him. He was shy and did not make much contact with anyone. The locals accepted him and even liked him somehow. So did I: when he died it was as if I lost a member of my family. It is a very sad story. He lived here for a very long time. He had a hard time and one morning I found him with a serious fever so I called the medical mobile unit. But that didn’t do him any good. They forced him to go into an institution, although the outside is his life. The newspaper made a portrait of him before he died.
You know what is funny, I heard recently that he had a lot of money in the bank when he died, but maybe that’s only a rumour.He was not the only homeless person frequenting this park, but he was certainly the most colourful. It is my idea that too many people is suffering with severe social and health problems around here and there seems to be less help and support for those in need.

The Gardener is walking to the end of the park.

7)Well now you can see that we are coming to another entrance to the park. Here is the really troublesome area. Just outside the fence you have the nice old villas and here in the park is the area where you find many of the drug abusers in our city. (ENTRENCE: Nygårdshøyden)

The drug abusers presented by the gardener

Johnny that you can see over there belongs to this group. He has been in the park for many years now. He is not so very well. In many ways he is an amazing person, yesterday you could even read an interview with him in the Street Magazine, that the drugabusers are selling. During the last two months we see the medical ambulant service here many times a day because of overdoses. There seems to be a lack of treatment and health care offered to these people.
A lot has been written in the newspaper about this situation and neighbours living next to this area are complaining a lot about the garbage. needles floating around, and using the gardens for toilett. I can understand that this must be difficult and it makes this part of the park an area where "normal" people avoid as much as they can. I don't think that the situation can continue like this anymore.


The Gardeners Ending:

Well I hope this short walk and presentation of the Park City has given you some information about what you can expect here to happen. As you have heard and seen the park is for everybody just as an ordinary community. I hope this has given you some input to your projects. If you need more information you can search in the electronic newspaper, and also visit some of the people I have presented to you - they will for sure be able to give you more information. Good luck with your job. I hope to see more of you here in the future.

16:30, one day of September...

by Wolfgang & David
Middle of the park, in front of the fountain, three women around 70-80 years are sitting on a bench...
Zoom in...into the conversation (1): Do you what is with Ms. Schatz, I miss her since some days before...
(2): Oh, I just talk about with her daughter (playing with the child at the playground) and tell me that her mother is in the hospital
(3): Oh, the poor, I´d like to see her, but I don´t know how to go there, my legs are really in bad conditions...
(1): Sorry I don´t understand, There is a lot of noise with the children at the fountain, could you repeat, please...

(2): I´m afraid because the winter will come soon and I don´t know what I´ll do, I´ll miss the life at the park, the people around me...
(1): We should find some contacts. How do you enter in contact with the daughter of Ms. Schaft?
(2): Oh, Ms. Schatz ask me to take attention on the grandchild together. The daughter lives alone with the child and she need a hand.
(3): Yes, I heard a lot about the big number of one-parent-families...that grows up...
(1) Even when I heard not very well, this I catch up all (laugh)...
(2): We should do something, always is better than be sitting alone in the dark at home.
(1): And even me, that my husband is still alive, but I feel so alone, he´s like a furniture...he and his tv...he also should go out and met some people...but he thinks that here in the park there is only problems with the youngsters and the immigrants habits, maybe he didn´t know that here there is a lot of different people, and sometimes there are very interesting ones...but he is always complaining about everything, he seems to be like a little grumpy...
(3): That´s correct, every day there is a group of men in the park, playing cards, talking and so on. They are youngest than your husband but I think that this could be a good chance to met and have relations with other people, not only with tv and sofa.
(2): You´re right, that´s a good idea..But let´s talk about us, The idea to take contact with young mothers and support them is fascinating...



(1) Ms. Schneider
(2) Ms. Rivera
(3) Ms. Kleiber

Monday, July 20, 2009

Mary and Peter - 3 different cases

by Bob & Lasma

Setting: Mary is talking to a friend in the park whilst giving bread to her two children to feed the ducks. She is well dressed, but casual. The children are also well-dressed. It is mid-morning. The friend is also well-dressed casual. It is mid-June, when it stays light very late.

Mary: Yes, I’ve grown up here. My parents still live in the house where I was born. It’s just over there, you see those lovely little houses just behind the skateboard area. One day Peter and I hope to buy our own home over there. But it’s so hard. So you’ve just moved here? How do you like it here?

Friend: Well we’ve come down from the North, but it’s really difficult because we’ve had to move so far from our family and friends. But these days you have to go where the work is. We don’t know anyone in the area yet.

So what’s this area like? Do you like it?

Mary: It’s a nice area. I like it. And you know on Mondays, some of us mums meet at the Cafe in the park for a bit of chat and some coffee or tea. If you come this Monday, I can introduce to some of the other mums. They’re very nice, and would love to meet you as well, I’m sure. We have some plans about some changes that we’d like to see in the park.

Paul, give your sister some bread too! There you go Linda, there’s a bit of bread. You can feed those ducks over there. But don’t give it to them all at once; break off little bits like your brother is doing. Watch Paul.

Yes, there are the usual problems I one would expect, but we like it here. We love coming to the park. The children love playing on the playground, the swings, etc. You have be very careful though, because sometimes the teenagers play on the swings and see-saw and they break bottles and leave the broken glass around. But we have a very good gardener, who makes sure that the broken is always cleaned up quite quickly. He really does a very good job.

Friend: I’ve seen some elderly people over the other end of the park. Do you have much to do with them?

Mary: They are very peaceful. My parents go there sometimes. And Pieter’s parents, too. When they’re there, I usually go over and spend a bit of time chatting to them. They don’t like coming here in the evenings though, even though they don’t have a lot to do at home. They’re a bit afraid of some of the youngsters that hang around the park at night. When I go over there, some of the elderly folks complain to me about this and that in the park, you know, ”It’s not like it used to be” and that sort of thing. But mostly it doesn’t bother me. The young people they just want some place to hang out. They don’t cause me any trouble.

Friend: What about all these women with the burkas? It’s getting to be like we’re not living in our own country any more.

Mary: Don’t worry about them. They’re not dangerous or anything. Sometimes I’ve gone over to talk with them a little. Sometimes our children even play together. It’s funny to see them playing together because their children don’t speak the language so well. But they manage.

They’re very friendly, and usually offer some of their food when they’ve got it. They have some lovely sweet things; tastes great. You’ll have to meet them with me some time and try it.

The only groups I worry a bit about are the drug abusers. Have you seen them? They tend to hang out on that little hill over there. The locals call it ‘Needle hill’. Sometimes they leave their used needles about, and I worry about Paul and Linda coming across them, but I avoid going that way.

The ones that I’ve seen look really quite miserable; I can’t imagine it’s a happy life.

Friend: Oh, yes, I know. My younger brother got into drugs for awhile, back home. We were very worried about him for a few years, but he’s okay now.



Mary is talking to an elderly man, her father-in-law. He comes to the park every day after lunch for a few hours to chat to the other men in the park. It is later the same day. She is wearing the same clothes. She still has her two children with her.

Mary: So, dad, did you see Pieter here last Friday. He was playing on the football area, and he was so happy. His team won for the first time in about a month.

Father-in-law: Yes, he couldn’t help himself but come up here and tell me about it. By the way, did you see that broken bench by the Cafe? It’s not broken anymore. I told the gardener about it, and he had them come it fix it really quickly. It was done within a week. But it’s such pity someone’s already written on it. Brand new, and already covered in graffiti. It’s going to need a paint job already. They should use that anti-graffiti paint for these benches. It’s not enough that they have a graffiti wall, they still have to write on the benches and other places as well

Mary: Oh yes, I saw it on Monday when I was meeting at the Cafe with the other mums. It was already covered with the graffiti, so they must have done it over the weekend. What a shame!

Say hello to Mom, and tell her I really enjoyed the cookies that she made for us the other day. She must give me the recipe.



Peter is talking to Mr. Arkan Bourkanyana, a local shopkeeper. They are in the park. Peter pops into the shop regularly on his way home from work, and is quite friendly with him. The body language shows that they are quite good friends despite the age difference.

Peter: Arkan, we won! What a losing streak but it’s over.

Arkan: Yes, I saw the end of the game, after I closed up. You played very well.

Peter: You think so? Thanks. We were so happy but these youngsters were laughing at us. They were giving us a hard time, being a bit rude and insolent because they wanted to come on the pitch and play. But in the end, they got impatient, and went to play on the nearby grassy area. We need a few more football pitches here. There’s not enough.

Most of those kids are okay, but there’s a few of them that really like to give you a hard time.

Arkan: Yes, they sometimes give my wife a hard time when she comes to the park. She’s not in good health, and with our five children, she can’t cope with a lot of stress. I don’t like when they say those things to her. Some of them are racists. Not all of them. Most of them are quite nice, but a few of them, need to be taken in hand. I don’t know what we can do about it. But my wife is thinking is thinking that maybe she no longer wants to come to the park

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Drug abusers - the scene

By Anne Karine, José & Xavier

TV report interviewing people involved in this confict.
Interview with:
the drugabuser
The neighbor leader
The politician
The police
The social worker at STRAKS
The gardener
Where is it going on?


The situation :
Yesterday there come to a severe conflict among a group of drugabusers at the needle hill and the neighbors. The nightpartoler was trying to clean a sone of drugabuser but the drugabuser refused to leave and one them took a canyle and attacked the nightpartoler. It came a fight and the police were contacted and before they came five persons were involved in the fight and two persons became havely wonded
This raise the discussion again about where should the drugabuser be, and how to solve the conflict with the neighbours

there was a fight last night among the druga buser and the neighbor



We see the drug abusers in their part of the park, and we see people passing by

The scene 1:
The interview with Johnny
A verbal park:
Neighbour leader:
Johnny:

Need the picture of the park

flickr picture by KayVee.INC

Thursday, June 11, 2009

A film by some students from Bergen College

The homeless presented by the gardner

Here we have the bench Antony used to sleep on. Officially it is not allowed to stay overnight, but I closed an eye for him because I was one of the few people that talked to hem. He was shy and not very contact-full, but locals accepted him and even liked him somehow. So was I: when he died it was as if I lost a member of my family. It is a very sad story. He lived here for a very long time. He had a hard time and one morning I found him with a serious fever so I called the mobile unit of the Salvation Army. But that didn’t do him any good. They forced him to go into an institution, although the outside is his life. The open air is his past and his future, so he died unhappy in residential care for elderly only 3 months after I found him.
Antony was a part of the park. Many people know him. Some elderly brought leftovers for him. But other people like businessman eating their lunch in the park had difficulties to understand him. Especially when he was drunk and making amok I had to intervene from time to time. You know what is funny, I heard recently that he had a lot of money on the bank when he died, but maybe that only a rumor.
He was not the only homeless person frequenting this park, but he was certainly the most colorful. I feel so sorry for him. He grew up in a bad situation with abuse and going from one stepfamily to an other. He spent time in institutions and prisons. Never ever in his life was able to grew over his unhappy childhood. This is why his relation with the other homeless was ambiguous. He was like a father for them, but on the other hand he was very afraid of getting attached to them. He never learned to build relations or became emotionally attached to others.
Antonyinheaven@hotmail.com

The family presented by the gardner

Gardener’s Introduction to the mothers at the duck pond

This is the duck pond, and as you can see there are a group of mothers with their children feeding the ducks and the swan. The ducks and the swan are so fat they can’t even take off to fly away. Maybe we should have a sign that says “Please don’t feed the birds”. Some of the mothers here I’ve known since their parents used to bring them here as children. That lady over there, with the two young children, I remember her as a little girl from long ago. I see her occasionally over the other side of the park where they have the football pitch. I guess it’s because her husband comes here to play


[Sometimes the grandparents come here with their grandchildren to feed the ducks, too]

Feedback: Should the gardener say that Mary goes over to talk with the elderly sometimes.

Milieu [where are they? Where do we find them?]
Characteristics of the person in detail
Dialogue; what are the issues? What is being said and who is saying it? ‘I am ...’ ‘I enjoy ....’ ‘They like’

The immigrants presented by the gardner

Here is the place where we find the immigrantgroups. This group enlarged a lot the last 20 years! They are so colourful! Talking, eating, dancing together with their families. First there came the Italians, later Marocan, Turkey families and sometimes they offered me their food. Strange, but most of the times I liked it very much!
A pity is that they left a lot of foodrests after they have been here! And they sometimes make a lot of noise! What is funny to see is that the women are together, separated from the men, talking, playing with the children. Sometimes they are with headscarves or burkas and some of the elderly people told me that they don’t feel at home anymore in their own park…..

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Scene "the youths"

by Eduardo & ??

One Sunday, Bob and Eve meet each another in the park. They are reading a fly poster about the next Concert. Time by time the Municipality gives the younger the possibility to go to a Concert for free. This was inside the local programmation for young people.
When Bob are reading the fly poster, he noticed that a pretty girl with a skate on bag rucksack (mochila), was also reading it.
They looked each other and they smile. At this moment they begin to speak about their feelings.
B: Hi, I see you also like doing skateboard, don’t you?
E: Yes, of course. I love it.
B: My name is Bob. What’s your name?
E: Eve. What do you think about this concert? Do you know this group: “Sweet Dreams”?
B: No, I have never heard about it. I think the council doesn’t mind the wishes of the city’s young people. They only think of paying low cash so they bring to us groups without quality.
E: It’s always the same story. They don’t worry about young people needs, specially our needs.
B: What do you mean? Do you talk about the music or the skating area in this park?
E: I refer specially our wishes. Don’t you think we need more street obstacles? This park seems to be for beginners. The Council didn’t permit us to skate the city’s ramps. Now, we are outside the city, here, in this park and with this situation.
E: Yes, but this skate park is our life.
B: It’s true. But I think we have talk about other problems we have here. We need more lights, water, a shelter and more space. We are in a perpetual circle.

The drug abusers presented by the gardner

Here you will meet Johnny and the other guys. He has been for 5 years in the park, and he is one of the drug abusers.
He is an amazing person, yesterday you could even read an interview with him in the newspaper.
But you know they also create some problems for me, because as you can see there is a lot of garbage here. And “normaly” people tries to avoid this place. Lately there has been some writing in the newpapers about neighbors complaining about them being here.

Scene "the immigrants"

by Bieke og Rina

Situation
Mr. Arkan Bourkanyana is in his shop with fresh bread, vegetables etc. One of the frequent customers , Bezan come in.

(click on the shop nearby the park and you hear the dialogue….)

Arkan is a wellknown figure in the community – hears a lot in his shop and the market he is once a week, about the neighbourhood, about what is going on, but also the and the annoyances of the community.

He is trusted by his sun and his friends, he know that there are some problems, but don’t know how to deal with it.

- Arkan gives him his bread

Than sun Karhan and daughter Leki come in to help their father preparing for the market the

other day

Arkan to his sun….

Karhan is hesitating…..

Karhan is a drop out but his parents don’t know by sure, by they assume something. He has some bad friends, don’t know how to deal with that. He needs more support, because he has no image of the future: what he wants to become etc.

Daughter Leki is active in the community centre

(very social, can make friends everywhere, still in school, thinks about to be a teacher with small children of may be a social worker)

Dialogue

Good morning Arkan, how is the bread today?

I just saw the police here. Did something happen?

- Morning Bezan. Well, we have very nice

bread today! I really don’t know what is going on, but the police was looking for my sun!

their has been a fight in the park and they wanted to know if he had something to do with it.

- Was there again a fight in the park

between the youngsters? It happens so often the last couple of months. It’s no longer our safe place to sit, talk, eat and have fun together…..

By the way, don’t you think we need some more

facilities and space in our park – more safety but also water, our own barbecueplace ..? And our own table to play cards or chess?

- Bezan pays and says: Well I hope there is no much trouble with your sun. Thanks for the bread. See you tonight!

The police was here and asked for you!

Where were you this morning? There seemed to be a fight in the park. I told them you were at School. That’s right isn’t it?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, well, I was at school, but we came out earlier and the others asked if I came with them to the park…and then we had a discussion with the skinheads, who did not want us there. He insulted me …. He pushed me in, but I hitted him only once..

Why don’t you come also to the community center! That’s a good and safe place to meet. All my friends are coming there and we have contacts there with everybody. We even talked today about organizing a party or so for all of us….

The Immigrants

by Bieke og Rina

Some characteristics:
- Different countries…. Maroc, Tukey, Poland, Roumanian, Gipsies……
- Often a ‘we’ culture (group, groupfeeling)
- Different religions – Islam,
- Less changes – less education, less workpossibilities = less money, poverty, healthproblems (psychological problems)
- Languageproblems (children – educational problems f.i.)
- Wish to live outside – less ’green’ possibilities, so leisuretimes in the streets
- Radicalisation – extreme right, islamisering
- Shawl/headscarf/burka
- Discrimination on different levels (colour, work, school, politics)
- Sexuality, relations, give in marriage, murder in the name of family honour
- Poverty, low incomes, inurement (habituation)
- Diversity in the community, little shops (food, furniture etc.) = colourful
- Differences in culture/art: music, dance is more part of the daily life
- Living in 2 cultures – at home and outside (school, work)
- First, second and third generations- difference in characteristics
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2005/11/immigrants-in-netherlands-fact-and.html

Family Bourkanyaia
Father, mother, a son of 15 years old Karhan and girl Leki of 18. The father and the mother immigrated 20 years ago to this country, the children are born here.
Father has a local shop with food. The community is happy with his good bread, specific vegetables etc. He is respected in the community. The mother has some health problems –is bothering about some things in the family and is not feeling well accepted in the community.
The boy isn’t doing well at school and is a drop-out – spending a lot of time with his friends in the park. The girl is at school, doing rather well but feels the difference between the more traditional culture at home and the culture at school. (She is in love with a ‘autochthonous’ boy, with give a lot of tensions in the family)
Give a specific situation – and voice to the situation……..
Women from the same culture, going to the park… talking


Mileu/surroundings
Multicultural –high flats – big families in small apartments – small balconies with a lot of wash – trash and satellites. There is weekly market and a lot of local little shop. There is also a mosque.
Smells – music ……..

flickr pic by dirac3000

Scene "homeless"

by Andres & Pieter

Early in the morning
Sunny day
We see the gardener sited in a bench with a postal package plus a letter in his hands. The sender is Anthony and the receiver the Gardener.
The gardener opens the letter and lets the package in the bench.
He starts to read
We hear Anthony’s voice in off

Dear Gardener:
If you're reading this letter is that I have passed away. My latest will was sending you this letter and the attached package..

The first I want to do is to sincerely thank you all that you has done for me during last years...

If you open the package you will find some of my loved personal belongings. The old gold watch of my grandparent… A photo from time when a served the Army…

You will also find a bearer check with all the savings I have done during the last years. You can do what you want with this amount of money, but I am sure you will do the best.



Late in the evening. Same place.
We see 3 homeless people (MICH, DEBBY AND CINDY) trying to prepare them to sleep (carton, etc.).
Tobby (the dog) is also there barking sometimes
They have small taking among them
Debby drinks from his bottle
Cindy gives some wine to Mich
The gardener appears. He is closing the garden and be sure that nobody is inside.
The gardener goes where the three homeless are and start to talk with them

-Mich: Its really cold today. Do you have some booze there?

-Debby: Fuck me, Bro,

- And you Cindy?



Gardener: Hi boys, hi lady! Today is really cold, and the forecast predicts heavy rain. Why don’t you go to the Shelter?

Mitch: Leave us. We are not going there. We hate it. We are not sisis. All are rules, cynic people…

Gardener: Remember Anthony. He got really ill here.

Mitch: But the Shelter finished off him.

Elderly faces from the park

by Wolfgang & David

MILIEU AND CHARACTERISTICS (Neighborhood, housing condition, rent, money, habits, family, health conditions, leisure time...)

We talk about a group of three woman that usually met each other at the park.
The 3 woman lives in the city...two of them was born in the same city and the other (Ms. Rivera) lives there form 1965 (she is from Spain)
they live near the park in different buildings (...)
Only one is married Ms. Schneider (her husband spend a lot of time watching tv, he prefers that than being with his wife), Ms. Rivera and Mr. Kleiber are widows,
All of them have good incomes from the state(their houses are paid)
Ms. kleiber (80) has problems to walk, rheumatism , and she needs a walking stick
Ms. Schneider (78) has audition problem
Ms. Rivera (75) has good health conditions (she says that is related about her food habits)

Ms. Schneider has 2 sons and 1 daughter (age: 45, 47 and 50...,
Where the sons live?
How many, for each character...
The things that they like to do in leisure time (chat, walk, sitting on a bench, cooking, reading books...)
Some of them have to pass time with their grandchild...



Flickr pic by Murray Williams

Johnny from “the needle hill”

By Anne Karine, José & Xavier

Description of the situation:

It is a group of drugabuser in the park (junkies).
They are in different age, from the 13? – 45 year
Different sex, mainly men, the women is into prostitution, more invisible (you find them in another place).
They are standing in the upper part of the park which is called “the needle hill” by the locals.
Close to where they are there is a hotel and some more sophisticated houses. The neighbors to the needle hill are very embarrassed by their doing…. By their hygienic costumes and sexual activities sometimes in their garden.
Needles are “floating around” and people are worried about dogs and children that can be hurt or infected by the needles. Sometimes there are a lot of noise and fights. People living nearby and families that likes to be in the park feel embarrassed by the junkies. Sometimes they can see that they are cleaning their needles in the water fountain (for drinking) and that they are doing injections where families are sitting nearby.
There is a problem that youngsters are coming to the park and that parents as well as teachers and social workers and the police are worried about youngsters becoming part of this milieu.
There has been a lot of protest from the neighborhood in the newspapers lately about the situation in the park and the leader of the neighbor organization has had several notices in the newspaper on this and also made contact with the politician and the social authorities.
There is a discussion among the readers if the junkies should be moved to another area in the city – this raise other questions about what this solve.
The junkies are living in the city but also outside the cities, but they come to this park to get the drugs.
One of the local newspaper journalists makes an interview and portrait of Johnny who is one of the junkies in the park.
Characters:
Johnny:
The journalist?:
The leader of the neighbor organization:




There are two or three persons here that get in contact with the journalists who want to make a portrait of the junkies situation.
He wakes up in the morning and the first to do is to think how to get the stuff. Some way of getting the drug is steeling, begging and selling Megafon.

User participation and participatory action involving the group of junkies to do something which does not make conflict.

The story is told by the drugabuser “ Johny
The Neighbourhood The story is also told by one of the neighbours in the park who think they should be moved from the park
Politician


flickr picture by KayVee.INC

Mr. & Ms. B and their 2 kids

by Bob & Lasma

The Family

Peter B - 30
Mary B – 28
Linda B – 2 years
Paul B – 4 years

They live in rented apartment. It is well furnished.
Mr. B is assistant manager in a shop that sells technology (mobile phones, computers etc.). Mrs. B was teacher in secondary school. She is not working now because of lack of daycare for children under 3.

Everyday habits – Peter two or three times a week at evenings look after children to let Mary to have some time with herself. One evening in a week she goes to the English class. Other evenings she goes to visit her friends. Once or twice a week Mary takes the children to the park to feed ducks and swan, and to meet other mothers and chat.

Once a week in the evening Peter goes to play football with his friends in the park.

Both Peter and Mary have grown up in this area and have a lot of friends and family locally. They feel very positively about their local community and don’t anticipate that they will ever want to leave.
On weekends they go to the seaside or countryside, usually with friends. 5 years ago Peter took out a loan to buy the car which he is still paying back (3 more years to pay).




flickr pictures by Jackal of all trades

Antony "the homeless"

by Andres & Pieter

Story like in the press
(Other who know him, read it in the newspaper)
Antony is 72 and is living in the street. He had a lot of money in the bank but refuses any help from social services and he is a little bit afraid of other people (mentally disabled, social handicap). He becomes angry when strangers speak to him. It makes him feel ‘wrong seen’. Form him social workers of professionals are strangers that cannot be trusted. He also likes to be independent.
Gardener finds him in a really bad health condition “Do you need any help?” Antony sais “yes” and the gardener phones the mobile unit of the Salvation Army. And brings him to the hospital and after that to the shelter. Workers try to convince him to go to residential care of elderly. But he refuses because all social workers offer him doesn’t interests him. He has a public pension of 500euro/ month but he doesn’t take it up. He saves in on the bank and from time to time he collects money to buy alcohol.
For him it is very important to have money on the bank. He feels guilty when he takes this money. He explains to the social worker that he cannot spent the money for the residential care. He saved this amount for years and years. The institute for elderly costs 900/month. On his account there is enough money for paying the institute for 2 years. The social worker arranges a meeting with his nephew and this nephew is able to convince him to go to the institute. He within 3 months Antony dies.
People in the park know him. He has been living in the park for years.
His needs and characteristics
He needs to be left alone and doesn’t want to be disturbed. His main need is the quality of the benches. Benches in the park are not the same anywhere. There is a huge difference in quality because the colds comes from down. On top of that it is your hip with needs to be supported. Benches needs to be hollow so that you don’t roll out during the night.
Strength homeless: Can you do this put everything you own, everything you remember, all personal objects in one bag. This is a skill.
You don’t care about other people.

Elements for the students
Compulsory help? How can you reach this target-group as a social worker and how can you accept that homeless people don’t want to fit in to the schemas or steps social workers have in the head. Community project in order to gain trust in the other.
What is the community case in this? Is it too individualized?
Do we have to accept that people want to live on the street and just improve the conditions. Mattresses, washing place, public lockers for their stuff?
People don’t like them because they speak loud or homeless people get angry on passers-by. Antony symbolizes the social system not functions very well.
Tasks for students: write a reply in the newspaper, produce a drama plot for the theater corner.
The newspaper brings other groups in the park: journalists, politicians, businessmen, concerns from the teachers and the police. Concerns that come from people who go out there with the dog.
Who will take care of this situation in Spain, Belgium, Norway, Latvia? Who will be engaged in this?
Homeless feel unsecure, unsure and unsafe. Life is a chaos. I have no bounds with family, friends or neighborhood. I have difficulties to take care of my own life. I just can’t manage things that come up to me. Gambling. Mentally retardation and prostitution and I was mal treated as a child. Many health problems bronchitis and asthma. Skin and bone problems. Suffer violence and accidents. Prevalence of HIV. Refuse to go social services.

Profile of the homeless-people: mental diseases (most of them have mental problems and are schizophrenic) and drugs addicts.
Structural elements: homeless are invisible. There is almost no laws on the homeless.
There are teased and put away by the police. They are often angry on people passing by. They go to shelters.
Provide possibilities to sell something rather that begging initiatives like: Daklozenkrant, magaphone, La Farola
Homeless people are a danger to society. That is why politicians have to do something about them. They invite for violence. In the night they get beaten-up or they fight for alcohol. Homeless people make people feeling unsafe in the streets and in the parks. They are also risk to society because they are bearing diseases. Especially they contaminate the rest of the population with tuberculoses or HIV.

Flickr picture by Mabar

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

"the park" on google earth


Vis "the parc" i et større kart

Monday, May 25, 2009

To be started


a flickr by Ed Yourdon