Youth Worker’s Shoes

What should I say? It came out of nowhere and it hit me hard. Me as much as the organisation. At this point, we are not even on the verge of survival. If we wouldn’t have families to support us financially, we would basically be social cases. I mean, I think we are, but we are in no database.

Instead, we have some young people in our database that we strove to remain close to and we are trying to offer them support, as we know best. We continued to interact online, even though it’s nothing compared to what we used to do at the Youth Centre, but still, we facilitated their access to online events, counselling sessions, shows on topics for youth, etc.

Now, if I were to tell you what I’ve been doing for the past two months. That’s kind of it. From morning until evening/night, I searched for the needs and I tried to identify solutions, come up with ideas and suggestions. For me, it wasn’t hard to adapt to the situation. In about a week, after I realised that I have enough resources not to get depressed, I started to look for ways in which I can be somehow useful.

I chose to respect the rules for my own safety and for the people around me, so for two months, I didn’t leave my yard, except to go shopping four times and to take Pufi to the vet two times. I didn’t seek reasons to go out, although it wouldn’t have been too hard, I tried to solve things online or postpone anything that implied physical contact and wasn’t an emergency. It didn’t seem to be too great of an effort and I started from the fact that my basic needs were covered. Other than that, I learned to cope using my own interior resources because I’ve often been in uncertain situations, without a clear perspective to cling to. So, everything I’ve lived so far prepared me well enough, emotionally speaking, for such a situation.

In time, I learned to be satisfied with my own interior freedom, even when my exterior freedom is limited. I can redesign my reality and normalize it in a short time. I don’t cry for what has passed, but I try to find ways in which I can adapt to sudden changes. In DEIS, I often didn’t have time to evaluate situations, let alone cling to the past. I had to learn to act on instinct, to change, to redesign and to be ready for the unpredicted. For 10 years I’ve been living in uncertainty and unpredicted. The only things I need are physical safety and health.

For now, in isolation, I felt safe. Next week I’ll return to the office and these needs might not be fulfilled anymore. But I’ll see at the right moment what other mechanisms will I turn on so I can function at maximum capacity or at least to perform in a way in which I can save, together with my colleagues, the organisation.

This is my only worry because unfortunately, by the moment I’m writing this, we couldn’t find solutions for us to survive as an organisation. We were already in a tough situation and with no financial capacity. Basically, we succeeded to keep the organisation functioning by offering services and activities for young people as volunteers. I think that there is still a need for us, but a situation like this makes you wonder. How long can you offer services as a volunteer? If we wouldn’t have had the financial support of our families, to assure our physical survival, how would have we lived in these times? We, the team, will go on, we’ll get through this and I only hope we’ll remain healthy. What I don’t know is if we will succeed to save the organisation and go on together or each of us on their own road. #pandemic thoughts

Other than that, Pufi is with me all day and nothing makes me happier than the moments when he is happily running through the grass. Life is the way you choose to see it.

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The text was written by Diana Sabo, the youth worker who proves every day that they are the superheroes needed by every generation of young people. I definitely know some young people (including myself) who got to make the best decisions for themselves and their community, and that is mostly due to the learning opportunities that DEIS Association offered us.