Life in the East-End
So over the last few months I have had the joy to become what we call an East-ender although I don't want to be tiled with the same brush as one of those people on Eastenders. I don't think life is like the telly programme at all but what programme is really like real life. I now feel it is a privilege to be an East - ender. There is an amazing sense of community here even on the estate I live on. I have had the awesome opportunity to get to know my neighbours we seem to know each other on the road we live on many our Philippino and they know each other so that helps and they knew the man that left us the house. We dont know the people on the other side of the road which is a block of flats but that is on my hit list in the next few months.
So this is a really exciting to be here in East London especially at this very key time in history we are officially the Olympic city in the world all eyes are going to be on London and n particular the east end. The stadium is going to be just 20 mins away in Strafford. So we are in an exciting place and at an exciting time.
However this Tower Hamlets despite the nice name as I used to think is the poorest borough in London and the second poorest in Britain, there is a very high unemployment rate even though we are really near Canary Warf. We can see it from our house and it is a beautiful site and a great place to go to but it in many ways socially speaking is a million miles away from here. Most of the world money goes through that place yet here and even more so in other parts of Tower Hamlets which I have visited recently the estates don't see a lot of that money. Although with the Olympics coming up I think they will be putting a lot more money into this area - of course the people and rightly so feel cheated that something like the Olympics has to come to the area in order for money to be invested here.
I live on the Teviot estate which apparently is Scottish not sure why I will have to look into what it really means. For me living on the edge of this estate is the fulfillment of a 10 year promise of wanting to live on an estate. I remember back in the day when I was in Manchester and that is a very long time ago
when I went to visit a friend on Moss-side and even locally to where I used to live in Crumpsall Harpurhey I would love hanging out in such places. I have alway found that estates have a real community feel sure there are a lot of problems and sometimes quite severe ones but there is a sense of pulling through difficulties together. I have been wanting to get to know my neighbors again for the last 10 years and here within a few months we had got to know our neighbors.
I remember when we moved in or a little after around Easter I made cakes for them I think this helped break the ice but also I think the thing that really had nothing to do with us was the fact that Peter who lived here for many years and left the house to YWAM was good friends with all the neighbors and they were all very fond of him. He had been sowing much seed here in the street and further a field as well, and our hope is that we will be able to reap what he has sown.
I have become part of a fantastic Church where I have found some great people and I am already quite involved in the youth work there and of course the social scene too. I am am going to be working with a Youth club just around the corner so I hope this will be one of the ways I can meet the young people of the area, but I am also praying for a way to meet the rest of the children in the area especially as the word that we were given for this house was that breakthrough was going to come through the Children. Then there is my passion for children and young people seeing as I am working with Kings Kids.
Speaking of which the camp that we went on was fantastic we really saw the young people change and then to go out with some of them on detached youth work and the way we didn't have to push them they went running off to speak to people it was great and the young people were an inspiration to us.
Then when I get back I get an email to say that the young people who I didn't think were engaging at all were spending time with God in a way they hadn't done before moments like that show us that it is all worth it, the hours of knocking our heads against a brick wall pays off.
Not long ago I was part of a kids club to Bengali Children which was fantastic this was my first major opportunity to interact with Muslim children and well Children are children where - ever you go or no matter what background they are from they want to play.
I have realized how important play is for children it is where they lean so much and it breaks down the social barriers and inhibitions that they may have it also gives us adults to get to know the children.
Then finally we were involved in the Notting Hill Festival we put ourselves in the thick of it which was difficult at times from Ladbrook Grove to Westboure Grove looked just like a dustbin the amount iof cumulation of rubbish is amazing you've never seen anything like it!!
On Monday evening we hung out outside Notting Hill Community Church with a coffee table which was very popular and we had a sign which read WHAT ABOUT YOUR FUTURE ?? many people stopped to discuss their future people were incredibly open and four people decided to change their lives forever, I am really looking forward to doing it again and in other places too!!! Who said the Church is dead in Britain or that the people are not interested quite the opposite the people are hungry!!!
There is so much more to say but for now I will leave you to ponder on life here in East London....
So this is a really exciting to be here in East London especially at this very key time in history we are officially the Olympic city in the world all eyes are going to be on London and n particular the east end. The stadium is going to be just 20 mins away in Strafford. So we are in an exciting place and at an exciting time.
However this Tower Hamlets despite the nice name as I used to think is the poorest borough in London and the second poorest in Britain, there is a very high unemployment rate even though we are really near Canary Warf. We can see it from our house and it is a beautiful site and a great place to go to but it in many ways socially speaking is a million miles away from here. Most of the world money goes through that place yet here and even more so in other parts of Tower Hamlets which I have visited recently the estates don't see a lot of that money. Although with the Olympics coming up I think they will be putting a lot more money into this area - of course the people and rightly so feel cheated that something like the Olympics has to come to the area in order for money to be invested here.
I live on the Teviot estate which apparently is Scottish not sure why I will have to look into what it really means. For me living on the edge of this estate is the fulfillment of a 10 year promise of wanting to live on an estate. I remember back in the day when I was in Manchester and that is a very long time ago
when I went to visit a friend on Moss-side and even locally to where I used to live in Crumpsall Harpurhey I would love hanging out in such places. I have alway found that estates have a real community feel sure there are a lot of problems and sometimes quite severe ones but there is a sense of pulling through difficulties together. I have been wanting to get to know my neighbors again for the last 10 years and here within a few months we had got to know our neighbors.
I remember when we moved in or a little after around Easter I made cakes for them I think this helped break the ice but also I think the thing that really had nothing to do with us was the fact that Peter who lived here for many years and left the house to YWAM was good friends with all the neighbors and they were all very fond of him. He had been sowing much seed here in the street and further a field as well, and our hope is that we will be able to reap what he has sown.
I have become part of a fantastic Church where I have found some great people and I am already quite involved in the youth work there and of course the social scene too. I am am going to be working with a Youth club just around the corner so I hope this will be one of the ways I can meet the young people of the area, but I am also praying for a way to meet the rest of the children in the area especially as the word that we were given for this house was that breakthrough was going to come through the Children. Then there is my passion for children and young people seeing as I am working with Kings Kids.
Speaking of which the camp that we went on was fantastic we really saw the young people change and then to go out with some of them on detached youth work and the way we didn't have to push them they went running off to speak to people it was great and the young people were an inspiration to us.
Then when I get back I get an email to say that the young people who I didn't think were engaging at all were spending time with God in a way they hadn't done before moments like that show us that it is all worth it, the hours of knocking our heads against a brick wall pays off.
Not long ago I was part of a kids club to Bengali Children which was fantastic this was my first major opportunity to interact with Muslim children and well Children are children where - ever you go or no matter what background they are from they want to play.
I have realized how important play is for children it is where they lean so much and it breaks down the social barriers and inhibitions that they may have it also gives us adults to get to know the children.
Then finally we were involved in the Notting Hill Festival we put ourselves in the thick of it which was difficult at times from Ladbrook Grove to Westboure Grove looked just like a dustbin the amount iof cumulation of rubbish is amazing you've never seen anything like it!!
On Monday evening we hung out outside Notting Hill Community Church with a coffee table which was very popular and we had a sign which read WHAT ABOUT YOUR FUTURE ?? many people stopped to discuss their future people were incredibly open and four people decided to change their lives forever, I am really looking forward to doing it again and in other places too!!! Who said the Church is dead in Britain or that the people are not interested quite the opposite the people are hungry!!!
There is so much more to say but for now I will leave you to ponder on life here in East London....
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