Traveller Youth Worker Report Sept 09

Young Travellers are a big target group for Sphere 17 and as the Traveller Youth Worker I am responsible for involving Traveller Young people in Sphere 17 activities.

There are a number of groups set up for Traveller young people. Currently there are three Young Males groups up and running and also two Young Females groups which are both ongoing. Within these groups the young people have been in structured programmes such as Health Programmes, Team Building Programmes and Arts Programmes.

As part of the Health Programmes a Health and Fitness Programmes was run with a group of Older Lads as part of their group. This programme involved the Young People learning more about good nutrition, stretching, the importance of warming up and they also did Yoga as part of it.

Another Programme ran with young Travellers was the GUD2BU programme which was about Promoting a Health Body and Mind. This programme was run with Young Traveller Girls.

As part of the Team Building Programmes Travellers were involved in groups both specific Traveller Groups and Mixed Groups. Traveller Young People were also involved in Residentials such as The Galway Youth Soccer World Cup and the Fishing Residential.
The two residentials were extremely successful. Three Travellers were on the team this year which got to the final of the Galway World Cup. The weekend was excellent and enjoyed by all. (See photo gallery for pictures!) The fishing residential also went really well. The programme was run on a weekly basis and only a select few were chosen to go on the residential.

The Arts Programmes the Traveller Young People were involved in were The Priorswood House of Fashion as well as two of the Young Male groups were involved in structured Arts Programmes. The Older Young People did a massive wall poster and used broken tiles to decorate it. The Young Group did a Mural on the store room door of the Activity Centre as well as getting involved in the regional arts programmes been run by the service.
The Priorswood House of Fashion was an Arts programmes set up for young girls based on Fashion and designing clothes.

These groups continue throughout the year with excellent participation by the young people. Traveller young people are currently heavily involved in Sphere 17 activities and will continue to be for the forthcoming year.

A special mention must go to St Stephens Green Trust Fund who funded a massive part of the work been done with Young Travellers last year.

Marius