Clapham Park Time Bank is a volunteer skills exchange organisation promoting mental well being and reducing isolation in Clapham Park and surrounding areas. We have recently been awarded a substantial amount of funding by the Home Office to challenge gun crime in the area and are using this to support projects that are being managed by two Clapham Park Time Bank members.
We would like to celebrate the fantastic voluntary work that is being carried out by Donald Cain and Femi Awokiyesi. Both men are shining beacons in the community. They are husbands and fathers juggling full time and volunteering work, using life experience and personal skills to care and support disengaged youth in the Clapham Park area. Their work is a reflection of their status as exemplary male role models and we feel it is important to highlight this, specifically at a time when a lack of black male role models is seen as a significant factor in the problems facing young black men in the UK.
Both Donald and Femi’s efforts are primarily motivated by a genuine concern for neighbourhood youths. They want to change the negative cycle of young people’s descent into crime. Both men have developed trusting relationships with the local youth and are highly aware of the temptations these children face daily. They strongly believe and are determined that the children of Clapham Park should not face hopeless futures. According to Donald Cain, “They are just misguided and need a positive focus at a crucial time in their lives. We feel that by getting involved in our projects local youth can develop important life tools, such as communication skills that can be transferred to other areas like employment, higher education and relationships”.
By publicizing their work in your newspaper we hope that others will be inspired to get involved in community activities and realize the impact volunteering has in raising the community spirit in Clapham Park and surrounding areas.
Project Summaries:
Le Jardin - Donald Cain (Project Manager)
· Community volunteer garden project – Assisting people who can no longer maintain their garden due to reasons such as physical and mental health, time constraints, and age.
· Teaching youth landscape design skills
· Teaching the benefits of produce growing
· Breaking the barriers of mistrust and building working relationships between the elderly and local youth.
“One of the main goals of Le Jardin is respect. By learning to appreciate nature the youths can learn to appreciate their surroundings, meaning that in the end they develop a respect for their community. I believe that youths who live in inner city estates should have access to the beauty of gardens and participate in their upkeep. By doing so, they develop a general level of respect for the environment and their neighborhood.”
– Donald Cain
South East Elite Football Club – Femi Awokiyesi (Project Manager)
· The club aims to promote and challenge the potential of young people in such a way that their energy, creativity and imagination are positively channeled into a community-based activity (football).
· Encourages the involvement of impoverished youth from single-parent families, youth with low self-esteem and little responsibility for themselves, young offenders, youth excluded from mainstream activities, and children from low-income families.
· Teaches self discipline, offers structure and develops team-building skills through sport.
· Encourages young people to become physically active and I improve their general fitness levels.
“I looked around and saw what was becoming of the youth in my area. Increasing concerns were raised about their general safety on the streets, which was down to boredom and general lack of facilities for extracurricular activities for young people in the area, which in turn leads the youth into crime, violence and vandalism.
This concern made a colleague, Pele Adeyemi, and I start a football team within our borough. Our primary aim was to give youth the something to do that would require some commitment and therefore keep them out of mischief, crime and vandalism when they are not at school. Secondly, by starting when they are young, it may give them a sense of responsibility and belonging much earlier in life.” - Femi Awokiyesi
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