Out of the Silence by Terry Waite

Author:Terry Waite
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SPCK
Published: 2016-10-05T16:00:00+00:00

12 Y Care

Over 25 years ago I was invited to become a co-founder of an organization eventually called Y Care. Two young men, John Naylor and David Bedford, both then working for the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) came to see me at Lambeth Palace. They told me that the YMCA was one of the largest movements for young people in the world. There were over 70 million members worldwide, and in many countries the Y was a leader in social and welfare activities and widely respected for that. In the UK, they said, the public image was of an organization mainly engaged in providing gymnasia for young people, even though it was involved in many other social endeavours. They hoped to found an organization to utilize the global facilities of the worldwide YMCA and thus enable the really poor of this world to benefit. Thus Y Care was born.

Over the past quarter of a century thousands of youngsters who would normally never set foot in a YMCA have been aided through the work of Y Care.

Y Care does not send people out from the UK to run programmes of development. Rather, it provides funding and training support so that right from the start local people own their own projects and develop them. As there are functioning YMCAs in so many regions of the world the scope of Y Care’s activities is wide. I have seen a village in Uganda transformed by the introduction of a protected spring, thus providing clean drinking water – a very simple programme indeed but one that has enabled countless people to enjoy better health. In South America I have seen young people break away from the gangs that had trapped them and begin to find meaningful ways of earning their own living. In Palestine I have sat with a therapist and listened as young people who have been imprisoned and tortured begin to come to terms with their experience.

I take no convincing that one of the best things we can do for teenagers is to help them to build good memories and begin to live and work creatively.

No matter how good the programme, and there are so many good and effective programmes around the world, one always has to struggle with the problems of human nature and the light and dark which exist within us all.

As human beings we are incomplete and programmes, no matter how good they are, will only go so far in enabling us to grow into our full stature as individuals. Harmonious relationships are not easily gained and certainly have to be worked for. I recollect reading a book many years ago entitled The Wounded Healer. The author pointed out that those who know their own deep inner wounds and have come to terms with them may well be in a stronger position to be supportive and understanding of others. The following poem speaks of a depth of understanding that can exist between two people which can be truly healing.

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