Inchicore Kid's Club, Dublin 2008

I have to admit to being a bit nervous in the beginning, but I soon got into the mix of things…. It’s a very different experience to the one you get with the youth service working in Lourdes, but it is just as rewarding.

I got involved in the Youth Club after speaking to the older guys, Ed McMahon and Paul Fenny who have been involved since 2006 while in Lourdes last year. It sounded like an ideal way to keep up the spirit of the work we do in Lourdes all year round.

A few weeks after we arrived home from Lourdes Ed and Paul where joined by Robbie Burns and myself. I have to admit to being a bit nervous in the beginning, but I soon got into the mix of things. The kids that we look after are divided into 2 groups and come on different weeks depending on their group. We started off with the older of the two groups and we where told by Suzanne, the lady without whom the club wouldn’t be possible, that they where the most difficult.

I was expecting it to be hell and was questioning why I even got involved in the first place. However my fears turned out to be unfounded, and in the end I think we have more fun then the kids do. We tend to mix every week between physical activities like football, skipping and Frisbee, and arts and crafts. I have been enjoying both, with the arts and crafts more like a trip down memory lane then anything else.