At our church, West Bromwich Community Church, http://www.westbromchurch.org/ God is bringing us into contact with the homeless community. At present it takes the form of giving them food via the food bank and, once a week opening the church as a soup kitchen. Together with other churches in the town we are aiming to minister to the vulnerable. This has reminded me of the time I used to work in hostels. Please read and pray for those who are homeless.
A symbol of power within a hostel is the keys. With the keys you can have a great effect on the life of the residents. You can use them to deny him access; you can use them to make him feel welcome. Keys can be used to lock your office door and shut out the world. They can deny your client the right to be listened to.
In my first position as support worker I had to carry round a large bunch of keys. There were keys for offices, security doors, panic bolts, filing cabinets, store rooms and so on. I had about 35 keys on that ring. They went everywhere with me. Residents soon learned that a jangling bunch of keys meant that the staff were on patrol!
Attached to the key ring was a ‘key’ called a screwlock. We used this to engage a second lock on each of the flat doors. This meant that the resident could not enter their room without contacting a member of staff first. Very useful if you needed to talk to that resident urgently or they were behind with their rent! However, it could be argued that you were denying the resident the right to enter their ‘home’ freely. The screwlock system could also be used to provide extra security when a resident was away for a day or so. Very often we were asked ‘can you screwlock my door please’?
Some residents learned to hate the sight of a large bunch of keys! They did have a point. To them we used the keys as a punishment. Used without thought by staff, the keys could be a potent weapon. Do as I say, obey the rules, or suffer the consequences.
In my first position as support worker I had to carry round a large bunch of keys. There were keys for offices, security doors, panic bolts, filing cabinets, store rooms and so on. I had about 35 keys on that ring. They went everywhere with me. Residents soon learned that a jangling bunch of keys meant that the staff were on patrol!
Attached to the key ring was a ‘key’ called a screwlock. We used this to engage a second lock on each of the flat doors. This meant that the resident could not enter their room without contacting a member of staff first. Very useful if you needed to talk to that resident urgently or they were behind with their rent! However, it could be argued that you were denying the resident the right to enter their ‘home’ freely. The screwlock system could also be used to provide extra security when a resident was away for a day or so. Very often we were asked ‘can you screwlock my door please’?
Some residents learned to hate the sight of a large bunch of keys! They did have a point. To them we used the keys as a punishment. Used without thought by staff, the keys could be a potent weapon. Do as I say, obey the rules, or suffer the consequences.
Each resident in my first hostel had two keys, one to the main entrance and one to their rooms. With these two keys they could come and go as they pleased. To many of them the two keys were a symbol of their growing independence. They were the first positive sign that they had the opportunity to break free of whatever circumstances had led to their arrival at the hostel.
Everyone, whether they are homeless or not need to have a symbol of security. To some it could be their partner; to some it could be their business or job. To a homeless person forced to leave their natural home that symbol is more often than not the key. The key to their own front door where they can enter, lock the door and for a time shut out everyone and perhaps for the first time in their lives feel secure and able to see a way out.
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