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Published on October 31, 2010
Jigsaw4u UK & International AGM Review
Sally Jones reports on the her first taste of Jigsaw4u UK and International – an inspirational AGM
Portcullis House, the House of Commons offices that sit above Westminster Tube Station, is perhaps a curious place to have encountered a ketso tabletop tool. But then I was attending the annual general meeting of Jigsaw4u, the UK based charity dedicated to supporting children and young people who have experienced grief, loss and trauma. The charity counts a number of MP's among its many patrons and supporters, including Tom Brake MP who had kindly organised the room overlooking the Thames.
Jigsaw4u is the brainchild of Anne Davies who is its founder and CEO. Anne just won Clarins Woman of The Year Award 2010 and last year She Magazine's Survivor of The Year Award. With a traumatic childhood of her own, Anne trained as a social worker and has made it her career and life goal to make a difference to the lives of young people. The key to that difference is empowerment, and perhaps this is best demonstrated in her response to a group of ministers and senior officers in the Dutch Government who recently asked how they might get children's disability organisations to talk to each other. Anne's response was simply 'you don't. You get the children and young people together and ask them to invite who they want to be involved in the meeting. Let the kids start the conversation'. In short, the spirit of Jigsaw4u is about empowering children to be the creators of their own lives.
This spirit was clearly at the heart of the AGM, in form and content. Described as a marketplace, the room in Portcullis House was flanked with tables each piled with a specific area of Jigsaw4u material, each manned by those who put it into practice. There was information on their work and services in schools, a Young Runaway Service, Family Separation Services, Grief Support, and for small children, a table replete with Virginia Ironside's fabulous book on worry. There too was the showcase of ketso, a creative tool developed for non-verbal, kinaesthetic communication consisting of a large Velcro mat onto which can be stuck colours, shapes and words. Originally developed in Losutu in Africa as a means of fostering cross-cultural and cross-gender communication, Jigsaw4u use it as a creative and therapeutic medium for mind mapping, building a healing tree and/or exploring and expressing feelings when words might not be obvious.
For some, words are an obvious form of expression. Part of the AGM was an awards ceremony for winners of the Short Story Competition. Open to children from three age groups – 5-8, 9-13 and 14-18, they were invited to write a short story around the title of 'Loss'. The winning and runner up stories had been printed into book form, on sale at the reception desk. Since I had arrived early I got the chance to read it before the meeting began.
Celebrity judges of the stories were Michael Rosen, the children's author and Jake Hendricks, the actor, both of whom were clearly moved and impressed by the winning entries. Michael Rosen's most repeated comment on the pieces was of their 'immediacy' and I know exactly what he means. They were all so very direct in dealing with their subject matter; not a trace of sentimentality, self-pity, fluff or frills, just a head-on, sometimes painfully honest tackling of their experience and their interpretation of loss. This is not to say that the stories were not complex. Indeed Michael said of Megan Penney's story – the winner of the 14-18 age group entries, that it was one of the most sophisticated pieces of writing he had seen from a young person.
Following the awards ceremony, prizes given, photographs taken, the winners and judges left for what I rather hoped was a celebratory afternoon tea.
It was then the turn of the representatives at each of the services tables to talk for an allotted time, which they did with consummate and punctual professionalism. There are three branches of Jigsaw4u across the UK, an indication that the services, and the need for them has grown. They include advocacy and group work for young runaways, bereaved children, looked after or disabled young people, with families where parents are separating and with those who have experienced domestic violence or parental mental health problems.
The representatives that spoke all work directly in the service areas and spoke not simply about their work but about its outcome. What was arresting, alongside their humour and obvious commitment, was the realism – one in particular mentioned that there is not always a happy outcome; 'sometimes its just about planting the seeds of change'. Another talked of thinking outside the box and doing things differently.
What they all had in common, whether conveyed through anecdote or case study, was a sense of hope and a theme of immediacy, similar to that of the short stories. A counsellor working in a special needs school recounted a conversation with a troubled young boy he works with who asked him whether he was the new Deputy Head's boyfriend. With interested amusement he asked why. The boy replied 'well if you are, poor you'. What I find remarkable about this exchange is it demonstrates that a wonderfully open, honest and trusting channel of communication has been built.
There was a table hosted by young people, all of whom are, or have been, service users and some of whom are now involved in JAGS, Jigsaw's Advisory Group Service. This is run by young 'inspectors', who assess services for accessibility, welcoming policy and services, and following submission of their report, reassess six months later. And it makes perfect sense - who better to know a useful and useable service than a service user?
Clearly, the need for these services continues to grow and not just within the UK. At a conference led by children in 2005 it was suggested, by the children, that something be done to offer support in the wake of Sri Lanka's tsunami. It was done, and in Sri Lanka over 3 weeks, Jigsaw4u ran 3 workshops a day for 350 children after which it was said by a parent that they 'put the smile back on children's faces'. Work was also done there training and supporting professionals. Using the Sri Lankan model, Anne was invited to South Africa where she and a colleague spent 2 weeks training professionals working with children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, some of whom at age 8 had found themselves head of the family. Anne has twice visited a Nigerian leprosy colony and talked to children there whose biggest fears are child trafficking and the sex trade. A similar theme utilising the same model but in the different location of Rumania is taking place in orphanages. In Bulgaria Anne is working with a colleague from Manchester's International Society and the Bulgarian Centre For Inclusive Education to develop joint projects including the development of a school that has been bought by a one of Jigsaw4u's friends.
Clearly, the need for these services continues to grow and not just within the UK. At a conference led by children in 2005 it was suggested, by the children, that something be done to offer support in the wake of Sri Lanka's tsunami. It was done, and in Sri Lanka over 3 weeks, Jigsaw4u ran 3 workshops a day for 350 children after which it was said by a parent that they 'put the smile back on children's faces'. Work was also done there training and supporting professionals. Using the Sri Lankan model, Anne was invited to South Africa where she and a colleague spent 2 weeks training professionals working with children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, some of whom at age 8 had found themselves head of the family. Anne has twice visited a Nigerian leprosy colony and talked to children there whose biggest fears are child trafficking and the sex trade. A similar theme utilising the same model but in the different location of Rumania is taking place in orphanages. In Bulgaria Anne is working with a colleague from Manchester's International Society and the Bulgarian Centre For Inclusive Education to develop joint projects including the development of a school that has been bought by a one of Jigsaw4u's friends.
A delegation is planned for June 2011 in Ghana with 15 Ghanaian children, 15 children from Nigeria and 15 from the UK. The children want to discuss their concerns on child trafficking, prostitution, sex abuse – all issues pertinent to them. From the conference will come a report that will be submitted to the respective governments, and from having raised an international governmental awareness, some seeds are planted towards growing and setting policy. To do this they need to raise £50k.
Jigsaw4u is no ordinary charity. Just as Anne herself is so much more than a survivor, Jigsaw4u is about what happens after survival. It's about salvaging then creating lives. Through providing children with the tools, support and the voice to create their own lives, evidence is that the lives being created are truly exceptional.
So what next? Clearly Jigsaw4u needs an increased profile to raise awareness and, of course, funds. The bottom line is that there are kids that don't know about Jigsaw4u's services. They clearly need to because the statistics on what happens if the trauma and loss aren't dealt with are frankly terrifying.
If Jigsaw4u is about giving children a voice then it must be heard, by all of us because this is personal. And it should be taken personally: on some level Jigsaw4u talks to the child in all of us.
I left Portcullis House profoundly moved. To hear children and those that work with them articulate some of the most horrific experiences and to see them now, infused with hope and enthusiasm about a future of their own making, is hugely inspiring.
