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Even the best planned and worked out activity can go awry and being
able to handle surprises is important for all people doing youth
work. Perhaps a way of illustrating what can go wrong and some of the
principles of handling the unexpected would be to tell of such an
experience that I have gone through.
The Unknown Destination Trip from ...
I should have known what the weekend was going to be like in the
first two hours: we gathered and packed the van in a driving,
miserable rain, drove down to the first stop in terrible traffic -
and couldn't find the first stop. After driving around trying to find
the street or even someone to ask, we found someone who gave us exact
instructions - which led us out of the area (and away from our
destination) and into a tangle of roads around an airport. An hour
later we worked our way back to the area, found someone else and made
our way to the first stop. Unfortunately, there had been a massive
electrical fire in the area and the place was without power. Even
though this was to be our primary activity for the weekend, as well
as our supper and our overnight lodging, we were not even allowed
into the building.
We were able finally able to locate another place to stay the night,
and at 9:30pm, after four hours in a van we had supper at a McDs and
settled in for the night in the lounge areas of a dorm. And at long
last we were ready for the worship service that we were told would be
provided. Unfortunately, the person assigned to us was never told
this and had nothing prepared. So, while the kids entertained
themselves, we developed a service. We did sleep well that night, and
our hosts provided us with a nice breakfast. Things were looking up.
We were able to use the original facility for a while that morning,
although the kids were not really in the mood for the activity by
then.
The next item on the agenda was to go to a large downtown church
that was being remodeled to serve as a community center. The plan was
to do some cleanup work there, to play games in the gym, and finally
to shower in the locker rooms off the gym. Again the contact person
who was to work with us never really got the message and didn't show
up. (Here's one of the places where rigidity on my part worked
against us - leaving the group in the van with the other counselor
and with little to do I worked doggedly to make this part of the
program to work out). After an hour and a half delay, we were in the
building and ready to begin work. The work was actually fun for the
group since we got to take everything out of the old Sunday School
area, toss everything down a stairwell and then out the door and into
a dumpster. There is nothing like the sound of a piano banging down
5 flights of stairs!
While this was going on I checked out the rest of the building and
discovered that the gym floor was so badly water damaged and warped
that there wasn't any way we could play games there, nor did the
locker rooms have water. So much for recreation and getting cleaned
up. Fortunately we had a couple of backup plans, although they were
not all that exciting.
Finally, I had been told that we would be taken to a Portuguese
restaurant run by members of the church. It sounded comfortable and
interesting. However, we were mistakenly taken to a very high class
restaurant. The restaurant personnel were gracious but not thrilled
with having a group of (unwashed) middle school youth.
All in all, we found that we survived the weekend. The kids still
all talk about this great adventure we went on, as if it were
something very special. I have to admit, it did bring that group of
kids very close to each other! Maybe the objectives of the trip were
met in spite of everything.
A later post will have principles for handling situations like this.
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