About 'Dear Yogeshree'

During this year a number of writings on this blog will be introduced in the form of a letter and addressed to 'Dear Yogeshree', They are in fact a collection of actual letters written to Yogeshree when she was just about to enter - 'start out' - into practice as a child and youth care worker. Actually we anticipated that she would find a position  in a Residential Treatment Centre somewhere in Durban and I remember giving her names of creditable agencies I thought would give her an experience of good practice. But it wasn't to happen that way. She was immediately appointed as a part-time lecturer at the University of Technology at which she had just received her professional degree.

This concerned me......straight out of the door of the University as a student, and straight into the door of lecturing in the field meant that Yogeshree had no real vocabulary of experience to draw on as illustrative examples of theory in practice, no background of practice to give her insight into what works and what doesn't . She would not have a store of case histories to draw on and no interventions to describe.

The 'Dear Yogeshree' letters were written to her with the intention of making my experience available to her. An elder writes to a 'starting out' child and youth care worker..

 But let me go to where it all began.

12 years ago I was chairperson of the National Association of child youth care workers in South Africa and therefore the President of FICE South Africa. At the bi-annual conference of the Association held that year I was given the tradition seat in the front row. At some stage, a South African Indian woman student came and sat next to me rather deliberately.. There followed a conversation.I will forever remember..

"Are you Barrie Lodge?" she said.
'Yes"
" I've been wanting to meet you for a long time - I'm Yogeshree.
"Hi"
" Move over Barrie", she said." I want your job".
'ME  " That's fine, you can have it now if you like"
" In five years, I'm going to be sitting here"
"Tell you what Yogeshree - I'll help you. I can advise you and give you guidance on how to get here in less than five years."

The conversation didn't end tere and we exchanged contact details.

After Conference we spoke. Yogeshree from Durban, me from Johannesburg. Then one day I got a letter, handwritten, in which Yogeshree asked me if I would be her 'mentor'. I agreed at once, but wasn't sure how that would happen from such a distance.

The letters started in 2001 and became a regular stream of correspondence until sometime in late 2003. I was in any case trying to write for the field for about an hour every day and my letters to Yogeshree were then included in my writing schedule. The collection I called  'Dear Yogeshree' - an elder writes to a starting out child and youth care worker.

Barrie talks child and youth care will continue with writing and so talking about issues in the field and matters of concern in general and in the African setting in particular, but there will be ' Dear Yogeshree" letters appearing in the blog. They will always be introduced that way. Yogeshree has give her permission for the  letters to be blogged. She says they were helpful to her.

I hope that they might prove to be of interest to you.

 Watch out for the first of these next week,