Kicking and Screaming

The other day at work I had a very welcome visitor. It was Ashleigh, the former director of the centre. She was the director for the first 6 months of my working there. We got on like a house on fire and it was a sad day when she handed in her resignation. Unfortunately she didn't feel qualified for the position, and the other girls didn't give her the respect she deserved. It was a real shame.

Anyways, Ashleigh moved away from Queensland and down to Melbourne where she is now very happy. She moved down with her boyfriend who became her fiance last year and they're getting married in a couple of months. Since making the move down there she has continued working in the child care industry, but has returned to looking after the children directly in the rooms. This seems to have been a good change for her, and as an added bonus she has been earning a heap more down in Victoria. But as they say, Mo Money, Mo Problems.

Ashleigh was telling me about her new centre. Apparently it is in St Kilda and they have quite a diverse cross section of the community attending. There are children of famous parents and there are children who have been deemed to be at risk. It sounds like it is a very interesting centre to work at.

She says that the centre is bordered by a park on one side, an alleyway on another and fairly major roads on the other two. In the mornings the staff have to go through the playground and look for needles. Apparently the side that borders the park is a real hotspot for them. They used to have a cubby house type thing in the yard, but too often there was homeless guys sleeping in there, so they demolished it.

There is a girl who works the corner opposite their centre. She picks up her tricks there, then heads into the alleyway next to the centre to continue her business. Ashleigh says that quite often they will be eating their lunch when all of a sudden two naked people will appear out of a car parked in the alleyway. The lunch room has a nice outlook into the alley, so to aid the digestion the staff can watch the prostitute turn her tricks and school kids shoot up.

When Ashleigh was telling me this I was astounded, it just sounds so far removed from working in the centre where I am. I can remember being horrified when I found a needle on the street outside of the school next to my centre. I couldn't believe it. I don't really care if people choose to inject their drugs, in fact I'm told that if you want the biggest and best bang for your buck then shooting them is the way to go. I just wish that these people could have a little bit of social responsibility. I mean, how hard is it to put your needle into some sort of container. An empty bottle or something like that? Why on Earth would you leave it lying around in a playground for some kid to pick up, give themselves a needlestick injury with, then have the parents freaking out for three months so the blood tests can come back? It's just a low move.

In all though, Ashleigh said it's a great place to work, some of the staff have been there over 15 years, and that after a while you just take it in your stride and it becomes part of the norm. Isn't that a song title? Nothing is shocking anymore? Something like that?

Anyways, I've got to get ready for work now. I'm reading a book at the moment by a lady called Cupcake Brown. Her mum died when she was 11 when she was sent to a foster home where she was physically, emotionally and sexually abused. She started selling herself when she was that age. It's a real feel good kind of book. I look forward to reading some more at work today.