20/02 - Day 1 at Dagsverket

About:
Today was the first day of work at Dagsverket. Dagsverket is sort of a work agency, part of a bigger project, called Stavne, who deals with people with social problems. At Dagsverket, people with social problems, such as drug or alcohol addiction, can find daily work. For four hours of work per day, they receive 200 NOK. They sign a contract at the beginning of each day, and the work schedule is no longer than 1 o'clock, when they receive their money and go home. The work they do for that money can vary, as I've been told, but I'd rather put in this journal what I can observe on a daily basis, and then we'll have the bigger picture. We, the interns, assist them and work with them side by side. The idea behind this is giving people in distress a first chance to improve their lives - it gives them a job, a way to make some money, but also a way to become part of a community, to make friends, to find other people who share their problems, to have the satisfaction that they're doing something useful. People come there to seek work, but the point is to give them more than that, and to help them find a good path in life. I've been told that 10 to 15 of these people find permanent work every year, with the help of Dagsverket. The idea of working side by side with these people is to make the helper and the "helpee" equal, part of the same team, so that the helper can be trusted and the help he wants to give, accepted.

Activities:
Today was Thursday, a.k.a. food day. Every Thursday, a big company, TINE, gives away food that's about to expire within a week or so. It's mostly milk products, a lot (A LOT!!) of yoghourt, milk, some cottage cheese, and some ready-made food that you boil inside the bag. The workers at Dagsverket pick up this food and share it: we went to two houses, where we left some of the food, then at the Dagsverket centre, where we left half of the food, and the other half at a cantine opened by the salvation army, where poor people and drug addicts can eat for free. The food at the Dagsverket centre is given away to the daily workers; they can take whatever they like and bring it home, and also eat there for lunch.
After we took and shared the food, we went to another place where other Dagsverket clients were working, took some disposable things, made of wood or metal, and took them to a recycle centre. I was told we were also supposed to pick up food from another company, called COOP, but it was already 1 o'clock when we finished with the recycled materials, so we just called it a day. At the end of the day, the staff at the centre, including clients, have a meeting and discuss what happened during the day. But this did not happen today, because the boss was missing.

Personal impressions:
At first, when I was told I would do physical work, I thought I wouldn't be able to see the relevance of my work. But I realised the work was not difficult at all, and a very good method of observation and of getting in direct contact with these people. The team leader did most of the work, it was also an easy job for the other workers, not just for me. When we went to the wood chopping centre, where the other workers were, I saw Anne Christine and Gideon hugging and being very happy to see each other. This was the first small sign that pointed to the fact that "therapy" through work works, and people do get indeed connected and become a community.