News

Tuesday
Our hostel has finally settled down. This is a relief to the staff team including myself because I began to feel like we couldn't hold on to our residents for love nor money. Looking at the white board in the office and lamenting the loss of another two residents during the night the only thing my colleague could mutter was "swings and roundabouts." Times of stress lead to cryptic explanations of how things came to be.

Wednesday
Went with one of the new residents to the job centre to sort out his claim. The Benefit Agency headquarters at Belfast only received his jobseekers allowance 3 form five days after it was posted and it had unfortunately been filled in incorrectly. The woman at the Job Centre was very helpful with helping him to fill out a new form, even cracking jokes along the way like asking him if he "was pregnant". The joke fell flat because the resident's first language is not English, and he seemed to become quite concerned about being asked such a personal question. The Job Centre adviser then agreed to send the form via the internal post to Belfast and give my resident an emergency payment.

Saturday
Quiet shift, nothing much happens on the weekend, so the two staff went and watched a horror film in the lounge with two of the residents. As a team we are trying to build bridges with the residents again after the last few months when we felt that a bit of a gap had appeared. This means watching more TV and playing more pool and table tennis with the residents.

Sunday
Quiet shift again. While sitting in the lounge one of the residents turned to me and asked if I thought that women were naturally better at cooking and cleaning because "that is what they expect to do so they are more used to it". I shrugged and thought of my ex-girlfriends. "Not really," I said, not wanting to push the matter because I am still on fragile ground with him after his prior eviction two months ago. One of our other residents piped up and said that when he was resettled he would get his girlfriend to cook and clean for him in his new flat. I left and cooked myself some dinner, bringing it back into the lounge to show that it was possible to be male and to cook for yourself. I think I just came across as effeminate.

Monday
The resident who was having trouble sorting out his claim went to the Job Centre today and came back with a new jobseekers allowance 3 form. He said that a worker at the Job Centre had told him that the head office in Belfast had lost his second form, even though it had been sent via internal post from the local Job Centre. The resident later came back and asked for food because he had none left. This feels like a problem that could run on for some time.