Last July, readers told me they enjoyed hearing about the 11
Gilroyans who went to work as volunteers at The Amelia Trust Farm
in Wales.
Last July, readers told me they enjoyed hearing about the 11 Gilroyans who went to work as volunteers at The Amelia Trust Farm in Wales. As many of you know, in a recent cultural exchange, young people from the Farm came to visit us here in Gilroy. The Farm takes a special interest in working with young people who are at risk from a life of crime, alcohol, drugs, and abuse. They actively encourage and support young people in rebuilding their lives through positive deeds and thoughts. People who visit the Amelia Trust Farm “discover for themselves that life in all its forms is precious and that we are stewards of a wonderful world teeming with beauty and variety.” (Amelia Trust Web site).
During the course of their July stay here in California, four youth from the Farm and their sponsors participated in volunteer work, such as feeding the homeless, and went sight-seeing with people from Gilroy, including a number of Gilroy youth. In a fascinating cultural exchange, we enjoyed their reactions to trying things like garlic fries and touring Alcatraz Island. I especially enjoyed the looks on their faces the day a Gilroy youth by the name of Mason stopped by in a white convertible BMW. The Welsh kids quickly collected around him and looked with great interest at everything he was wearing, including the pierced ear in which he wears a test tube. They were completely fascinated. “Does it come out? Let me see it … wow … does it hurt?”
During the course of their visit, wonderful things happened such as a Gilroy couple offering their family pool for a swim on a day that reached 95 degrees for kids from a country where the mercury never tops 80. They had been painting an eyesore of a shed and clearing away many layers of overgrown ivy against the fence behind Habing’s.
Paul was the hardest worker, while Darrell was the most observant and helped teach one of the younger Gilroy boys how to play ping pong. Shem was a quiet one who came to life most when he talked of the 5:30 a.m. deep sea fishing trip out into Monterey Bay. He quite animatedly told me of catching some amazing amount of fish, 35 or so, and how in Wales you can fish for days and never catch that much.
Bobby showed a gentle side and didn’t retaliate when one of the other boys upset him. Instead, he quietly let nature take its course, and that proved to be more effective in the long run. When the guy who had offended him was bombarded by the birds on Alcatraz, the boys were convulsed with laughter. At the farewell barbecue bash, we noticed that the kids were joking with each other and not getting on each others’ cases as much as they had been in the beginning. They were letting down their defenses, and were not just in survival mode any longer. This kind of a visit is a once-in-a-lifetime trip so far in the lives of these young people. While I can’t give details of what kind of abuse or harsh lives these young people had suffered in the past, none of them have had an easy road. It is hoped that their visit to Gilroy can be part of the experiences in their lives that bring about a positive impact to counterbalance the more negative influences. Who can say what will spark a young person to look outward, to see that there is more to life than what he’s experienced so far, and to inspire him in goals for the future?
