Rico

I think it was 7 or 8 years ago now....

I was at work one day in the office in High Wycombe, having my lunch or pottering about in

'blueskies' the communal lunching meeting area and I spotted a little notice on the notice board.

I can't remember the name of it now! Its bugging me.. ok come on google... ChanceUk. That was it.

So there it was, the notice. It was something like are you man enough to mentor. I don't quite remember the name but it was catchy and it got me thinking. I was a young man with time and money on my hands and I knew that one day I wanted kids and I wanted to prepare myself for that time. Here was my chance to do some good and develop some skills in parenting.

After a little bit of thought and discussion i took the plunge, I was man enough I decided and along I went to the induction and training sessions which were a bit wishy washy if truth be told and offered little in preparation for the hard work to come.

A couple of weeks later I was taken off by car to deepest darkest Hackney to meet Rico. Rico lived with his grandmother, uncle and brothers and was having a hard time of things. His mother was a crack addict and his father was simply 'not around'. It was thought that Rico could benefit from spending some time with a father figure. Great this is where I step in. Needless to say (almost) Rico was black and was tough. He didn't warm to me immediately, or in fact ever. He seemed to resent my presence when I turned up. Even though we would often go off into the city to do fun things like go watch a film or go to the Trocadero he usually just wanted to go home and play his video games.

Rico often seemed happier on our outings when Julie would come along. He immediately warmed to a motherly figure and even opened up to her on one occasion about how his grandmother beat him. ChanceUK it seemed, had got it wrong. Rico didn't need a father figure, but like all young children, boys especially, he needed a mother. I continued trying my best though, I never blew him out, I often turned up and was told he is not coming out today or somesuch, I didnt give up even on cold wet windy days. I would be there for him, in short I did all I could.

Then one day out of the blue i was asked to come to the offices of Chance UK for a discussion.

Turns out they were pulling the plug on me after 6 months. No second chance, no why isnt it working, just thank you and goodbye. In fact, there wasn't even a thank you. Just goodbye.

The whole episode left me very disillusioned. You try hard to do good but you are let down by

certain people and situations beyond your control.

Since then i've not done any good deeds on that scale, sure I give a little to charity each month but I never give my time. I just pay some cash on direct debit.

I'm still proud that I tried though, I tried hard and never gave up. I think it could have worked in the end but I never got the chance.