Oseakina, one of our Eva’s Heroes and front line staff, knows best how young people have been impacted by this pandemic.
Meet Oseakina, a Recreation Coordinator at Eva’s Place
Oseakina runs the in-house programming for young people.
Normally at Eva’s Place young people would be gone during the day. They would be at school, work or at placements. But the pandemic has brought that all to a crashing halt. Now youth are staying in all day every day. This means that the Recreation Coordinator has seen a surge in the number of young people that wish to participate.
All of Eva’s shelters have been practicing “physical distancing”.
That is extremely difficult when space is at a premium but Oseakina and her colleagues have been trying their best to make it work. “We recently ran a life skills baking workshop where we teach youth how to bake from scratch. The act of baking can be very therapeutic,” says Oseaskina. “Normally we would have a group in the kitchen interacting and learning together, now we can only do the workshop for three young people at a time.” The workshop was delivered to three youth at a time in three groups, which allowed a total of nine young people to participate.
Spacing people out in a confined space, has been one of the biggest challenges Oseakina has been facing during these COVID-19 times. “We are constantly reminding the youth to ‘physically distance’. There are times I have to remind myself that I can’t get too close when instructing, it so natural to come together. ”
Any programming that normally had external facilitators coming in to administer it has been stopped due to COVID-19 protocols.
So Oseakina has had to increase programming since the youth are in 24- 7 but it has been challenging. “One of their favourite activities was karaoke but we can’t do it now with singing, potential saliva, the handling of the microphone and space concerns. ” says the Recreation Coordinator.
Misinformation and lack of clarity around COVID-19 were causing a lot of stress and worry among the residents, so Oseakina hosted a very special movie night. “I started by educating the youth on what COVID-19 is, then had a trivia game based on facts around the virus. I bought some chocolate bars to use as prizes. We then had a discussion where the youth shared how they were feeling and what they were concerned about,” says Oseakina. “We watched “Contagion” together. They really enjoyed it and we discussed parallels from the movie and real life. I feel like they got the message and learned a lot.”
COVID-19 protocol has been hard on our young people.
Oseakina points out that it is really difficult for the youth that normally like to keep busy. “They would be juggling school and working. Others like to volunteer. Some are complaining of feeling unproductive and I can see that they are feeling down, ” says Oseakina. “But at the same time, the youth are courageous and resilient. I feel like we should be learning from the young people as well. Even though they are in a very vulnerable position, they know that they can make it through.”
You can be part of ensuring that young people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic are supported!
Turn This
Lunch With Friends
Into This
Harm Reduction Kit
Harm Reduction Kit
YOUR GIFT PROVIDES LIFE-SAVING INFORMATION AND TOOLS TO HELP YOUNG PEOPLE BE SAFER ON THE JOURNEY FROM CHAOS TO STABILITY.
Many young people who are homeless are at high risk of overdose and serious illness. When they come to Eva’s, they need harm reduction support to help them deal with substance use challenges.
Turn This
Drinks with Friends
Into This
Food for a Week
Feed a Youth for a Week
YOUR GIFT PROVIDES ONE RESIDENT WITH NUTRITIOUS MEALS AND SNACKS FOR ONE FULL WEEK.
Young people need daily nourishment to develop, be healthy and well, and have energy to thrive. We want to ensure they get fresh, whole foods such as produce, meat, chicken, fish, tofu, eggs, and dairy. Residents at Eva’s emergency shelter get three nutritious meals and two snacks a day.
Turn This
Dinner out with Family
Into This
Life Skill Learning
Life Skills Learning
YOUR GIFT ENABLES YOUTH TO LEARN THE SKILLS THEY NEED TO LIVE INDEPENDENTLY.
Prepare a young person to live their best lives and successfully transition to independent living. Youth get one-on-one and group learning in financial literacy, cooking and nutrition, housing, wellness, and communication and interpersonal skills.
Mithusan, a Youth and Services Worker at Eva’s Place.
“Our big challenge now is checking in on everyone and making sure their mental health and their coping strategies are in place to deal with the stressful situation that they are in,” says Mithusan. “We have had to set up and provide the informal counselling pieces. Youth no longer have access to external counsellors, so we are trying to fill that gap.”
Monique, a Community Support Worker at Eva’s Place.
“A popular activity that we can still do because people can spread out is bingo night,” says Monique. “We normally get donations that we can use for prizes, like a perfume or hair supplies but we no longer can collect those due to COVID concerns, so staff have been hitting the dollar store and buying candies and prizes themselves.”
Oseakina, a Recreation Coordinator at Eva’s Place.
“They would be juggling school and working. Others like to volunteer. Some are complaining of feeling unproductive and I can see that they are feeling down, ” says Oseakina. “But at the same time, the youth are courageous and resilient. I feel like we should be learning from the young people as well. Even though they are in a very vulnerable position, they know that they can make it through.”
At Eva’s we provide shelter, transitional housing, and programming to help young people, who are aged 16-24 and experiencing homelessness, reach their full potential to lead productive, self-sufficient, healthy and inter-dependent lives. Over the course of a year approximately 948 residents find shelter at Eva’s and we house 123 young people every night.
WHO WAS EVA SMITH?
- Eva’s was founded in 1989 by Eva Smith under our original name, North York Emergency Home for Youth.
- Eva Smith was a Jamaican immigrant and Black community leader who worked to address the disparate experiences of Black children in Toronto’s education system.
- Through her work, Eva also shed light on hidden youth homelessness, showing decision-makers the scope of the problem and rallying supporters to do something about it.
- In 1994, one year after Eva’s death and five years after the founding of the organization, Eva’s Place, the first physical shelter for young people was established.
CURRENTLY, EVA’S INITIATIVES FOR HOMELESS YOUTH HAS THREE SITES
Eva’s Place – providing emergency shelter
Eva’s Satellite – providing harm reduction services
Eva’s Phoenix – providing emergency shelter and transitional housing for young people