A little help from my Big Brother, Big Sister

The Big Brother, Big Sister programme provides ‘older sibling’ mentors to thousands of troubled children in Ireland. It is a rewarding relationship for both parties, but more volunteers are needed, says Elizabeth O’Neill.

TO get to Summerhill, in Dublin 1, you walk down Parnell Street, with its African shops, hairdressers, bookies and Korean barbecues. All of life is here, and it plays out on the streets. This evening, the sun is hitting off the walls and the road. There isn’t much greenery to soak it up. It’s boiling. People are sitting on doorsteps, and leaning over fences, as the rush-hour commuters pass by. This is a place of hard surfaces and concrete and little space. The south inner city, where I live, is spacious and sprawling with greenery. Here, people’s lives rub up against the city.

Dylan Ellis is 17 and grew up in Summerhill. We are waiting at the Hay Project, a youth club run by Foroige, for his ‘big brother’, Sam Moorhead, to arrive. Dylan has been coming here for years, after school and at weekends.