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Devi Dee Mucina

Location: Toronto, Canada

Biography
I entered the field of child and youth care through my work with Outward Bound which started in 1992 in Zimbabwe. In 1996, I started to work with the Vancouver School Board as a youth and family worker and this is when I started my formal training in Child and Youth Care. In 2004, I got my BA in Child & Youth Care and in 2006 I got my MA in Indigenous Governance. Both these degrees are from the University of Victoria in BC Canada. Between my MA and my PhD which is in Sociology and Equity Studies in Education from OISE University of Toronto, I worked for the Vancouver School Board again then moved to Toronto and worked for East Metro Youth Services. At the moment I am an Instructor at Ryerson University in Toronto Canada.

How I came to be in this field
I think I became interested in the field because of my own experience as a ward of the state in Zimbabwe. Being raised in an orphanage has made me question how we engage children and youth in care and how we provide the best care. I have gained my inspiration and motivation to engage the field of Child and Youth Care through my work with children and youth.

A favorite saying
The power of story has been put thus, by the great Indigenous scholar and storyteller Thomas King (2003): The truth about stories is that that’s all we are. I believe we share stories with each other because stories allow us to create shared common connections while also allowing us to have amazement about those that have unique experience.

A few thoughts about child and youth care

• CYC is relational social justice work.
• CYC is about engaging each other in ways that make us matter to each other.
• CYC practice allows us to engage youth using their stories in diverse contexts and this creates dialogue about relational human interactions.

Last thing I read, watched, heard, which I would recommend to others
Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood (1979) is a book about Indigenous African motherhood in the context of colonial encounters and the multiple oppression faces by African women. In this book, African child care is conveyed through the gendered roles of colonially shaped economics and politics which in some ways challenge the Indigenous gendered roles. The cultural collisions engaged in this book are important for how we work with diverse families.

A favorite Child and Youth Care experience
When we engage in honest open dialogue the process may be tended for the children and youth we work with but it also changes and shapes us as Child and Youth Care service providers. This happened to me when I was working at Brock Elementary School in East Vancouver. The youth I was helping also started to encourage me to go further with my education so I could help more youth. This meant that when we had group work we checked in on each other for updates. Those youth motivated me to develop the kind of courage which allowed me to work with my learning disability so that I could achieve the kind of educational success that I have today. To the youth from the group work that I led at Brock Elementary School thank you for being my teacher and believing in me. You all have a role in my success.

A few thoughts for those starting out

• It is important that you believe and support youth to see their capacity to create change

• Be open to learning from children and youth

• Practice respectful curiosity when working with youth. This means respect their boundaries and inquire about their life with the greatest respect you can use.

A recommended child and youth care reading link
https://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/july2011.pdf
This feature: Garrison, Ron (1998) Developmental Path ways as Rites of Passage. Reaching Today's Youth. Vol.3 no.1 pp.33-36.
However, I need to point out that I totally disagree with the author’s labelling of some cultures as primitive cultures.

My favourite child and youth care-relevant link and why
http://jbs.sagepub.com/content/by/year/2011
Journal of Black Studies because it is space for us as Black people to gain and create our cultural power.

A writing of my own
We Exist Because They Exist http://www.oadd.org/index.php?page=674
http://www.oadd.org/docs/41008_JoDD_16-3_81-90_mucina.pdf

Influences on my work
Youth from Brock Elementary School in East Vancouver in BC, my own experience in St. Joseph’s House for Boys in Harare, Zimbabwe (an all boys orphanage) and my other experiences working with child and youth.