Stories

My name is Brooklyn, and I have been a member of Youth A.I.D for four years. I was in Connections looking for direction on how to get myself onto a health and social care course. Since I left school without any qualifications and went straight into work I thought I might be discriminated against by colleges due to my lack of education so I decided I needed direction in order to get my foot in the door.

I knew I wanted to be a social worker but didn't know how to get my foot in the door and wasn't really being directed to what I could do to build up my skills and knowledge of the sector.

Feeling feed up and with my self esteem running low I began to walk around  Connections looking at the leaflets section when I came across an organisation called Youth A.I.D. The leaflet was ideal; it had a list of courses to do with the health and social care sector whereby I would gain accreditation on competition of the courses. This was brilliant, just was I needed plus it was free to attend.

I took the courage to phone Youth A.I.D. and spoke to a lady called Marie. She was very polite and helpful and invited me for a pre-meeting. This was useful as I got a chance to look around the building and to sign up for the course and to also get a feel of what the courses would be about.

I signed up to 4 different courses and completed and received accreditation for those courses.

When receiving my certificate I was so proud of myself as I never receive any good recognition with my name written on it.

Due to completing this course I went on looking for other courses to do with the social care sector and came across another organisation for conflict resolution. With all the skills and knowledge I obtained from both leap and youth aid I was able to apply for a position and started to facilitate my own workshops. In addition with the knowledge and skills I obtained I was able to apply for college and was accepted onto a level 3 course just because of experience gained and the proof was my certificate I had gained.

I have now finished my course and am applying for university this year to study social work.

For me, picking up that phone and making those steps, has changed my life for the better. If you would have asked me four years ago where I would be in four years time, I really wouldn't have been able to give you an asker. But now I can say I will be going university and in the further I will become a social worker.

Youth Hostel Association

Summer 2007

Over the summer, some of Youth A.I.D's young people volunteered with the Youth Hostel Association in the Peak District. 19-year-old Tony Segun Mulero was just one of them. Here's what he's got to say about training in Blackpool, living in the countryside and getting a job at the end of it.

I came to Youth A.I.D Lewisham having no idea what volunteering really meant, or about the benefit of volunteering. I'm studying A-levels at Bromley College of Further Education and during the summer holiday after my first year at the college I was introduced to Muhammed at Youth A.I.D by my social worker. I spoke to Muhammed about becoming a volunteer and what volunteering is all about. He started by asking what I knew about volunteering and why I wanted to do it. I replied by saying volunteering is all about helping people in your own spare time. But he said volunteering is not only about that it's also about learning new skills, meeting new people and getting accreditation and out of pocket expenses.

After I signed up to volunteer for Youth A.I.D Lewisham, I undertook the Introduction to Youth Work training course. It was very interesting because we did some group challenges and individual challenges. The course also gave me ideas about volunteering and also increased my communication skills, something that people remarked about. At the end of the training course

I had my first volunteering experience with the Made in Deptford Festival. I really enjoyed it and got the T-shirt to remind me of the whole experience.

During the summer I volunteered as a camp counsellor for Youth Hostel Association in the Peak District. It was probably the most important decision I have ever made, because I had to live and adapt to life in the countryside for the whole summer. To become a camp counsellor, I attended a week training session in Blackpool, a place I have never been to before. The training was very demanding, there was over three hundred young people, from all different countries including Australia, New Zealand and Canada. There was a few people from London and I learnt a lot, which included child protection, setting boundaries with young children, First Aid and ways of communicating and interacting with children. After this we headed off to prepare the camps for the children, and got to know other camp colleagues.

Throughout my time at Youth Hostel Association, I was able to build relationship with the children and young people, encourage them to be involved in activities, offer advice and support them with their issues using the knowledge I have gained from the training session. My responsibilities within the staff team strengthened my ability to build up confidence, as well as realising the importance of teamwork in achieving goals. This valuable experience has taught me to use my own initiative and develop my skills in public speaking and behaviour.

I particularly developed confidence in my decision-making and problem solving skills when dealing with young people at the camp. While at the camp, I enjoyed participating in the John Muir Award, which focused on how to discover, explore, conserve and share the environment.

At the end of my volunteering work experience with YHA, I have gained useful experience and also my communication skills and confidence has increased. This experienced has also added to the quality of my curriculum vitae, which I was able to use to get a job at Sport World.

I would definitely recommend volunteering for anyone, because I think it is not just all about the experience you will gain or the way it will structure your CV, but because it’s a lot of fun and you get to meet lots of different people.

What's the best way to find out how well Youth A.I.D is serving Lewisham's young
people? Let's ask two active members of the Young Leaders programme, Leyli and Therryi. Between them, they took part in a range of training courses and volunteering opportunities which included Camp America and a trip to Borneo.

Leyli Ismail, 20

What have you been doing with Youth A.I.D?
I've done first aid, food and hygiene courses, taken part in basketball coaching at Charlton Athletics football club, and I've become a fully qualified basketball coach through intense training. It was a very big deal for me, because it required so much work and dedication. Also, now I'm volunteering at Charlton Athletics football club. I recently went to Camp America, and was a camp counsellor, which consisted of working with children and young people. I was pretty much a mentor with the young people, building their confidence, and on top of that teaching dance and accompanying them on backpacking trips and overnight camps. It was a really great experience. The best summer I ever had!

How did you get involved? Why did you get involved?
I found out from college through one of my teachers. What particularly appealed to me was the first aid, food and hygiene and the basketball and football training. This resulted me in obtaining a Millenium Volunteer certificate for 20 hours; very hard work.

Do you think other young people should get involved: Why?
Youth A.I.D helps every young person, from one person needing pregnancy advice, to another young person wanting alternatives to college courses.

There's young staffers there that can really relate to the young people, they understand what they're going through, and can really empathise and give you good solid advice since they've probably had the same experience. It's really flexible, there's evening courses if you go to college, so if you just want to pick up another qualification, it's really good.

Therryi Brown, 16

What have you been doing with Youth A.I.D?
I've been volunteering with various events such as Black History Month, the National Youth Summit, Youth A.I.D residential, and child protection training. I also help represent Youth A.I.D, pretty much just bigging up youth and how positive it can be. I also went to Borneo.

How did you get involved? Why did you get involved?
With all the negative perspectives of young people in the media today, I'd just like to show adults that there are a lot of young people who are doing positive things.

What's the best thing you've done with Youth A.I.D? Why?
Residential Youth A.I.D, definitely. I got to overcome a lot of my fears, including my fear of heights. I pretty much kind of surprised myself with how much I conquered.

What have you benefited from Youth A.I.D?
My confidence level has raised, I'm not shy, but I'm not arrogant. I received an outstanding achievement award which is really good. Also, I've met a lot of people that I wouldn't meet just on the street, and it's good to see that young people do want to do some good.