Empower Vulnerable Young People with Life Skills

"Man is made by his belief.  As he believes, so he is." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Around 4000 young people from Dream A Dream Life Skill Programmes are on their path to strengthen their belief in themselves by realizing their potential and explore various opportunities for their future.  Thank you for helping us continue this journey.

Meet Ravi (name changed) from our Life skills through Football Programme:   Story as narrated by our facilitator.

Ravi has been in the football programme for the last one year.  Initially when we started the programme with the structured sessions, he did not understand what was being taught to him.  He never used to mingle with any of the other young people in the sessions; he was also very naughty and often used foul language.  I used to try and exclude him for some time during the sessions for bad behaviour and even one of his school teachers came and told me to exclude him from the session. His parents also complained about his behaviour saying that he was being disrespectful, taking money from them without their knowledge and fighting with his brother. He would also lie to them, telling that there was a sports programme and arrived home very late. After we excluded him from a few sessions, he came to classes and pretended to behave.

Change after being in our Programme:

One day, the young people had a structured session with the topic being ‘Dealing with Parents’. All the young people spoke about their parents and everyone spoke positively about their relationship with their parents, explaining that they loved their parents and their parents in turn also loved them. I then shared my personal story. I used to disobey my parents and as a result, faced a lot of difficulties in my life. This story had a lot of impact on Ravi and he understood the importance of respecting his parents. His behaviour gradually improved both in the sessions and at home.

Sharing personal stories and building a personal connection with young people with authenticity helps build trust in them.

Organization and Programme Updates (September - November 2012):

1. We continue to deliver our core life skills programmes –114 batches are run across 18 locations in Bangalore - 51 batches in Life skill through Arts and 63 batches in Life skill through Football. 
2. Three Outdoor Experiential Camps were conducted engaging 116 children and 17 volunteers. A quote from Asma, who was at our camp "I wish that this whole world should change like this, each one should have respect, appreciation, care, and say kind words to each other then there will never be any ill or bad air in nature." ~ Asma, 9th standard, EES Bommanahalli
3. 271 young adults successfully completed their Life Skills for Career Development training at our Dream Connect Center, which offers the tools and foundational life skills necessary for career development.
4. We have completed our 6-week Facilitation training in partnership with PYE Global-Partnership for Youth Empowerment where 16 Lead Trainers were trained and prepared to deliver trainings across the country.
5. Mr. Vishal Talreja, Cofounder and Executive Director presented the Dream A Dream model and its journey to students at IIM Ahmedabad on 19th November 2012.
6. Volunteer Survey 2012 rolled out to study the personal, social, economic, and cultural impact of volunteering on volunteers through an online questionnaire.
7. As part of our scale plan, 2 life skill facilitation workshops for adults were conducted to teachers from our partner schools and Salaam Bombay Foundation.  We also had, 2 life skills facilitation trainings for Dream A Dream staff.

Your support has repeatedly played a key role in continuing our programmes with young people from vulnerable backgrounds realize their potential to take over life’s challenges with confidence.

P.S. - Both links below

1. To know about our aspirations from Last Year, please check our Annual Report 2010-11.
2. We will be recruiting mentors periodically, to know more about mentoring program, please watch our video "Be a caring adult.  Be a mentor."  If you wish to become a mentor please write to volunteer@dreamadream.org.

Thank You!!

Links:

• Annual Report 2010-11