As well as our renewed partnerships in South Africa with Child and Youth Care Centres, SAYes has also been establishing partnerships in the UK.
We are pleased to announce that SAYes has been one of the recipients of funding, as part of the Propel collaboration and Mayor of London's New Deal for Young People.
We have 100 fully-sponsored, volunteer mentor positions available. Mentors (aged 26 and over) receive extensive training and support from SAYes throughout the process.They are assigned a Transition Specialist who will support and guide both them and their mentee, throughout the 9-month mentorship. This equips them as they go on their mentoring journey with a young Londoner, who would benefit from a positive adult role model. Mentors and mentees meet via WhatsApp video call for one hour each week. Times are arranged to suit both mentor and mentee.
We are thrilled to announce that one of the councils we have recently partnered with is Lewisham Council - to provide mentors for young Londoners living in the Lewisham area. This partnership is also in collaboration with Propel and the Mayor of London's New Deal for Young People. We are actively recruiting volunteer mentors to be part of the SAYes and Lewisham e-mentoring programme.
SAYes is also working closely with other London boroughs - watch for more news coming soon!
Remember, as this is an e-mentoring programme, mentors can apply from anywhere in the World. We love that SAYes mentors are truly international!
Links:
We've had a busy few months at SAYes and our e-mentoring programmes are going from strengh to strength. We have trained mentors from all over the world, who meet regularly online, with SAYes mentees in South Africa and the U.K.
Meet our Mentees Blog
We love to celebrate the successes of the wonderful SAYes Mentees. We do this on our website blog, where we interview both current and former mentees. As well as getting to meet the young people at the heart of our programmes, it also gives an overview of what each young person has gained from being part of the mentoring process.
For example, since graduating from the programme in 2015, one of the SAYes Ambassadors has campaigned to support young people in her community. She is a mother; youth activist; community worker and volunteer. You can read more about the mentees' SAYes journeys here: https://sayesmentoring.org/meet-our-mentees-regular-feature/
Partnership with Lewisham Council
We are happy to announce that SAYes has a new partnership with Lewisham Council. We'll have some exciting programme news coming soon.
New Talent Pipeline Programme
It's been a busy few months - we have lots of new and exciting things happening in the UK and South Africa. Here is an update of what has been happening in South Africa over the last few months:
Dear valued supporters
Here is an update on our programmes, which are running only because of incredible people like you.
June was a busy month for SAYes.
In South Africa, we are delighted to be working with St Michael's Child and Youth Care Centre in Cape Town again. St Michael's was one of our first partner children's homes, so we really are thrilled to have reconnected with them and to be providing mentorship support to the young people who are planning to exit the home now that they are approaching 18.
In the UK, our first mentees have graduated from our pilot programme. We have had some great feedback, some of which is "life-changing". More will graduate in the coming months and we will share our full pilot report with you when they have. We are now looking to expand our support to more young care leavers throughout the UK through our local authority partners and through referrals from our graduating mentees.
Loadshedding (power cuts) continue to make online meetings a challenge in South Africa, but we are happy to report that the majority of our mentors and mentees have found a way to continue to meet on a weekly basis. Where there's a will there's a way!
Our Alumni
Annual Report 2021
We are delighted to launch our 2021 Annual Report (link below)
https://issuu.com/sa-yes/docs/sayesannualreport2021_issuu
We have added more interviews to our new website feature 'Meet our Mentees'.
This time, we hear from Langa and Biscoth. Both of them describe the ways that having a mentor allowed them someone to talk to and someone to listen. Keep checking our website blog each week to read more.
Read more here: https://sayesmentoring.org/meet-our-mentees-new-regular-feature/
As always, if you would like to know more about our work mentoring young people, both in South Africa and the UK, you can email us at volunteer@sayesmentoring.org.
Best wishes,
Michelle Potter
Executive Director and Co-founder, SAYes
Welcome to our new feature spotlighting our mentors and mentees.
We have been interviewing our mentors or mentees, and finding out about their SAYes journey. We hope you enjoy learning more about them.
What is your name?
Mel
What is/was your role at SAYes? Mentor or Mentee?
Mentor
What year/s were you in the SAYes programme?
From 2020…
How did you hear about SAYes?
I bought one of Gillian Anderson’s t-shirts for charity on Instagram! It wasn’t until afterwards that I realised the proceeds were for SAYes. It was at the beginning of the pandemic and I found myself with lots of spare time on my hands and had actively been looking for something that I could get involved with. SAYes seemed like the perfect opportunity.
What attracted you to SAYes/What made you sign up?
The principles and values of SAYes really resonated with me. I had also experienced something similar in my youth and knew just how beneficial and meaningful it could be. I wanted to pay it forward.
What concerns (if any) did you have when thinking about signing up?
In previous experience I was used to ‘helping’ people directly and solving problems. I knew mentoring was not like this and wondered if I would be able to switch my mindset.
What were you hoping to get out of the SAYes programme?
I wanted to learn more about the mentoring role in general and to expand my knowledge. To show up and hopefully make a difference.
Tell us about the challenges you faced in the SAYes programme.
Data and wifi problems have been the biggest challenge so far. You have to get creative!
Tell us about the positives of the programme.
You get to meet some really great people and share experiences. Gaining new or different perspectives is also incredibly valuable.
Anything else you would like to tell us?
SAYes is doing such important work and I’m extremely grateful to be a part of it!
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