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Daniel Brennan
I am sitting in the GoLD (Generation of Leaders Discovered) offices waiting for a meeting. The clock on the wall ticks away the seconds, the clock ticks away the minutes, the secretary & office staff go about their work while I wait and the clock continues to tick with the occasional tock thrown in for good measure. I look to the door in front of me, where someone will soon emerge to summon me to the meeting. It remains closed. I look to the clock and to the door again, it hasn't moved.
I have just come to the GoLD offices from running my second Schools 4 Schools session in a school, and the first where I felt a real connection with the students. It was also the first where I walked away with a sense of calm, fulfilment and purpose. I decide to review the session and pass the time until the meeting by going through the profiles the students filled out in the session.
I pick up the first profile from the top of a hefty pile. I began reading, the profile started out with pretty standard questions like name, age, gender. Reading the next question "Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?" reminds me that, like children in Australia these students have hopes and dreams to become doctors, accountants, designers or simply "to work hard for my family and protect them as best I can." Another student writes "to have my own wife and 3 beautiful children." A simple enough statement to most, but to have been expressed by a young man from a society where negative gender roles prevail, it goes a long way in demonstrating the effects of the GoLD program.
Reading the profiles reminds me where the sense of fulfilment I am feeling is coming from. It's from the students and the way they remind me of the passion I have for the work we are doing here. The final question asks "What is your favourite part of the S4S program?" The student writes:
-It gives us direction about our life and mentors us on our futures
-When we discuss about the issues facing young people, and the solutions to the issues
-And the friendly volunteers
That's me :)
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