Haresh

He had a cut on his lip and walked with a wobble probably from polio but I will never know. My earliest memory of him is when I was a kid and he would come home and help my mother with carrying 20-30 buckets of water from the tank on the ground-floor to our home on the first floor, everyday for years. Always had a smile and always hardworking. My mom paid him a few rupees for his labour and he never argued about how much he was paid. 

In addition, I saw him do odd jobs for people within our community in our neighbourhoods. Buy stuff, deliver stuff, fill up water tanks, repair things - He did all that he was asked to do and receive with humility all that he was offered. I am not sure if it was really humility or just desperation to earn his daily living. I remember, one time, when he did find courage to ask for more, he was told off sternly and said never to come back and we can find many like him. He bowed, apologised and turned up the next day. 

As I got busy growing up, Haresh became a hazy childhood memory. I saw him once or twice at community functions, always on labour for some family like ours. Always helping out, never really hired. I remember him for I admired him. I looked upto him. He represented humility, hardwork and grace to me. Alas, I didn't know then that he also represented oppression, exploitation and injustice meted out to the likes of him, who didn't fully comprehend the ways of the world. I don't know how he saw it from his own perspective and now I will never know. 

For many years, Haresh did odd-bit jobs for my mom and she used to pay him what she thought was a fair wage and sometimes gave him an old shirt or trouser that no longer fit my dad. She, ofcourse, always fed him for no one, absolutely no one can go out of her house without something to eat. 

With time, I completely forgot about him. I married. Moved out of my parent's place. He continued to visit my mom, always working. marriage, that had its own challenges. Never felt the need to check on him, ask him about his story. How he came to be the helper that everyone depended on in our community yet no one felt to improve his quality of life. 

I never found out where you lived. How you lived. Did you have dreams of your own? Who looked after your dreams? Your needs? Who held you on days when you didn't feel it. Who was really in your family? Your parents? Siblings? Argh! so many questions, all a bit too late. 

He passed away last month. September 2020. My mom felt terrible. She felt sad for him. She said, 'He was always there for everyone, until his very death. Yet, when he died, no one was there for him." It hurt to learn that he died; that no one was around when he was dying; that the very people he supported never knew that he was ill or that he died. Even days after his death, people would call my mom and ask her to send their medicines through Haresh. 

I don't know Haresh if people saw you, really saw you. I know I didn't. I don't want your life and memory to disappear into thin air so I acknowledge you here Haresh. 

For my mom, who held a job, three kids and a household to run, you mattered. You were important and it was because of you, our mom had more time her us. 

For the ailing widow, a relative, that you supported until your last day, your mattered. You gave her the reason to live on. 

You mattered Haresh. 

Resilience in Adversity

In many conversations, around the world, I have had well-wishers who have always remarked that children who grow up in adversity have more resilience, so they are likely to do well in life. I have always cringed at this naïve correlation between adversity and resilience. I agree, some children growing up in adversity do have higher resilience, but that resilience needs a champion and needs a support system for it to truly help a child thrive.

A powerful way to explain this is through the story of Poorna (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poorna:_Courage_Has_No_Limit), one of the youngest girl to climb Mount Everest at the age of 13 years and 11 Months. If you haven’t seen this inspiring true story made into a movie by Rahul Bose called ‘Poorna’, do watch it and one will understand what I am trying to say.

Poorna is born and grows up in abject poverty. She has loving and supportive parents, but they don’t know much and are easily influenced by people and circumstances around them. Her first champion is her elder cousin sister who teachers Poorna her first life lessons, about not giving up, having a dream and doing everything you can to achieve your dreams. Even choosing to run away from home. It is in this relationship that Poorna’s tenacity and resilience are seeded.

Poorna’s father does put her in a government residential school but not because he is invested in her education but because he doesn’t have money to get her married immediately. When left with a choice to be in school or leave this new school (which has not been what she expected), she chooses to run away again. Not a choice made from resilience but out of disappointment. She doesn’t yet have the life skills to make a healthy life choice. Had this choice become true, she would probably have got married soon and her life trajectory would have been different.

Here she found her champion, IAS officer, Dr R S Praveen Kumar. In his very first interaction, which is beautifully captured in the movie, he shows care, respect and creates safety and trust in the relationship which helps Poorna make a different choice. One can see, she is now building her support system – Her parents, her sister and now a caring adult who is invested in all children like Poorna.

During her school break, when she is planning to come home. Her sister comes to her support again. Her sister has her back and does not want Poorna to end up with the same fate as her. She must make a difficult choice again. ‘Do I go home, and risk being married off or do I go for a rock climbing trip?’ She chooses rock climbing and life changes forever for Poorna.

Praveen opens opportunities for young people like Poorna. He visits the program. He remembers her. He talks to her with respect and care. He gives her the sense that he is backing her. Poorna’s confidence is building. Now she has more supporters. Her rock climbing instructor who is tough with her but also encouraging. He notices that Poorna is special and validates her. He teaches her new skills and new ways of being. Praveen and her instructor now start building her vision, her aspiration and the medium of rock-climbing, intrinsically rich in developing Life Skills, becomes her tool to achieve her dreams.

Praveen pushes Poorna to find her reason to climb the Everest. For a purpose is key to accomplish such a challenging task and without purpose, he knows well, that she might give up when faced with difficulty. Poorna finds her purpose in the death of her sister and then there is no turning back.

All through the story, Praveen is also deeply respectful of Poorna’s choices even if they seem different from his own choices for her. This is critical for one to be truly a champion for young people. It is to know that the goal is for young people like Poorna to learn to make their choices for resilience emerges from the difficult choices we make in life. When Poorna decides to go ack home at the death of her sister and not pursue her dream, Praveen, while disappointed, does not show it, but backs her choice. When Poorna decides to make the Everest summit despite her illness, Praveen backs her again and lets her make her own choice. This will stand in good stead for Poorna for life.

And as one can see in the movie, the rest is history. Praveen, her parents, her sister through the poignantly beautiful letter she leaves for Poorna, her instructors, her colleagues like Anand are all her champions now. They are all seeding tenacity, resilience, healthy choice making, self-awareness, critical thinking in Poorna through their interactions with her. She has a village of champions now. 

That’s how Poorna learns to soar and that’s what gives Poorna the resilience to make through the last hurdles before she finally conquers The Everest. They are all by her side through her journey.

Children like Poorna who grow up in adversity don’t naturally have resilience. They need champions. They need us. We as parents, colleagues, teachers and every single adult have the capacity to become a champion for at least one child like Poorna around us. Let’s play our role. Let’s be that Champion and then the world is truly at their feet.

Second Brothers

Last week over a dinner conversation with my boys, an interesting nuance emerged. Five of the boys had younger brothers and all of them were struggling in life. I did a quick think around other boys that I have worked with and realized that I know of at least 2 other young men whose younger brothers are struggling in life.

I asked the boys what are some of the reasons that their younger brothers are struggling and these were some of the responses

'They got more attention and care from parents because they were younger.'

'While I had to support my family through struggles of poverty and earning an income, they are enjoying the fruits of our hardwork.'

'They had more freedom.'

'They grew up in a time when the family was getting out of poverty so they didn't learn responsibilities the way I did.'

'It is the case of wrong company. Once they become part of a gang of troublemakers, it is difficult to get them back on track.'

'My mother does not believe they can do anything wrong. They get pampered at home.'

All of the above sound reasonable. However, the thing that does not sit well with me is why specifically the younger brothers. Some of the younger siblings have also been to Dream a Dream programs and yet they don't seem to have developed the Life Skills needed to make healthy life choices. Whereas, their older brothers seem to have developed the Life Skills that is helping them make healthy life choices, take responsibility, be sensitive and support their families to come out of poverty.

These young men are some of the most inspiring men I know. They deal with complex issues on a daily basis. It could be medical emergencies, displacement of homes, fights in the community, loss of jobs, marriage, relationships within family, fire hazards, health hazards, risk to life, conflict with law, poverty disputes, etc. Yet, they have shown tremendous grit and resilience to move forward in life and choose to Thrive. They are changing perceptions about themselves in their families and as they are becoming bread winners in their families, they are also taking decisions on behalf of their families. It is a joy to watch them take on life with positivity.

Yet, their siblings seem to be struggling. Even their struggles seem similar. They have dropped out of school or college; they are unable to keep a job for a long-time; they are unable to decide what they want out of life; they seem to be in conflict with the law; substance abuse; they seem to be part of a group of boys similar to them.

Challenges faced by their siblings are also dragging them down in their own life journey. Recently, a young man came into conflict with the law. His older brother was also taken in custody for questioning. Then there was the emotional layer of supporting his younger brother and helping him get out of prison. This meant requiring lawyers, money and ability to negotiate with the police since law does not follow its due process anyway. He managed all of this over 2-weeks of complex conflict and I could see that at the end of it, he was broken. He didn't know if having all this resilience and positive outlook was worth it. He didn't know if anything was worth it. It took tremendous mentoring to ensure he didn't spiral down the dark tunnel.

Another young man is struggling with the challenge that his brother is into drugs - taking them and also supplying them. He is fearful for himself and his family that they might get caught in this complex web of drug peddling. Yet, another young man has a brother who just sits around at home watching television the whole day. He expects to get food on his plate, pocket money for himself, cable television for his entertainment and yet does not expect to support his family to meet his and their needs.

I don't have an insight yet but the question has taken root in my head. Hopefully, the young men themselves will be able to give me an insight that might shape our work with young people. It has helped me realize that when we work with a young person, that person is not an isolated entity. He is deeply linked to his family, community, environment and surroundings and all of them play a considerable role in influencing his BEING and who is BECOMES.

The quest continues...

Life Skills: When will the Skilling Sector wake up to see its critical role!

Recently, Samhita published a “CSR in Skills and Livelihood Report.” This study analyses the CSR efforts of the top 100 companies with the largest CSR budgets on the BSE 500 to identify the gaps and opportunities in the skills and livelihood value chain and provides a roadmap for companies and other stakeholders to overcome these challenges.

The report states that India is currently facing a huge socio-demographic challenge given that majority of its population is in the working age with limited or no skills. As per the Labour Bureau Report 2014, the size of the skilled workforce in India is only 2%, which is extremely low when compared to countries such as China (47%), Japan (80%) and South Korea (96%). It is estimated that by around 2025, 25% of the world’s total workforce will be in India. It has also been forecasted that the average age of India’s population would be 29 in 2021 as compared to China’s average age of 37, thus giving India a unique advantage of having one of the world’s youngest populations. However, a large young population alone does not guarantee India an advantage. The country needs to ensure that its young workforce is equipped with the skills and knowledge required in a workplace so it can reap the “demographic dividend”.

To bring about a focus on skilling and consolidate efforts, the central government has brought all the skilling programmes under the ambit of a ministry created in 2014—the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). The government has further stepped up its efforts through the announcement of two skill development packages worth INR 220 billion in July 2016 to improve the skills of 15 million people by 2020. While these initiatives are a step in the right direction, a few studies found that they have not yielded the expected results. Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) constituted under the Director General of Training (DGT) have acknowledged their own shortcomings in terms of poor quality training, serious infrastructure gaps, outdated curricula, high dropout rates and minimal contact with industry. Additionally, only 5% of the 17.58 lakh people trained under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) (as of July 2016) got jobs.

As this report explores the solution to this looming crisis, it proposes a value chain approach, which is an attempt to put the “trainee” at the centre of the discussion and view the entire process of skills and livelihood development from his or her perspective. Broadly, these can be classified as pre-training, training and post-training components. Together, these steps help in ensuring that the trainee has a seamless experience and realizes the intended outcomes of the programme.

The study presents some fascinating insights and we hope Companies and NGOs will address these insights in their work with young people.

Some pointers in the report that caught our eye include:

1. Enhancing employability through soft/life skills was secondary to vocational skills.

Firstly, we need to learn to distinguish between soft skills and life skills. Soft Skills are NOT the same as Life Skills. Soft Skills have conventionally known to enhance one abilities and prospects in the job market. They are desirable skills that create a competitive edge.

Life Skills are core foundational skills without which an individual cannot overcome adversity and be prepared for a healthy, productive life as an adult. World Health Organization (WHO) defines life skills as positive and adaptive abilities that enable an individual to deal with the challenges and demands of everyday life. Life Skills help an individual be creative, take initiative, solve problems, overcome difficulties, manage conflict, negotiate, respond with empathy, be self-aware and think critically amongst other things. Without Life Skills, it is next to impossible for an individual to thrive and succeed as an adult, especially in the fast changing 21^st century.

Secondly, providing vocational skills without the foundation of Life Skills will have limited impact and thus life skills cannot be treated secondary. Life Skills is not a subject that can be taught and delivered through a 45-60 minute session. Life Skills are developed through a combination of role-modeling by the trainer/facilitator and the use of transformative, experiential pedagogies that understand adversity and ways to overcome it. Life Skills are also developed when there is consistent, long-term engagement in the presence of a caring, empathetic adult.

2. Despite gaining vocational skills, the trainee may not be ‘employable’ due to poor communication skills, a lack of confidence or, poor coping abilities. This would be especially true of trainees from lower socio-economic backgrounds who would have been conditioned very differently due to difficult circumstances.

Firstly, when it is said that youth have poor communication skills, lock confidence and poor coping abilities. These are just symptoms of a deeper challenge faced by young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. It is the challenge of growing up in adversity and NOT conditioning (this sounds judgmental). When young people experience neglect, abandonment, lack of emotional care or violence, abuse, it impacts their ability to achieve developmental milestones and engage with the world. Experiences of adversity result in Failure to Thrive describing a situation where a child does not grow as expected on a growth chart. Adversity affects their ability to engage with the world, make healthy life choices and be successful. The impact of adversity can be seen in their adulthood and sometimes throughout life. For instance, not being able to keep a job. The report corroborates this by stating that least 1 of the 4 trainees placed dropped out in the first month according to most of the NGOs surveyed for the study.

How times have vocational programmes lamented that young people drop out within the first few weeks of the programme or don’t stick to a single job or don’t apply themselves with discipline through the training. These are not because young people are disinterested, or conditioned differently or not serious about their future. They just don’t have the abilities due to failure to thrive.

In 17 years of Dream a Dream’s experience with young people we have seen that when young people develop their Life Skills, they are able to overcome failure to thrive and re-engage with life. Hence, unless we focus on Life Skills as core foundational skills, most vocational training programmes will continue to have limited impact and not achieve long-term positive outcomes for young people.

3. The study found an overwhelming consensus among all stakeholders in terms of the role of soft and life skills in enhancing ‘employability’. Yet there was a disconnect between rhetoric and practice—while all companies were focused on ‘vocational’ skills, only half of them were considering soft skills and life skills as part of their courses.

Some of the barriers identified in the report that limits more corporate participation across the value chain included:

• Some companies were unaware of the importance of these building blocks, as the wider narrative so far has focused only on delivery of training.
• Most companies recognized the need for such support, but lacked knowledge of effective models and good practices because unlike delivery of training, the pre and post-training components have not been documented or codified systematically.
• A few companies reported that they were unable to identify credible implementation partners that could execute these activities at scale, especially around soft skills training.
• Stakeholder and donor perceptions around what constitutes impact maybe misdirected, especially when their accountability is defined as ‘number of trainees covered’, rather than outcomes such as better jobs, higher retention in those jobs etc. Certain aspects of the value chain, especially supporting the trainer or mobilization efforts could be perceived as ‘unglamorous’.
• Outcomes of soft and life skills depend on a certain degree of behavioural change that is difficult to achieve in a short duration and difficult to measure and quantify.

Dream a Dream has addressed some of these barriers successfully in our work with over 5000 young people every year and over 100,000 across 17 years. We have integrated Life Skills as a core intervention and on the foundation of Life Skills – other technical skills are developed. This has resulted in some remarkable wins – We don’t have a challenge of mobilization since our graduates are our biggest champions and do the community mobilizing for us. Our retention is at over 90%. Our graduates make choices based on their aspirations and choose from a variety of opportunities – higher education, vocational training, internships, job placements, self-employment and entrepreneurship. Over the last 6 years, we are tracking over 8000 graduates from our programme and 95% of them continue to be meaningfully engaged with life.

We have also developed and published a standardized Dream Life Skills Assessment Scale (DLSAS), the first of its kind scale in the world that measures life skills. 100% of our graduates have shown an improvement in life skills year-on-year measured using the DLSAS.

Hence, the above barriers can be overcome.

In conclusion, the pace of change in the world is frantic and unpredictable. Young people are entering a very complex future filled with many challenges. The report highlights that the demand for skilled labour and its supply is based on a set of constantly changing variables such as industrial changes, technological advances and people’s aspirations, among others. This dynamic nature of skilling underpins the need to continuously evolve and adapt courses and curriculum to ensure that they are not rendered obsolete.

For instance, it is predicted that 65% of new jobs in the world have not yet been created. Moreover, job requirements are moving from linear repetitive tasks to non-linear, multi-dimensional task requiring a host of different skills. In this scenario, focusing on specific vocations might mean a death sentence for these young people if those jobs become redundant in the future due to automation.

Hence, an investment and focus on Life Skills will help young people develop the agency and resilience to re-invent themselves in a fast changing, complex and unpredictable job scenario and continue to thrive.

As I think about how young people are preparing for this new world, I am reminded of a young person who graduated from our programme a few years back. He anticipated this future and worked on developing multiple skills. Today, he works as a Life Skills Facilitator, a Gender Expert Trainer, a Rugby Player and a Rugby Coach. All diverse jobs requiring diverse skill-sets. It was Life Skills that helped him thrive and succeed in each of his career choices and continuing to help him expand his basket of skills. He is geared up for the new world. He is adaptive, resilient and creative. He has self-belief and can reinvent himself in a changing world scenario. Today, he is definitely moving his family out of the vicious cycle of poverty while also having the resilience and agency to face the future with confidence. 

Who do you want to be remembered as when you exit?

People leaving is a normal occurrence in the journey of any organization. In my 17-year career, I have seen many people leave Dream a Dream – some have left with pride, friendships, love and camaraderie and others have left with grudges, disappointment and anger. It doesn’t matter that people leave, that is part of life. What matters is how they leave?

Recently, we had someone leave Dream a Dream after a short-stint of one year. We were sad to let this person go. In just a year, this person had won our hearts with his humility, work ethic and commitment. He got a much better opportunity and we were delighted for him while we were sad to see him go.

However, one thing struck me about his exit and it was the way he left the organization. For me, it was one of the most remarkable transitions and exits I have ever come across. Here are a few things he did, that won my heart.

1. While, he had a compelling offer and they needed him to join at the earliest, he negotiated that he can only join after 3 months. The notice period in our offer letter stated only one month.

2. He knew he had made certain commitments to the organization and to our external stakeholders and he wanted to make sure he met those commitments before he exited.

3. He wanted to give the organization sufficient time to find a replacement for his role. He knew that it’s difficult to find people for senior roles and more so, in his very niche area.

4. He wanted to make sure he does a thorough and complete transition to the new person while he was still around.

5. He put together a comprehensive transition plan that covered all critical aspects that would help a new person hit the road running from Day one.

6. He made a master document outlining his directory structure, key relationships and status with each of them and finally a list of key tasks that require attention.

7. He ensured he reworked his folder / filing structure including renaming files to make it easy for the new person to find documents. He invested time in cleaning up his folders.

8. He ensured there was active communication with all external stakeholders and managed any anxieties that might arise with pending timelines.

Finally, he ensured that the universe of relationships he built at Dream a Dream were kept intact and everyone would remember him for the remarkable colleague, friend and human being that he is.

Through this transition, I wondered why he invested as much time and effort and the question I asked myself is ‘Why was it important for him? Why is it important to transition well out of an organization?’

Transitions leave an impact on the organization. Work gets impacted for a certain time period till it picks up again. Sometimes, it puts pressure on the system and is a cause for stress, especially in small organizations. The burden moves to others in the team and it affects their ability to be productive.

In the way that this person planned and executed his transition, I learnt that it’s important to leave with your head held high. Leave without burdening the organization to manage and figure things out after you are gone. Leave knowing that your hard work will bear fruit and will be continued as you had planned and for that is important to plan your exit, prepare for your transition and invest in making it thorough. It’s important to take pride in the work that you have done and that pride ensures you plan and execute a thorough transition.

Moreover, in our time with organizations we build and nurture relationships, we make friends and it’s important to keep the connections intact. A half-hearted transition could, in a moment, undo the hard work and credibility you have built in your time here.

Something we all have to think about is, ‘what and how do you want to be remembered when you are gone? What is the legacy you want to leave behind?’

Mahesh Chandrasekar, you have set new benchmarks at Dream a Dream for transitions and exits and you will always be remembered for your amazing work ethic.

New Year Resolutions

I have never been the one for making New Year resolutions. However, this year I feel compelled to commit to a few and seek support  from the universe to make it happen.

1. Being - Spend time doing less and being more. Being available. Being present. Making time for reflection and thinking. Slowing down.

2. Write - I have this urge to write and write a lot and keep holding myself back. I give myself many reasons - I don't write well. What I want to say has already been said. Who will read it. etc. I want to worry less and write more - Be it blogs, opinion pieces or poetry. I aim to write 15 pieces this year.

3. Reconnect - Reconnect with family and friends. Rekindle old friendships, make time to catch-up. Reconnect with my team at Dream a Dream. Reconnect with teachers and young people and partners.

4. Read - I enjoy reading but don't read as much. I want to read 12 books this year.

5. Prioritise - Prioritise myself. Support my dad with some of his tasks. Get my finances in order. Invest time in honing my cooking skills. Prioritise time for my sisters and cousins.

6. Minimalist - Continue the journey to have minimal possessions in my life. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

7. Gratitude - Express more gratitude towards life.

2017 already looks exciting!

It's not Poverty but lack of Life Skills

Poverty had never bothered him or his family. They lived within their means and lived with happiness. A family of four, both his parents worked. Father in a lathe factory and mother in a garment factory. He was in school and his sister was completing college. It was a frugal existence and a happy one. The family decided to take a small loan to support his sister's marriage. Both the parents had regular jobs so they were confident they will be able to repay it over time. Marriage was a simple and happy ceremony. 

Jacob was a bright student at school and loved by his teachers. He was a natural leader and took on many responsibilities in his school. He joined the Dream a Dream Life Skills Programmes through his school and thrived as he discovered his true potential. He also found his passion for Rugby through Dream a Dream and became one of the best Rugby players in the team. Rugby taught him resilience, discipline, looking out for each other, supporting his team mates and most importantly learning to get up when thrown down. He and his band of friends even started their own Rugby Community Club, coaching children in their slum next to a sewer. Children looked up to Jacob and his friends as role models and dreamed of growing up to be like them. Jacob completed school with flying colours and had dreams of going to college and playing Rugby for India. 

In a span of six months since he joined college, both his parents were diagnosed with acute diabetes and both of them lost their jobs. His parents tried to keep their stress away from Jacob but as the demands of debtors and the need to support a family became difficult, they reached out to Jacob for support. Overnight, his life turned around. He became the sole bread winner for the family and had to deal with the mounting debts and also take care of his ailing parents. He became an adult. 

What choices does a young man of 18 have in such circumstances? How does one make choices that are life altering at that age? Do we even have the maturity to make those choices? Jacob struggled with the same questions. It was time to test the Life Skills that he had developed. Once Jacob was out of the initial shock of becoming an adult overnight, he calmed down and reached out for advice from his mentors and coaches. He got a lot of good advice that helped him think through his options and make an informed choice. 

Jacob decided to drop out of college. It was a difficult decision but one that he had to make. He was working as a part-time Life Skills Facilitator and decided to apply for a full-time role. He decided to take on couple of additional jobs in the evening and over the weekend. He made a list of debtors and prioritized them. He learnt to renegotiate with some of them and buy more time. He was certain that he will clear all the debts because these people had supported his family in good faith and they deserved to have their money back. He learnt to communicate all his decisions with his family and seek their counsel. He was in constant touch with his mentor reaching out to him for advice and support. He managed to get some interest free loans and some contributions to reduce the burden of debt and mounting interest. He made monthly budgets and learnt to walk a tight rope of expenses for a whole year till he could clear some of the more critical loans. 

He had to also let go of his passion - Rugby. He knew it was temporary and he will jump right in when things were better. He got a full-time role and he knew he had to be the best since he could not afford to lose this job. He worked hard and worked longer hours. He learned well and became the best at his job. 

Today, Jacob is stable. Life continues to challenge this young man. His ailing parents need constant medical care. His dad has not managed to get work since he lost his job. He lost his grandfather recently and has an ailing grandmother. More that 50% of his monthly salary goes in clearing loans every month. Yet, the smile never leaves Jacob. He is doing extremely well at his job and has managed to participate in a few Rugby tournaments, slowly getting back to his passion. He still dreams of completing college one day. 

Looking back, I am grateful that Jacob had an opportunity to develop the Life Skills that he so needed to get through one of the most difficult life experiences. When working with young people coming from adversity, we have learned that its not poverty that holds them back. It's the lack of abilities to help them overcome life situations that poverty throws at them. We understand Life Skills as, "abilities for positive and adaptive behaviour that help an individual deal with challenges of daily living." 

It was the Life Skills that Jacob had that helped him overcome his life situation. He didn't crumble, he didn't give up. He used this ability to seek support, he negotiated, he learnt to interact with others, he learnt to take initiative, he learnt to manage his own emotions, he learnt empathy for himself, his family and his debtors. He learnt to make tough choices, stay resilient and happy through those choices. Jacob taught me the true meaning of empowerment - that which enable people to take charge of their lives.