“I never felt such respect and care before”
“I never felt such respect and care before”
“I was unable to move on from my past traumas, when we played games I noticed my strengths open up”. “It is quite difficult to adjust in the community after I left care home. I was fully dependent on care home but they did not connect with my family and community. I never felt such respect and care before, I am so much encouraged myself today.” “It is my first time to see all of us enjoying together. I am looking forward meeting again to play and connect each other”. These are some of the expressions of care leaver youth after the workshops.
We had organized youth camp on Alternative to Violence workshop on 1st June, 2024 focusing on self-care through peaceful ways where youths who are the care home leavers were participated. We discussed on how we take care of ourselves. Some of them do physical exercise, some meditate, some maintain the diet plan, some prefer personal space enjoys the time with nature, an adult mentions that he makes self-SWOT analysis quarterly.
We even discussed about the individual problem the youths are facing at present. Some of them say that they felt quite difficult to adjust in the community after they leave care homes as they were fully dependent on care home earlier. Some mentions that they feel distressed and distracted by minor things, some say that they are lagging behind due to lack of confident, some of them have difficulty to find job. Many of them expressed that they have traumas. BN believe the mentoring from the right elders can help youths in choosing right track so youth were paired with each Bikalpa-Nepal team members for the mentorship and counselling. After learning about the forms, causes and effect of violence and non-violence, the youths commit to choose the path of non-violence.
In order to lead the ‘Youth Group’, a coordinator and the 2 secretaries and a contact person from 3 different child care homes were nominated.
Each youth were paired with each Bikalpa-Nepal members for the mentorship. They decided to contact each other in a weekly basis to share the situation about what is going on, any problem they are facing or any good news.
All of them expresses that the program went refreshing, knowledgeable and fruitful. They shared that this workshop has built up their confidence and interactive skills and helps to know the inner self.
