Kami is up and away.. After leaving school with no qualifications, I did absolutely nothing for about two years and realised that I needed to do something with my life but was not sure what. I was bored at home, I had very long empty days and there were not many activities in my local community and it was obvious that a lot of people my age were using or selling drugs. I realised that I could also be selling or using drugs or I could be a person in my community to help change this situation. Around this time, March 2007, a Key Worker from the Activity Agreement Project phoned me to find out if I would be interested to get some support to help me into work, college or training. I agreed to meet her and although I felt a bit nervous at first, she soon put me at my ease and I felt that I could talk to her easily and she really listened to me. We spent time together working out what I wanted to do as I was still unsure of what I wanted to do in terms of work – I was under a lot of pressure from my family to find a job or train in a ‘traditional’ trade and Niki helped me to access a short plumbing course where I learned how to plumb in a bathroom suite and connect it up to hot and cold water systems and waste disposal. Although I enjoyed the course, I realised that this was not a career that I wanted to pursue and so she helped me to focus on doing activities that would improve my motivation, confidence and would help me to decide on a future career that felt right to me.
During my time with the Activity Agreement I took part in numerous short courses and activities including:
- Two short film making courses where I worked with a group of young people who I had not met previously and together we wrote, acted and directed two short films; one was a promotional video for the Activity Agreement and one was a short anti-bullying film. This has since led to me participating in some paid casual acting work.
- Achieving an ASDAN Award in Expressive Arts for producing a radio show for Phoenix Radio.
- Actively participating in a self awareness and positive decision making course (10 week programme) called MASHED which helped me to develop a less judgmental attitude and an ability to empathise and sympathise with other people and their life experiences. I am currently involved in their youth forum representing Yorkshire.
- Writing and recording a music CD in conjunction with Pipeline Productions – learning how to write lyrics has helped me express some of the issues in my life that were bothering me.
- Participating in acting workshops on ANTICS Project.
- Meeting, interviewing and filming Bollywood actors and music artists at the Yorkshire Bollywood event.
- Completing a short course in plumbing.
- Speaking with DFES and government ministers about issues affecting young people.
During my time with Activity Agreement, my Key Worker Niki really motivated me to achieve whatever I tried and this has given me great confidence in my abilities. She gave me opportunities to try activities that I would not normally have the chance to do and as well as giving me new skills, they helped me to improve my confidence and achieve my full potential.
Towards the end of the Activity Agreement, I had identified that I would like to work in a similar way as Niki. I am a person who likes to help people improve their lives and achieve their full potential. I believe that I will be ideal to be a youth worker because I have a lot of experience of being around young people from various backgrounds and feel that I can communicate well with them. I am also motivated to work with young people in the area that I currently live in and to provide opportunities as an alternative to selling or taking drugs to make their lives more fulfilling. Niki helped me to find a suitable course at a local college which would enable me to go to university and study to be a Youth Worker. I have almost completed the two year course and I have participated in many of the college’s enrichment activities. I have kept in touch with Niki throughout this time – she is genuinely interested in my progress and gives me support.
I have recently applied to Huddersfield and Leeds Universities to do a youth work qualification and I have been given unconditional offers. I am the only person in my class to have an unconditional offer to attend university and I am the only person in my family to go to university. My family was skeptical of me going to college at first but as I have almost completed my second year at college, they realise that I am committed to a career in youth work and they are proud of me for being offered a place at university. I am really looking forward to starting University in September – I feel like my life is going in the right direction and I feel confident that I will complete it and become a qualified Youth Worker.
