By Olere Iluebbey | Project Leader
It is often said that today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders. While this is correct, in young people’s world, being a leader is often misconstrued as being an adult and a famous one at that. But we know better. We also know that leadership qualities are as vital for children today as they are in adult life. That is why the MIND leadership module seeks to prepare young people to develop and harness leadership and life skills that would enable them make informed choices in life and contribute to making the world a better place.
As a result, character development is being reinforced in all MIND activities. Through inspiring workshops and hands-on projects, students learn ethics, values and citizenship and most importantly, are taught to give back.
During a recent training program in April, students from Community Comprehensive Secondary School in Rumukwurushi - Port Harcourt, took a day off from training to give back to other disadvantaged children in their community. The service project task was to ‘identify and support other disadvantaged children’.
After a brief ‘brainstorming’ session, the MIND Kids concluded that they did not have much money and had little time to raise funds but they could give of their time, energy and talents to support their peers. With little help from MIND mentors, a visit was planned to an orphanage within Port Harcourt and the objective was to give the children at the orphanage a ‘day off’ by helping out with chores that the older children and staff usually did. Not a bad idea.
We arrived at Lifetime Caring International Orphanage early the next day and as soon as we sorted out all preliminary details, MIND kids went straight to work – cleaning (sweeping, mopping the floors, washing clothes, washing pots and plates) and taking turns to tend to the younger children. It took a while before all the chores were done but the kids still had enough time to make friends and play with the children before we had to leave.
Like most orphanages in Nigeria, Life Time Caring International Orphanage houses children between the ages of 18 years and young babies that are a few weeks old. We didn’t quite ascertain the actual number of residents but we concluded that they required more love, care and affection than the very busy staff could possibly offer on an individual basis. So, did we do a good job? We think so. Did the children at the orphanage appreciate having MIND Kids around? Certainly, and we salute our young leaders!
The excitement and laughter as they shared experiences on the way home confirmed that we had done a good job. Not just regarding the chores but in giving these kids the opportunity to experience life changing moments by helping others.
We appreciate the support of our donors for giving us the opportunity to give back to our communities and start building a foundation for young children to join in. Indeed, leaders of tomorrow need to start being leaders today. You can donate today and support training programs and community service projects in various community schools.
If you live in Nigeria, you can also volunteer in some of our programs. Help MIND Foundation to do more. Help us to build a good foundation for tomorrow’s leaders. Make your donation today.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
