Project- Final thoughts

Working with C3 has granted me insight into the lives of mainstream youths from poor and difficult backgrounds. While a lot of attention has been given to youths-at-risk, as seen from the myriad of social service and non-profit organizations focusing on intervention plans, I realized that little credit has been given to organizations that focus on prevention strategies—keeping vulnerable youths off the streets and mentoring them through engagement in youth activities, to ensure that they are equipped and empowered to be good citizens of society in the future.

Initially, I admit that continuously playing with the youths at the centre and talking to them about seemingly superficial things felt rather meaningless. However, the staff shared that even play could be intentional, and I admired their strong sense of purpose even in mundane things. They showed me the importance of keeping these youths coming, and how everything speaks. Our willingness to engage in the things that they like, our words and actions, all contribute to the degree to which they respect us and are willing to listen to what we have to say. Prevention work tends to be undervalued, as the problems have not yet occurred. Yet, I saw how many of these youths had the options of turning to gangs and engaging in crime, but due to the community and support that they received at C3, they decided to come to the centre everyday after school, instead of going out with their bad friends. I saw how the youths at C3 had a strong moral compass, and while they might be playful and rebellious at times, they were highly aware of right and wrong.

I have also learnt to generalize my learning from my experience with Mdm Y to the youth work scene. I applied the general principle of ensuring that I only volunteered on days where I felt emotionally rested and capable of listening and empathy to this situation, as similar to working with elderly, working with youths requires a lot of emotional labour. Youths of this demographic also tend to be highly sensitive to rejection, thus would likely pick up on our hints or frustration or disappointment on our bad days. As such, volunteering on days when I am emotionally rested, and engaging in self-care to ensure that this occurs on most days, puts me in a better position to genuinely mentor and take interest in their lives.  

Lastly, in applying teachable moments, I realized that that, too, is a form of experiential learning, as values and skills were imparted to the youths in daily life situations rather than through lectures and speeches. Having gone through this experiential learning and seeing how my hands-on interaction with youths and youth organizations has greatly value-added to my learning on top of lectures and theories learnt in the classroom, I am now convinced that this is a methodology that is highly effective and important in youth work, and am motivated to integrate experiential learning aspects into my job as a freelance trainer.

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