Youth Off The Streets - Overseas Relief Fund

Service Learning is a character-building values education program that provides opportunities for young people to develop skills, self-esteem and positive values through service to the community. Helping young people to understand the importance and value of being generous to others is one of the key features of the program’s success. Over the last few years, visits have taken place to Timor Leste, Albania and the Philippines. Father Riley accompanies a small group of YOTS young people who then spend time alongside street kids and orphans, assisting local charities with their daily work.

Aims

• To teach damaged young people social skills that will build character and break the cycle of violence in families
• To enhance the school curriculum by extending young people's learning into the community
• To enable young people to learn a way of communicating that builds trust and a respectful alliance
• To encourage students to take responsibility for their life choices
• To provide a character-building program that will facilitate the rehabilitation of damaged young people into mainstream society, including education, employment and relationships

REPORT ON A SERVICE LEARNING PILOT PROJECT East Timor 2002

“When the kids first saw the destruction and poverty in East Timor, they realised that in so many ways they are well off.”

“But if you peel off the layers of our boys’ lives, they in some ways have faced similar vulnerability through sexual assault, rejection by their families; they have overcome histories of drug abuse, physical assault and poverty. However, through this experience, they have managed to shrug off their victim mentality. They now know that they can make a difference in this world, they can contribute and they can overcome their pain through learning to be generous.”

Father Chris Riley

Here are some comments from the boys who participated in the program:-

 

“We might have problems, but there are some people out there with far worse. I can make a difference and all I have to do is apply myself….”

 

“When I wake up in the morning I worry about what to wear, they worry about what to eat. This experience has taught me about having [and not having], learning and generosity”.

 

YOTS kids meet local Albanian kids during Service Learning Trip January 2006

YOTS kids playing with local kids in Philippines - Photo courtesy Scott Allan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playtime with local kids outside the church in Baguia village