Challenge Camp: Better Life for Children

My first job in social work was to empower the youth by enhancing their employability skills. It's been a year since I took on this job which put more focus on human relations rather than on the facts and I am still trying to adjust myself from time to time.

We also provide empowerment courses of employment for young people. When making DISC assessment, I was told by the counselor that En has a great potential in resource integration and that it would be good for him to seek a future in marketing or business planning. En, on the other hand, had doubt on such an assessment because he was too poor to have any opportunity to explore his imaginative and planning ability…….However, the response from each young person, whether it concerns course content, their emotions and facial expressions, became my reference point to guide and assist them in the future.

During my work, I also discovered that our young participants are very straightforward when it comes to express themselves. Sometimes I couldn't help myself burst out laughing while sometimes I was moved or felt sad. One of our participants found a job as a Sushi chef by himself. "I am now a professional rice-picker." he proudly told me. When I paid him a visit at his workplace, I pointed to his staff badge deliberately and asked "How come it doesn't say professional rice-picker?" He laughed.

Teenagers are in an age which is unpredictable. They don't even know about themselves. As such, there are always unforeseen changes when making agreements with them. For example, one may express his wish to learn  ironwork because he had some previous experiences and felt he could continue pursuing the same road; the next day he may change his mind by saying it's too hard to work as a blacksmith but couldn't say what else he prefers. Therefore, I have now developed patience dealing with such adolescent irregularities. I became also more flexible to help them dealing with the confusion and anxiety they felt towards their future.

It is not possible to control the progress of human beings in the same way as we do to other work, but the feedback from our young participants sometimes brought me unexpected joy. For example, when I felt that there was nothing more I could do to help them seeking employment, the next month one of them told me with pride that he has found a job. I have never experienced such a wonderful experience in my previous jobs and it's the best reward one can ever expect from helping others. 

One of our colleagues likes to describe her work as "catching these children" which I find so very fitting. Thank you, children, for allowing me this past year the opportunity to catch you so that you could grow enthusiastically upward instead of falling down. I look forward to seeing you all maximizing your potential to the full to reach the sky above you.