Friends are friends forever

January 2007

Highlights from January:

Nick with good friend Bahrom

Nick visits Youth Life after almost a year:
It was great after almost a whole year to get to go back to Tajikistan and see how the work was doing. The first great difference was to see how the new leadership team of 6 young adults were supporting each other and working out problems. Another great difference is those who lead the work were all on the receiving end of the services Youth Life has given over the years so they all know what it is like to receive the services and to give them. So they are in a much better position to bring changes to the work that will benefit the youth we serve and equip the youth leaders to do a good job.

During my visit I also made a point of visiting several youth leaders’ parents at home. Winter is always a challenging time of the year. Conditions this year have proved to be much harder than in previous years. So we decided to hold a presentation and party for all our youth leaders families so they would be encouraged by what their children are doing.

All Youth Leaders singing to their parents at the parents meeting

Youth Leaders Parents meetings

Almost all the parents came to the presentation and party Youth Life put together. This was the first time we had had the idea of showing the work to the parents of the youth leaders. The purpose was to show the parents how capable and talented their children are. To show the parents that the gifting and abilities their children have is partly inherited, and that they should be proud of themselves too as they see their children successfully serving the community where they live. The presentation was an instant hit, many of the youth leaders were so nervous in front of their parents more than if they were in front of 800 youth in a concert. The parents clapped, cried, danced, ate, laughed and were very happy with the work their children do in Youth Life. Many parents thanked Youth Life for all they do and pledged to help the work grow more in the future.

Vitalik with his Grandmother

What some parents said: One mother commented on how she has never seen such friendship between people like amongst the Youth Life team . Other parents cried and thanked Youth Life for helping their children to grow and learn new things for the future.

In the near future we plan to have such meetings for all volunteers’ parents and for the youth leaders’ parents.

Visit from the Ukraine to Tajikistan
3 Young people from the Ukraine visited Youth Life’s work at the end of January. A team from Khujand had visited the Ukraine the previous year and relationships were made. This team from the Ukraine came to see the work in Tajikistan and to see how they may be able to help in the future. Friendships were strengthened and the Youth Life team was greatly encouraged by seeing old friends again. Maybe new opportunities will open for young people to travel to the Ukraine to get business training in the near future. We will see……

Anna, Alexi and Valentina from Ukraine

New Year New Building

December 2006

Highlights:

New Generation Gafforov
Youth Life organized a big concert for the city of Gafforov in Tajikistan. Over 400 youth attended the concert. Youth Life has 2 clubs in Gafforov and they helped to organize and took part in the concert. The concerts program had youth from clubs performing: Traditional Tajik dance, Break dance, contemporary dance group ‘United’, other clubs also performed different dances. Two young people sang at the concert. Youth Life multimedia team also showed a special montage they had made showing the importance of friendship. The business team also practiced different kinds of businesses during the concert. Representatives from the regional Education department, local schools and parents were present and were all very happy with how the event was set up, run and the content. Requests for more concerts have been received and are planned for the near future.

Clubs performing in Gafforov at the concert

Clubs Christmas/New Year parties:
All 29 clubs organized and set up parties for the New Year and for Christmas. Money was raised from the youth in clubs giving money to the celebration or by bringing things.

Umed is a young guy who is a volunteer in one of Youth Life’s clubs, he told his youth leader that he enjoys going to his club because he has made lots of new friends, this celebration really made him happy as it was a fun time and everyone gave and received presents, he could eat and talk with his friends, such good times are not so often.

Umed a great captain!

Possible New Premises for Youth Life:
Youth Life has a had a vision for some years to move to a building where it can grow much more and have a stable base for its work. Where different projects can grow and be developed. Now an appropriate building and land has been secured and the process of repairing it and making it ready for all the activities that will happen this year is under way. A new thing that will be developed strongly are the 2 new skate parks and extreme sports centre.

Pictures of the New Youth Life Administration Building and Multimedia Studio

Adventures on the roof of the World

November 2006

Highlights:

Autumn Camp in the Mountains:

This is the sceen at the winter camp

100 youth volunteers and leaders were able to go up into the mountains of Tajikistan to spend 5 days together. The goal of this time was to build a stronger team spirit. The programme was very active and interesting. Each day there were different games and practical things teams had to do to build their teams up. It was a great fun time and it even snowed and everyone had snow ball fights and got very wet.





Marsha is a young girl helping in one of the older youth clubs, she said that she was amazed how the young leaders were able to organize such an interesting time and take responsibility for the whole trip. Her desire now is to see such potential and ability in her clubs central team so they can do more things together in the future.
Marsha has been going to one of the clubs for years and is a great volunteer.

Everyone has different talents

October 2006

Highlights:

New Generation Chekalovsk:
Youth Life held an outreach in the City of Chekalovsk, this was the first big event Youth Life had held since the summer. The focus of this outreach was to encourage young people to see the importance of Education and how it opens doors for their future. The programme consisted of dance, break dance, drama, a small montage about education, businesses, and of course lots of fun and games.

Youth Life hired a public building in Chekalovsk, they set up everything themselves, decorations, prepared the presenters, there were young people who were ushers and helpers, businesses were set up and lots of planning and organizing was done, the Director of the building that was being hired commented on how well the young leaders had organized and planned the whole event and welcomed them back again at any time.

Tajik Dance group performing at the concert in Chekalovsk

Clubs started
After 6 weeks of planning and asking for permission from different places Youth Life launched its 29 clubs for the academic year 2006 -2007. Children and young people from 4 different cities started to pour back into the youth clubs for another year of activities and fun.

One of the clubs having a good time

Angela Young visits again:
Angela is an English lady who visits the work in Tajikistan regularly she has worked with youth organizations most of her life and she comes to encourage and challenge the work to grow stronger. This visit astonished Angela as it was the first time she had seen the young leaders leading the work totally. She commented on how well the team was working and how the work was growing. She plans to visit the work again this year to encourage more and maybe bring some containers too.

Angela with Eldar at a Concert

Multimedia takes off:
Vitea who is a great youth leader found an article in the newspaper advertising a media competition in Dushanbe the Capital of Tajikistan. To qualify for the competition you needed to send a TV clip to the organization in Dushanbe within a certain time. He managed to get everything together and won a place on the seminar. In Dushanbe he found out that more than 40 people applied mostly from TV stations and only 8 were selected, he was one of the 8. His vision now for Multi media has really taken off and a business is growing to help Youth Life and the young people it is envisioning.

Vitea is responsible for Youth Life Multi Media

Education Your Future

September 2006
Highlights:

Planning for Clubs and work
This month is used to evaluate and plan Youth Life’s programmes for the whole year, time is spent listening to youth leaders, parents of the children, Directors of schools, the children themselves and our volunteer workers to see if the work is really getting results or not. Risks are assessed and changes made to the work as plans are made for the whole year ahead. It is a very important time and very effective.

Children having a good time at one of the clubs together activities

Back to school program
Each year Youth Life finds children who have dropped out of the school system but want to re-enter and finish school. Youth Life partners with another organization called Helping Hand Charity Fund where a special school has been set up to help these children re-enter the normal school system.

Sasha attended the Back to school programme for 2 years and was able to re-enter school and finish and now he is studying at college. He wants to become a mechanic.

Student’s sponsorship 2006-2007
For the past 4 years Youth Life has had an initiative to help young people who have the desire and the ability to go on to University by raising sponsorship for them. The program which started with only 4 guys has grown now to 52 students. The programme is not all for free, there are conditions that the students must meet and they must pass all entry exams to the course they want to study. Each September new students enter this programme and start studying at University, this next year we will see the first 4 guys graduate after 5 years of studying at different Universities. So a big banquet is planned to celebrate the fact they have finished and to encourage the others studying not to give up but to finish what they start.

Ira, Alisher, Katja, Madina and Aisha are all in the Student sponsorship programme and are studying well.