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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Guyana
Insight into Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS)
- Give a vulnerable child the opportunity to interact with someone older and more knowledgeable.
- Create a one-to-one relationship between the Big and Little.
- Help the child to positively build on their assets
- Help mentor the child to cultivate a positive sense of self and his / her future.
Becoming a Mentor: What is Required?
- Time - The time required by you to volunteer on this program is flexible and has been designed to fit into your lifestyle. You can volunteer one hour a week, during the school/work day, or during the school break.
- Money - Since this is not a financial aid programme, volunteers are not encouraged to spend money on their mentees.
- Experience - Prior experience, though an asset, is not a prerequisite for becoming a mentor. Your interest, enthusiasm, and genuine concern for your little brother/sister would more than compensate.
Mentoring is easy, fun and rewarding!
Just by sharing activities from your daily life you can help at-risk children reach their fullest potential. Mentoring is about leading by example. The simple act of exposing a child to how you live your life, your goals, dreams, or hobbies, can open a new world of possibilities for a "Little" whose home environment may not provide them with a chance to dream of a bright future for themselves.
How does the In-School Mentoring Programme Work?
- Teachers, Liaison Officers or other school personnel refer students who could benefit from adult / child friendship and support.
- Volunteer Mentors are recruited from Corporate, Faith Base, University etc. and commit to meeting with the students for an hour a week throughout the term.
- Matched Volunteer Mentors meet one-to-one with their Mentees at the school during the school day.
- Mentors may spend some time on schoolwork and they also engage in other educational and social activities.
Benefits of School-Based Mentoring
- Deals with each child as an individual.
- Places emphasis upon the importance of developing a one-to-one relatinship.
- The child tends to be more motivated physically, intellectually and socially within the school setting.
- As the mentee develops emotionally, they are better able to recognise the benefits of remaining in school.
What have we been up for 2010 (January to June)
January
The BBBS programme is a mentoring programme hosted by Volunteer Youth Corps Inc. that caters for the children in the lodge community and its environs. In the month of January under the funding of the UNDP, we were able to successfully conduct peer education session with the children, with the objective of having them become change agents in their schools, communities and it environs. In these sessions the topic of discussion was directed to the implementation of behavior change as it deals with general mannerism and delinquent behavior patterns.
As an objective of the programme the children will be participating in community out- reach projects as such in the form of a PowerPoint presentation they were given an overview of the Haitian Earthquake where in a guided discussion they were able to express their views on how they felt about what they saw and were educated by the facilitators on strategies of personal security and community organizing in mobilization of their peer in crisis situations. The discussion proceeded with many examples among these were the earth trimmer which was felt within Guyana and the previous 2005 floods and what happen during those events.
February
In the month of February under the BBBS mentoring programme we were able to successfully conduct life skills training with the assistance of facilitators of Red Cross and Ministry of Health as well as an interactive session with potential mentors. on peer pressure scenario. These sessions were in the areas of First Aid training, the be safe programme, on peer pressure scenario and substance abuse respectively, the objective of these training is to have them become change agents in their schools, communities and it environs. In these sessions the topic of discussion was directed to the implementation of community out reach project where they can gave back what they have learned to the community.
March
Volunteer Youths Corps Big Brother Big Sister Mentoring programme continues to empower at risk youths living within depressed communities. The Big Brother Big Sister youths are now taking a more active role in better community building and youth empowerment. A batch of some 30+ youths which were trained in the Lodge community high school auditorium are now heading to the community of BV in order to mobilize youth and adults to restore an old and inactivate community centre. The group of young well trained and enthusiastic youths is eager to start the project which is scheduled for May 8 for the mobilization aspect of the community service project which is followed by the restoring of the centre on May 15 2010.
April
April a team from Ethnic Relations Commission came to the centre in order to have a session with the youths; the discussion was based on handling issues of conflict. Hand outs were shared with points that highlighted possible solutions to conflicting situations.
Along with the hand- outs two video clips were shown with animated films depicting a fight and what was the smart way of resolving the issue.
At the end of the film the following questions were asked what they taught can promote open discussion on ethic relations within communities.
§ 1. What was the problem?
§ 2. What should have happened and what stage?
§ 3. Who was strong headed?
§ 4. Are you familiar with any problem like this in your community?
§ 5. What needs to happen?
§ 6. Who needs at get involved for the problem to be fixed?
These questions asked sparked a variety of answers which also had a political swing much to the amusement of the adults present.
May
In the month of May the young people went up to the area of Betervewagting where the participated in a community outreach program. They mobilized youth in the area to work on the project of refurbishing the community center in the area. The youth participated in painting the building, cleaning the windows and building up the yard by filling the holes with sand.
During this period most of our mentors were in
June
June 2010, the sessions took the form of a PowerPoint presentation which was created in order to highlight the effects on music both positive and negative. The PowerPoint was created with many short clips with the views of other youth and hidden messages within music. The youth were very attentive since they could not believe that within music hidden messages were present and they have never recognized it over the many times in which they would have view the different music videos. Some of the youths question the meaning behind such music and its intention while others were still in shock of the reality.
On Saturday 26, June the Volunteer Youths Corps youth empowerment program started the third community service project; the community service project was aimed at environment protection and caring for nature. The activity saw 40 youths between the ages of 11- 14 and 35 kids between the ages on 8 – 11 taking part in various activities sounding the centre. The 75 youths all played major roles in enhancing the community and its environs. The project stated at 9:30 and ended at 1:30pm, the youths were able to plant 63 plants within the area, the plants were all placed with 52 tires and plant pots which were painted white, this the youths took the initiative of doing., The fence and walk way was painted by a group in brown and silver for the metal part of the fence, the drains were clean by the older youths which allowed the water the run freely, tree and bushes were trimmed/removed. The children who were not of the appropriate age range to do major work stayed within the building in order to learn about the first process of planting and also to plant fruits and vegetable, the children were excited since they got the opportunity to plant within their own cups and write their name in order to observe the progress of the seeds in the future, the children got the opportunity to learn about seeds and also to filled their cups with soil