Saturday at the LIFEHUB begins with smiles
A truck rolls to a stop at our gate and 6 Youth Vision interns hop out smiling and greeting our team. They come from a home and refuge for 50+ Burmese youth seeking refuge in Thailand. Without papers or ID, apart from school and special programs like ours, they are not free to come and go from the home as they choose due to local restrictions and the instability and ongoing civil war in Myanmar.
Finding their places at a white table in our multi-use training space, the interns open their notebooks and take out 6 red envelopes ready for 'Teacher Julia' to hand out the weekly imitation 'salary'. They quickly distribute the money into envelopes marked rent, utilities, food, and three other categories of their choice.
Financial literacy is one component of the 6-month weekly training, preparing youth ages 18-22 for personal livelihood success as they transition from school and life in boarding homes to the world beyond.
On day 1, Julia asked, "If I gave you 100 baht ($4) today and asked you next week what you spent it on, what would you say?" They unanimously said, "snacks." These youth have never had money of their own to spend because the home depends on donations.
Seeing their future differently
Sheltered environments like boarding homes, while providing critical safety, care, and education, can limit opportunities to learn vital personal, social and practical life skills, making youth vulnerable when stepping out to college or the working world. Without livelihood skills, their mindset can hinder independence, increase their vulnerability to unhealthy and unsafe relationships, and cause them to feel hopeless, helpless, and have low self-efficacy.
Identifying this critical gap in the border communities, led to the birth and pilot run of our Nation to Nation LIFEHUB Youth Vision Program.
What these youth need is safe space, time, and an opportunity to learn livelihood skills to prepare for independent lives and to envision a future designed for success.
Seeds of Hope for Young Entrepreneurs
Dan, Nay and Amos pitched their Soy Milk and Bakery small business idea with the tagline
"The Taste you Love". Their excitement, joy and optimism for their future grows every week. Please pray for these youth.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." — Isaiah 40:28-31
Launch Youth for Success
Ways to get involved
Help us fill the future with hope-filled, hope-fueled leaders.
Become a monthly LIFEHUB partner
$100/$250/$500 a month
Thank you for partnering with Nation to Nation to bring #hopethatchangeslives!
Comments