THERE is always hope, even in the face of darkness.
This is the belief that youth worker Don Lowe hopes to instil in the lives he touches through his work.
The 36-year-old is a part-time associate with Eagles Mediation and Counselling Centre, which facilitates STEP-UP, a government-initiated youth development programme in secondary schools.
Twice a week, he motivates teens to pick correct life choices through visual aids, games and informal counselling.
Developing empathy
Mr Lowe’s dedication to youth work stems from his childhood, when he struggled with self-esteem issues.
“When I was young, my relatives would always praise my cousins who studied in top schools,” he says. “I compared myself with them and felt so far away from where they were.”
It was then that he decided that he would succeed in life without help from anyone.
His attitude of “every man for himself” changed in his teenage years, when he grew closer to his uncle, a church pastor.
“My uncle was very open to questions that I had and we could talk about anything. He saw potential in me,” he says.
“For someone who didn’t want to be around people, I began to realise that I learnt more from others than from reading books,” he says.
“The only way to be fulfilled is to be with people. Now, my life is surrounded by them,” says the happily married father of a daughter, aged two.
His experience led him to developing empathy for young people and spurred him to make a positive difference in their lives.
Building bonds
His dedication to the students extends beyond the classroom. Before and after each workshop, he makes an effort to bond with each student.
Relationships take time to build, he says. Most of the time, he earns the students’ trust only after the programme has run its course, but each relationship formed is a lasting one.
It is worth the effort, he says, recalling one of his success stories.
One of his students had been smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. To help the teen curb the habit, Mr Lowe challenged him to reduce his cigarette consumption to at least half a box in two weeks.
“If he managed to do so, I promised to bake him a wonderful chocolate cake that would cost a bomb outside,” says the freelance baker.
At the end of two weeks, the teen successfully reduced his cigarette consumption to four sticks a day.
True to his word, Mr Lowe baked a cake for the delighted teen — with an added message written on it.
He says: “I wrote the Chinese characters for the word ‘courage’ on the cake. I told him: ‘You must have the courage and strength to overcome. And overcoming starts with taking small steps.’ ”
Hand of friendship
Despite the success stories, there are times when Mr Lowe has been disappointed by some of his students’ choices.
Some join gangs or turn to drugs even after he has told them the detrimental effects of their actions.
“You share these things with them and you think they’ve gotten the message, but they haven’t allowed it to sink deep into their hearts,” he says.
Instead of giving up on his students, Mr Lowe extends his hand of friendship to them. “When I see them in school, I smile, find out how they are and remind them that they can always come to me if they need help,” he says.
He does so in the hope that when his students choose to turn away from their wrong choices, they will remember that there was always someone who believed in them.
And in the long term, he hopes to make a difference in the life of each troubled teenager he meets.
He says: “I see myself doing this forever, until I have no more words left to say or become irrelevant to the youths. Then I’ll move on to the adults.”
For details, visit www.emcc.org.sg
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