The 360 Trust programme is a life transforming, life affirming experience offered to “difficult” teenagers at a critical time aiming to “turn around” lives at a point before deprived childhood leads to a potentially socially dysfunctional adulthood. There is not only a societal gain, but also a priceless life quality and appreciation gain for the individuals fortunate enough to take part in this experience, the tendrils of which are far wider spread than one might potentially initially believe.

Teenagers, even the best loved, challenge authority, question their place in the world, try to fit in and belong. Some do this relatively safely and after gentle and loving coaxing rejoin society as balanced self-confident adults. For some the battle is harder, especially when families are for whatever reason effectively broken. Through ‘antisocial’ behaviour these teens alienate themselves ever more.

As one of our Teens describes:
“I had no respect for anyone or anything. I could be very rude and bolshy, especially if people didn’t do what I wanted. I smoked. I drank a lot. I left school, having bunked off a lot with pretty dire results.”

After going abroad on a 2-week trip to Kenya a transformed young adult returned.

Compared to her, the children in Africa had very little but they looked at life in a totally different way. Their faith was strong, their valuing of their education, how hard they worked, how much they appreciated the little they comparatively had, made her take stock of her own life.

She now appreciates what she has more. She is now aware of consequences, and the effect of her actions on others and acts more considerately. She has a self-confidence and a maturity now which has seen her through a year at College, when not so long ago, she’d have given it all up when the going got tough.

Driven by a new self-confidence, she is happier with the person she is today.

She has discovered “she can do positive stuff and wants to do more of it.” This is already evident in that the change in her has inspired a friend of hers to try harder at school and to make more of every opportunity inspired by those kids in Africa, who had so little but made so much of it.

Life is about having a purpose. It gives us a direction. If we are lost, we can easily become incredibly destructive, but with a positive purpose the world takes on a different meaning altogether.

It is easy to think of the “Youth of Today” in a disparaging way. But sometimes a small step at the right time can make a huge difference. The 360’Trust does just this. You may question Why Africa? Could something closer to home not have equally as efficient an effect?… but sometimes it is the completeness of the extraction of the individual, from the world it knows that creates the ultimate of learning environments.

It is a small price to pay, when the potential greater long-term costs not only to society, but also to the individual, are considered.