Former ReachOut mentee shares a stage with Secretary of State for Education

Ali Aden, former ReachOut mentee and volunteer mentor, sat on a panel with Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan at last Thursday's Character Symposium at the Floreat School in Wandsworth. In his speech he spoke of the impact of his involvement with ReachOut whilst growing up in Hackney and the importance of character development in achieving his goals and being a good person.

Left to right: Ali on the panel with Danielle Brown, double gold medalist Paralympian, Nicky Morgan, Education Secretary, and Janet Hilary, Executive Principal of Floreat Education.

Good morning all, my name's Abdullahi Ali, though please call me Ali. I’m honoured to have been asked to come along today and tell you about my experiences growing up, my involvement with ReachOut and how that has helped develop my character and make me the person I am today. 

I live in east London in Hackney. I’m 20 years old, and study Politics and Economics at the University of Aston, but I was born in Somalia and came here as a refugee in 1998 with my family. I’m one of 7 kids, and the first in my family to go to university. Since moving to the UK we’ve always lived in a council house in Nightingale Estate, in Hackney.  We had some great times, and whilst you may have heard some bad things about life as a kid in Hackney, it isn't as bad as you probably think it is. 

Ali delivering his speech, and Nicky Morgan laughing in the reflection!

I went to The Petchey Academy aged 11, and in Year 8 I was referred to ReachOut with a few of my friends, because our teachers thought that mentoring, Maths & English support and character development would be good things for us.  In truth, as a group we weren't exactly the perfect students, but we were really excited by the chance to take part (especially to play football!) and so we gave it a punt. 

Back then, ReachOut was a very small charity, which made the programme very down to earth and intimate. We had regular assigned mentors who came to every session to help us with our homework, followed by football training.  

There was also a football club, ReachOut FC, which took us to football matches at weekends, and to be honest, at the start I was only there for the football! [*anecdote] But over time, I found myself going to the programme even if I knew there was no match on Sunday. I built a great relationship with my mentor who gave me an insight into his city job and how he got there, which left a lasting impression on me as a youngster. 

I still have such aspirations, and the impact that that had on me, led me to stay involved, both for the full 5 years on the project, and to continue as a volunteer at 16. Now, 9 years after meeting ReachOut and joining what I thought was just a football project, I've had the full experience; I've been a mentee, a volunteer mentor, and part-time employee at ReachOut.  

On tour with ReachOut FC in Madrid.

In 2010, 32 of us went to Spain on the trip of a lifetime, where we got stranded in Madrid during the Ash Crisis and came back to the UK after 9 days on HMS Albion with the Royal Marines!  

Coming home from Madrid on HMS Albion during the Ash Crisis.

Yep, we were the kids football team on the news if you heard us!  

Money Skills workshop at Barclays.

As well as the fun stuff, I’ve had countless interactions with working professionals in the form of events & workshops held at companies like Macquarie, UBS, Bloomberg and Barclays. Actually we had fun at those too! 

Barclays photo bomb!

In 2014 when I was 18, I volunteered during the summer leading a team of other young people from Hackney to run a summer project for 9 to 11 year old children. Myself and the other Team Leader had to train the other volunteers, who were 15 and 16 years old, and then manage them during the 2 week project which was tough. Our carefully laid plans went out the window on the first day when the uniforms didn’t arrive, half the team were late and the other half weren’t sticking to the timetables we’d provided. However we did the best with what we had and over the two weeks we got everything under control and I could tell everyone enjoyed the experience.  

I’ve developed a range of skills through my involvement, and more importantly it’s made me a better person.  Last summer I was one of the first two former mentees to work as a paid teacher on ReachOut’s Summer Project in Hackney, back at my old school, Petchey Academy. I was really proud to be a part of something I’d enjoyed and benefitted from for so long – and that both of my little brothers are still part of.  

For us kids growing up in Hackney, ReachOut was more than just a project we went to; it was a community. Looking back on my experience with ReachOut, I realise how important it was to have a project that offered more than just sports, but also making young kids open to the world around them, and giving them opportunities.  ReachOut had such a huge impact on my friends and I as kids, and speaking about past memories is a difficult task if you don't include ReachOut. 

I was invited here to talk about character, and I haven’t mentioned it much so far, so you’re probably thinking “stop beating around the bush!”.  

ReachOut has four character strengths they talk about, Self-Control, Staying Power, Fairness and Good Judgement. Now I’m a little older I can really see what it was all about.  My involvement with ReachOut was a huge character building exercise from start to finish, and even now standing here in front of you.  Seriously.

When the mentors were encouraging us to focus on our studies instead of messing about with our friends in a session, they were helping us develop Self-Control.  

By making us turn up every week, wind or rain, ReachOut helped us develop Staying Power, resilience – especially so when we took a beating on a cold Sunday morning in Essex!  

When we were encouraged to volunteer and think of others, they were helping us develop Fairness. 

And throughout all our interactions in the project, helping us reflect on good choices and bad, we were learning about Good Judgement.

ReachOut helped us develop our character and to learn what it meant to be a good person, to know what was right and wrong, to be a positive part of society.  Constant interaction with positive role models, mentors and doing positive things built us up, enabled us to not just study and focus on our schoolwork and exams, but to become more rounded people who made better choices and were able to reflect on our successes and failures.  

Growing up in Hackney, violence was part of the norm; whilst taking part in the ReachOut programme, I was used to hearing about a friend being stabbed or hurt. I personally believe this is due to one of two problems; 

the first, being their active decision to leave the programme, which had given them something to do after school and something to belong to, and instead be attracted to one of Hackney’s worst problems; gang culture. The difference whilst growing up between me and my friends who are now in gangs or in jail, is minimal - at best. We all had the same opportunities given to us from ReachOut and school and all came from similar backgrounds, which means that the disparity is largely down to character and choice. 

The positives however, that stopped me from going down the same route, were the relationship I had with my mentor (the more I attended, the closer we got and the more I found out about the real world) and that I was aware of the potential dangers of hanging around the wrong crowd thanks to his influence. 

Whilst ReachOut did develop my character over the years, there was no explicit emphasis on character development when I first joined, as there is now at the project.  

This is the second problem; not enough is being done to actively engage young people to develop the character stengths they need to be successful, and ultimately happy in life, as good character will allow you to make better choices.

I think three things are critical in helping young people develop character.  

1) Treat us as equals, and value our ideas and opinions. ReachOut always listened to us and allowed us to explore.  

2) It really is important to continue to offer opportunity to young people, to open our minds to the world around us and enable us to aspire.  

3) Finally, I think that we need to help young people actively think about character by talking about it, around them, with them, and making it real and relevant to their lives.  Only then will we really maximise the impact of work such as ReachOut’s.

To sum up, I can’t speak highly enough of my time with ReachOut – my friends and I benefitted hugely from our time with the staff and mentors, and I’m confident we’ll go on to good things in years to come.  Character is central to that development and future success, and lessons learnt with organisations like ReachOut can be applied to young people everywhere, and can help us build a better future.  

Following Ali's speech the Education Secretary set out her vision for character education and referenced the importance of mentoring programmes such as ReachOut in making a difference to the lives of young people. Click here to read her full speech.