A young lady was posted to serve her nation in the State with the only confluence in Nigeria.while at the National youth Service Orientation camp in a town of Okun speaking people within the confluence state, she interacted with a number of young people, who earned a living(more like stipends to me) by doing the laundry of corps members who could afford it.
Her conversation with this people, shocked her beyond words. On their life ambition?many just wanted to make enough money to keep body and soul together. on why they were in school ? not many knew why and only went cos everyone said it was the in thing. On their future ambitions? no idea! the most ambitious just wanted to be able to live in the state capital. Not one aspired to be a lawyer? Doctor? or even a Dancer !
Asked why this was so many of this kids said the most successful people( meaning the people with access to spending funds) lived in the state capital.
This young lady pondered not on the present situation, but what the future would be with 'moneymotivated' young people without ambition or a sense of responsibility to their community,
Many of these young ones were WAEC candidates but could not construct their sentences without errors. She was depressed and began thinking up a solution to this national disaster.
The weeks following the orientation camp gave her the opportunity to come up with a solution: A leadership Infusion Session for Select School students, who will experience the practical experiential learning and go back to the schools to live the message, share the message and make a difference in their community. This was the beginning of Project STRETCH...Strive to Reach Every Challenge. Project STRETCH is simply STRETCH the mind of the young person to see not just what he should do, but what he is capable of doing.
Within every young person lies the capability to do great things, if he is aware, guided and willing to stretch beyond visible boundaries.
when you have a plan Gods Provision, becomes inevitable.
The lady,23,came up with a curriculum, to teach this children via interactive learning a few of these topics:
The Mindset and lifestyle of leaders
Thinking Royalty, Living it now
Choosing your friends
Managing my Time
Start Early Retire Rich_(financial Management)
Goal setting
Effective communication and presentation skills( Speaking )
Laws of Academic Excellence
Self discovery to personal mastery
Learning from the Eagle
Managing change
Team Counts: team building
negotiating a Win-Win
Beyond your limits: breaking out
Giving back to your community: teaching Volunteerism.
A 5-day life leadership infusion session for students nominated by the schools, it was a refreshing experience for the tutors and an eye opener for the students, of Kogi state.
Without any Government support but support from individuals desirous of change Project Stretch has successfully trained and is monitoring 50 students from Lokoja town and 30 from Anyigba Town, the home of the state-owned university
It has been an experience for Omotola Fawunmi to step out to add value to the lives of these children.
the erroneous reference to this young people as leaders of tomorrow , gives room for the deferment of their groominng to tomorrow
PROJECT STRETCH is raising leaders of today.
With a Commitment to raise Value centered leaders, Principled and disciplined enough to lead other classmates to build their immediate constituencies(school.home.etc).People who will lead today, not waiting for a tomorrow that never comes.
We say LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE TODAY. You may not have another
