Dream a Dream. You have left a deep mark on me. Thank you.
There are unforgettable days in Bangalore with you. Visiting a young person’s home, participating in the life skills programme with the group of young people who had just joined Dream a Dream. My sons playing football with them, the Question and Answer session with young people who have been a part of Dream a Dream for a long time and who had such a hunger for life. This was all very special. There are the invaluable days and evenings spent together with Vishal Talreja (Co-founder, Dream a Dream) and Suchetha Bhat (CEO, Dream a Dream) in Finland, India and the US.
It all started in the countryside of Delaware, US, almost 12 years ago. Life brought us together through the Eisenhower Fellowships Program. I appreciate the original motivation Vishal had to start Dream a Dream. The connection his story has with Finland moves me. I appreciate the strategic vision Suchetha continues to put in place with her calm and firm style leading Dream a Dream forward with increasing reach and impact.
There are all the stories and evidence of the value of Dream a Dream. Some written in books, some told when we have spent time together. I often tell others the story of the girl who was always late for her school and as a punishment her teacher asked to wait outside the classroom in the corridor. After the teacher went through the Dream a Dream teacher development programme, he came back with skills of understanding child behaviour, listening to children without judgment and being authentic in his relationships with them. Post training, when the young girl came late to school again, the teacher decided to use his new-found skills and tools to understand the girl. Through building safety, trust and listening the teacher found out that the girl woke up early in the morning, was helping her mother with household chores and rushing to school. The reason she ended up late was because the family didn’t have a clock at home. This sharing transformed the teacher deeply. From judging this child’s intentions to now understanding the efforts the child was making to get educated, he made a resolve to always listen and understand children.
There is Delhi’s Happiness curriculum. I am grateful for the opportunity to have taken part in it in a limited way. I appreciate the chance to have met perhaps the most impressive minister of education who was a close partner and ally of Dream a Dream.
During my journey with Dream a Dream I have learnt that one rightly focused and timed intervention can change the life of a young person. I have witnessed able young men and women full of confidence and self-respect, despite growing up with adversity. Dream a Dream is a life and world changing organisation. Young people who are given the smallest chance make the maximum use of it. And yet so many opportunities still escape them that many others take for granted. Which is why while working with young people, Dream a Dream makes visible the structural inequalities to drive systemic change.
I wish Dream a Dream to stay on its path with growing reach and impact and have the necessary financial and other support to make that possible. The organisation has proven to be incredibly efficient in transforming lives. For the future direction and strategic choices, I trust the vision of Vishal, Suchetha and the growing number of people who are part of the Dream a Dream family.
I wish young people do not listen to those who say they are the future. Young people are now, they are the present. I wish and dream of opportunities for all those energetic young people I have seen at Dream a Dream. For many of them the currently growing borders and increasing geopolitical tensions create additional challenges but we will not give up our goal to open world opportunities for all.
I was recently in EU-UWC (European Union – United World Colleges) Youth Leadership Forum on “United in Peace” that brought together young people from two communities in the divided island of Cypros. The meeting place was a no man´s land, UN controlled buffer zone. Working for two days with young people under 20 there really gave me hope. “Peace is possible, peace will happen” was among the conclusions. Lester B. Pearson, Canadian Nobel Prize winner almost 70 years ago in 1957, said in his award speech, “How can there be peace without people understanding each other, and how can this be if they don’t know each other? How can there be cooperative coexistence, which is the only kind that means anything, if men are cut off from each other, if they are not allowed to learn more about each other? So, let’s throw aside the curtains against contacts and communication.”
Me and my family – Pilvi, Samuli, Elias, Kaius and Aatos – will always be there for Dream a Dream and its people. Thank you for the friendship, Vishal and Suchetha and your people. Moments spent with you are always uplifting in a very special way.
About the Author:
Pilvi Torsti is a friend of Dream a Dream since 2013 when she shared Eisenhower Fellowships Leadership program with Vishal Talreja. Pilvi and her family visited Dream a Dream in 2022. She serves as a member of Dream a Dream Advisory Board. About Pilvi you can read www.pilvitorsti.com