We would like to share a poem written by one of our young TurnAround graduates on World Poetry Day. Shianne is 21 years old and through our social intervention programme, TurnAround, has been able to turn her life around and has recently returned from the journey of a lifetime to South Africa to help deliver our Wild Swans Programme.
Shianne  joined five other adult women in a programme that worked on personal growth and resilience building, with a group of young women drawn from a rural, coastal town called Sedgefield on the South African Garden Route.  The participants came from backgrounds of extreme hardship and poverty and were selected for the potential they show but the lack of resources to move themselves forwards.
Over four days they walked through a range of wild places from remote beaches to forests, learning about themselves, how to motivate themselves to carry through personal change, how to support each other and invest in their communities. It was heart breaking to hear their stories and yet equally uplifting to see their courage and determination to take opportunities and not give up.
On her return home Shianne wrote this beautiful moving poem.
Wild Swans
Everybody has a right to believe
Thy can do anything they set to achieve
We had an opportunity to help change lives
We knew our hearts would grow as soon as the plane arrives
Overwhelming feelings begin to take place
Many dreams have wondered what I now face
South Africa is a tourist destination
But what lies beneath needs explanation.
The girls we met are so strong inside
They’ve had an uphill battle roller coaster ride
We took them out and showed them hope
We showed them faith as they learn the ropes
They have so much respect you wouldn’t get here
They took risks and showed no fear
Their dreams are what kept them alive before
Waiting to step through the unknown door.
They live under the line of poverty
Every day is a struggle in the 3rd world we don’t see
They don’t have no schools to build futures
No direction like us 1st world polluters
A community of hope in the worst of wear
Were too ignorant to see, why doesn’t this world care?
There’s so many lives that are filled with potential
But the society in their town are so influential.
But for all this bad comes a shining light
A group of givers that can help them fight.
We show them ways of making things right
And give them hope to keep holding on tight.
Taking them places they’ve never seen
Giving them a chance for them to redeem.
Being taken into nature to seek their answers
To block out society and everyday glancers.
A time to be at one with themselves and mind
To seek support of a different kind.
There’s a world out there we’ve never seen
There’s places out there that we’ve never been
There’s a past before us that we can wipe clean
There’s direction that shows us what way to lean.