Power and Empowerment

'When I first went to that adult learning class in my community centre I was in a state. You see I believed that things never ran smoothly for me, school was a disaster but when my friend encouraged me to apply to college and I thought why not. Well it was no better for me, while my friends got on and passed everything, I got more and more depressed, till I left after 3 months-didn't even make it past Christmas.

I got a Christmas job and kept it for a couple of years- then my employer asked me to apply for a management job and I thought why not. I didn't pass the entry exam and because I had no qualifications I couldn't by-pass needing it. I was back to the well what's new, nothing I do makes any difference. I felt useless and clueless.

It was just after Christmas the following year I went with a friend to something called 'Acting Up', described as a fun way to get into adult learning. How things change in your life had always fascinated me I watched as friends got on and wondered why not me. Now it was my turn to shine, we sang, we danced, we led teams, we wrote, we spoke, we read books, scripts and made things. I finally found my place-I even managed to get my first qualifications-now I have a degree in engineering of all things.  No more learned helplessness. 

I led today's discussion and thought to myself where else in the world would you get 50 people on a Saturday (zoom) willing to help you plan SLP's projects-just look at the sharing that goes on.  The saying we're #AllInThisTogether really means something to adult learners-what a moment. ....I'm Joy by the way'.