Tumennast lives and learns

I used to hate people telling me what to do, especially when they tried to convince me they had my best interests at heart. Who would want to help me? My life was going nowhere. My teachers couldn’t stand me and my peers kept away.

I was trouble; the boy who would probably end up in prison.

My father left when I was young, so my mother raised me and my younger brother alone. We were living in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. It’s a tough place to live; an arid, rocky desert, with temperatures ranging from 45 degrees in summer to -40 degrees in winter. So we left for the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, where there are more opportunities and my mother hoped to find work. But life in the city had its own challenges. Things were more expensive and our lives didn’t really improve.

I ended up joining a gang and, when not at school, I spent most of my time drinking, stealing and fighting. I didn’t learn much at school and spent more time disrupting the class. I didn’t think about the future and was on a fast track to prison. I didn’t like this life but didn’t know how to break free from all this trouble.

Last year my teachers enrolled me in the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Live and Learn program. At the time, I was annoyed at them telling me what to do and I refused to go! But I eventually decided to go.

ADRA’s Live and Learn program uses adventure-therapy activities to challenge at-risk youth, encouraging them to step outside their comfort zones, learn to trust others and gain self-confidence.

Program leaders use activities such as high ropes, hiking, rock-climbing, abseiling and overnight camping to help young people re-evaluate their lives and make good decisions.

At first, I was reluctant to take part in the activities because they required teamwork and I didn’t know how to mix with people outside my gang. But I became friends with one of the program facilitators and he made me feel comfortable. I knew he didn’t see the bad in me and that he really did want to help me. He was my first friend outside the gang and I trusted him. From then on, I started enjoying the program and looking at life differently.

When I returned to school, my teachers couldn’t believe I was the same person! I was no longer the disruption at the back of the classroom or the troublemaker in the schoolyard. Within a couple of weeks, my teachers got me to take a class of younger students through some of the activities I had learned on the program. The students loved it and I enjoyed helping them.

This program has changed my life! It has taught me to be more self confident and to not be afraid to meet new people or try new things.

I also feel strong enough not to give in to peer pressure, a problem I always had.

I also have goals now. I’m more studious and helpful at school, and I’m also training to be a Live and Learn junior leader. I will be responsible for carrying out the Live and Learn program at my school.

This way I can help other young kids keep out of the trouble I got into.

I am thankful to my teachers for never giving up on me, especially when I had given up on them. I also thank everyone who is involved with Live and Learn. ADRA has truly changed my life!