Kirushan and his Changemakers
Kirushan joined an NCS programme in the summer of 2021. He had been really looking forward to the residential fortnight but unfortunately due to COVID that part of the programme had to be cancelled. However, it didn’t stop Kirushan making the most of his NCS experience which involved a week of team building and skills based training followed by a week of social action.
For their social action project Kirushan and his teammates chose to make a video to raise awareness about homelessness. The group shared the video, which explored the issues and causes of homelessness, on social media to raise money for the Homeless Link charity. Kirushan was involved in several aspects of the project and played a key role leading a sub-team of artists developing the storyboards for the video.
The following autumn, NCS ran a Skills Booster programme at Kirushan’s school and he was able to apply the leadership skills and video production knowledge he had gained in the summer to a new project. Recognising the negative impact of the pandemic on the mental health of young people and others, Kirushan and his classmates chose to produce a video to inform and raise awareness about mental health issues. Kirushan worked on the script and directed the shoot, and together with the team produced a high quality video which they shared with their schoolmates and on social media.
Kirushan enjoyed these NCS experiences so much that he joined an NCS Changemakers group in East London to continue working on local projects in his local community. The first of these projects sought to address the problem of loneliness which affects many people particularly at certain times of year like Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Kirushan and his fellow team members decided to purchase small gifts and chocolates and hand these out along with handwritten messages of kindness to local passersby on Valentine’s Day. One of Kirushan’s roles in the project was to produce a risk assessment which helped ensure the safety of the young people involved and members of the public while distributing their heartwarming packages.
Less than two weeks later Russia invaded Ukraine. Witnessing the distressing TV footage of refugees flowing out of Ukraine prompted Kirushan and his fellow Changemakers to think about how they could help. After weighing up various options the team decided to collect clothes for Ukrainian refugees coming to the UK. To raise awareness about their initiative, the team shared posts on social media and produced flyers which they handed out at the busy Ilford Exchange shopping mall. They then went door to door in the surrounding streets collecting clothes which they delivered to a collection centre at the Kenneth More Theatre in Dagenham.
Kirushan was initially in charge of finance and social media but soon became team leader, coordinating the team of 26 volunteers. Having worked with teams on his previous projects, Kirushan was able to organise the members according to their strengths, allocating key roles such as route planning, risk assessments and clothes sorting to the appropriate people. Plenty of challenges presented themselves throughout the day, including running out of empty boxes due to the unforeseen generosity of local donors. However, Kirushan and the enterprising teens soon secured more boxes from the local supermarket and continued the backbreaking work of carrying the donations to their destination until they had secured over 200 kilos of clothes.
It was only one month after when he saw an article about himself in the Ilford Recorder that Kirushan realised the magnitude of what he and the team had achieved. Reflecting on the project, Kirushan said, “When you’re being productive and doing something for the right reason, you feel really good. It was a great thing to do and it gave me the happiest feeling.”
Kirushan said that he learnt more about himself and his leadership qualities during the experience. Despite his obvious qualities, he modestly says that he feels he’s not a natural leader but is more than happy to step forward when needed. At times during the project Kirushan felt that he had to be firm and repetitive with some of his teammates to achieve their goals but found that good leadership also involves channelling people’s strengths effectively.
Now in his second year of A Levels, Kirushan is focusing on his studies but would love to volunteer in the future for a cause he feels passionate about. He plans to study economics at university as he is “interested in learning how the world works”. Last year, he and a close friend had an idea to organise a concert to raise money for other causes they believe in which was put on hold due to their studies, but they may revisit this one day. “My NCS experiences taught me that I can do something useful with my time and made me realise that you can get people together and make the impossible possible.”
In recognition of his sterling work on the Ukrainian refugee clothes collection project, Kirushan was nominated for a Young Citizen award and received the Runner-up award at a ceremony hosted by the Mayor of Redbridge at Redbridge Town Hall on 31st March.
