Volunteer Caroline helps children reach for the stars in Leeds
Spend more than a few minutes with Caroline Manyika and it’s hard not to feel inspired.
Sheer determination has seen her successfully juggle motherhood, career and further education. And in doing so she’s acted as an inspiration to her own children and those around her.
Caroline is one of Barnardo’s army of dedicated volunteers. She supports children at Barnardo’s African Caribbean Children’s Educational Success Service - otherwise known as ACCESS.
A qualified teacher, Caroline took time out of her career to focus on an MA. On completion, she felt she wanted to change direction. Caroline had heard about volunteering with Barnardo’s through friends so decided to look on-line into how it all worked.
Interested in the diversity of 6 4 Oc t obe r 2 0 1 0 K i x Ma g
work that Barnardo’s provides, Caroline saw volunteering with the charity as a way to still keep her foot in the door
professionally as well as give something back to her local community. Volunteering could also provide a stepping stone to her next chosen career path of social work.
A few months after being supported into her
volunteering role by staff at Barnardo’s, Caroline started with the team at ACCESS – and she’s never looked back.
ACCESS works with
supplementary schools to raise aspirations and educational achievement for African and African-Caribbean children and young people.
Headed up by Gilda Smith-Leigh, the Leeds-based service works directly with children and also provides support and advice to professionals.
“We work with children from
the local community from as young as five up to teenagers,” explained Caroline who came to the UK from Zimbabwe in the 1990s.
Caroline feels strongly about black children needing positive role models they can identify with, so ACCESS’s vision sat well with her own personal views.
“When many of these children look around they don’t see black people in academic positions or as positive role models. It’s hard for them to identify with anyone or to see someone who is similar to them that they aspire to be like. It’s hard for their parents too especially if they have lost hope – if they didn’t have this when they were younger it’s hard to help your child to aim higher and have the confidence to succeed.”
“I think children should always have someone they can identify with. They could be in a school where there are few, if any, black teachers, so my being there helps create some difference from the norm. I hope I am helping to teach them that they can aspire for
more, they can and should reach higher. I do feel my volunteering with Barnardo’s is making a difference.”
Caroline volunteers for around one and a half hours a week at ACCESS helping the children with reading, writing and numeracy. She also focuses on black history and African geography so the children can understand and appreciate their heritage. The team also help to tackle identity issues that the children may be facing. “It’s hard to identify with a place when all the images are of a poor place, we try and teach the children more than that.”
Caroline added: “There’s great satisfaction in knowing that if you get through to just one child, you have helped to change a person’s life for the better.”
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