From troubled teen to star baker: the Team programme has helped Luigi to turn his life around.

Luigi* is often up before sunrise. By 5.30am he is hard at work in his local bakery, firing up the ovens and preparing the dough. But despite the early start, Luigi likes to get there even earlier. ‘During Team, I learned the importance of being early and being reliable,’ he explains.

Luigi, 16, comes from a disadvantaged background and struggled at school, with frequent absences and school moves, including to a specialist school. He eventually left with no qualifications, and has had several brushes with the law.

The Team programme has helped Luigi to build his confidence, communication and reliability skills, and to better manage his emotions.

‘I had an issue managing my feelings and was quick to anger,’ Luigi recalls. ‘Now I’m able to hear and don’t react to everything that is said or done.’

A chance to grow

Team is an intensive full-time personal development programme, delivered in Barbados through our partner the Barbados Police Service. It has a particular focus on engaging young people at risk, building core skills through a combination of outdoor and community challenges, classroom learning and work experience placements.

‘I decided to join the program so that I can become a better person,’ Luigi explains. ‘This is the first place I have been that did not hold my past against me.’

With a keen interest in baking, Luigi chose a local bakery for his work experience placement. Drawing on his innate technical talents and his newfound workplace skills, he seized the opportunity with both hands, impressing his boss so much that he was immediately offered a job.

‘I never missed a day and I was there every morning at 5:30 am,’ Luigi remembers. ‘After the programme was finished my boss called me back and I was happy. This opportunity would allow me to support myself and assist my mother who is a single parent.’

Transformation and celebration

Prior to taking part in the Team programme, Luigi had been up in front of the local magistrate. Once he completed the programme, that same magistrate attended Luigi’s graduation ceremony, to see the young man who had previously struggled with his communication skills give a public speech about the progress he had made.

Luigi is particularly proud of that speech, and of his prize for being the most improved student on the programme. ‘I am not academic, so things others found easy would be more challenging for me,’ he explains, ‘I felt really happy and I’m thankful for all the help that was provided by the caring instructors.’

Luigi is well aware of the difference the programme has made to him, equipping him to turn a new page and take his first steps into work, in a field he enjoys. ‘If I did not join the programme my confidence and communication skill would be very low,’ Luigi explains. ‘I probably would just be home doing nothing, and my mother would be worried about me.’

So far, the Team programme in Barbados has reached over 600 young people like Luigi. Last year, 87% of those who completed the programme went into work or training within three months.

* Luigi is a pseudonym chosen by the young person