Archana Nair
Like many my age, when i stepped into college, i was sure of only 1 thing - that i wanted to do something different. I joined Leaders for Tomorrow because i felt i could test my limits here and understand my potential and all this while i do what i love - give back to society and make real social change.
I have been a part of Leaders for Tomorrow for a little over two years. In this short time i have been encouraged by my mentors and
leaders to try out responsibilities at the college level, zone level, state level and now national level. Not only i am participating in a movement intended to make real social change, i am discovering the leader in me through every challenge, task, meeting and activity. It is because i gain every second that i spend here that i continued by applying for the Leaders for Tomorrow Leadership Fellowship Programme - even after my college days. This was yet another platform for me to learn about India's development challenges and plan my role in its eradication, while enjoying incentives such as interacting with leaders and development professionals of our times.
It has been a beautiful journey for me. it taught me the importance of small things like reading the newspaper to bigger lessons in life of team work, honesty and sincerity and perseverance. I have greatly benefited from the exposure provided by the organisation, the most wonderful fact is that i grow as the organisation grows. It is with great sense of pride that i today look at the Core Team of Leaders for Tomorrow, our programmes that attract a lot of college students and help them do their bit for society in the most productive way.
I am extremely grateful to my team, all the members and patrons of Leaders for Tomorrow, for supporting our cause and stepping up to lead social change. Trust me, together we can and we will bring social change that will ignite the social conscience of youth across the country and globe. You can be the role model for all arm chair social workers, let's show them how it is done.
Wishing you readers the very best and hoping to see you in your programmes.
Yasar Ahmed
Leaders for tomorrow is just like a lightened lamp in someone’s gloomy life. It helped me to discover my hidden potential which i could never search out without being a part of LFT. LFT has an everlasting impression on my life. I can feel the difference in my personality from d day 1,i joined ,and now after being with LFT.
LFT has capacitated me with good leadership quality & fetched me with ability to persuade people and portray myself in society & developed a concern for society and consolidated my personality. It made me quite cognizant to social issues and showed me the best way to tackle them. It also increased my networking with leaps and bounds as it give us chance to meet many people, gives u opportunity to understand their view for society, and exchange your views, and in addition to this, it made me zealous in service of mankind.
I want to thanks LFT from bottom of my heart for making me a part of it for a very good cause. I hold my head my high being the part of LFT.
Uma
Leaders For Tomorrow organises meetings every Saturdays and one of the most motivational experiences I had initially was also from these meetings. I had attended very few meetings and it was my second or third meeting. Our founder, Mr. Binoy Job was present at the meeting and he asked all of us for new ideas that we would like to be implemented. Everyone had a different idea- blood donation camps, health awareness drives, mobile film making and a lot more. I was apprehensive as all I could think of was a very small proposal of having a Diwali celebration at an old age home or orphanage. But contrary to what I thought, the idea gained a lot of support and we decided that it should be executed. Our college did the event and all of the volunteers had a very nice time. We all felt that we had all actually spread joy during the festival. But knowing that a lot of other colleges also did the event that came up from my idea, gave me the confidence that even I could make a difference.
Pooja Mohanraj
Leaders For Tomorrow is a finishing school where your raw and latent potential skills and talents are polished. it has given me an opportunity to lead, to network, and to inspire my friends to take up social action. My association with LFT has made me socially aware, to act rather than to give gyan, and to empathise rather than sympathise. I have learnt to have all the fun that a teenager can have and at the same time being socially sensitive. The few hours i spend with LFT every week, has been a big learning experience. The most important lesson I've learnt from my leaders is to stay rooted even when you achieve massive success.
More importantly, for a person like me and many others in the organistion, who have travelled more than 2000km to pursue our higher education, LFT has been a home away from home. The strength of friendship, the care you get, the affection each one shares, the feeling of togetherness, what not.....I just love my LFT family!!
Jason Varkey
I was introduced to this not for profit organization by one of my close friends. I came in with a lot of hope and loads of expectations and to my great shock and delight, I was not let down. This organization though run by the students and for the students does not lack any sense of professionalism, I was happy to see that young people like us, putting in their earnest effort to bring about a change in the sense of apathy prevailing in society today. The volunteer's hard work and earnestness inspired me to do my small bit.
I have been actively participating and contributing in every little way that I can ,since volunteering for this organization in May,2011 .The few months that I have spent under the umbrella of this organization have been very satisfying. I was given the opportunity to co ordinate among the various off campus colleges and I have thus come to appreciate what discipline and organization it takes to mobilize the youth of today. Not only has this opportunity given me the chance to work for society, but it has also provided me with a sense of belonging and a platform to build upon my personality and to push myself to further limits. Volunteering for Leaders For Tomorrow has not only taught me what actual leadership is all about, it has also made me into one
Vipin Nair
I joined leaders for tomorrow through ADAR campaign in my 2nd year
and it was a very informative experience for me and I learned many
skills which books could have taught me. after ADAR. I did many college level events like cleanliness drive, book collection drive,cloth collection drive.it generated a sense of initiating and inspiring other people. in my school time, I was not a talkative kind of person but being in LFT have boosted up my confidence and now I can debate and also can do an extempore. After being in LFT for an year, it is now a family to me and I can not live a day without working and being involved in LFT there isn't any word by which I can thank LFT and the team for what I am now.
Manas Chitransh
Leaders for Tomorrow: A chance to learn, a place to grow
Mid July. College break. Just another boring day ahead. Or was it?
That morning I got a call from my friend Jayson. His exact words were “Bhai vella hai to ADAR ke liye kaam karega?” At that time I did not know what was ADAR or who were doing it but I took a plunge. And I’m glad that I did.
That day I went in for the orientation program for ADAR: Anti Drug Anti Ragging Campaign being organised across 100 campuses in Delhi-NCR by a youth based movement called “Leaders for Tomorrow”. I was surprised, shocked even, to see a handful of youth of my age handling such a huge initiative. Maybe that’s what leadership is all about, I thought, defying the odds. Anyway, I attended the session very gracefully taken by a charismatic speaker, Archana (I later came to know that she was heading LFT nationally…OMG !!) and by the time she was done I realised that I wanted to be a part of what these guys were doing, awakening the social conscience of today’s youth by providing them with a platform to channel their ideas for transformation and making THEM the agents of changes that they wanted to see around them.
So I there I was, proud to be a part of an organisation which actually fought for change and not only cribbed about what the govt. was doing (or not doing).
When ADAR kicked off, there were several institutions where there was a shortage of volunteers and an opportunity presented itself before me to work for LFT before actually trying it out in my college. I grabbed the chance to go to different colleges and see what was the general perception of the youth about a much talked about issue such as ragging and a much more sensitive issue of drug abuse. It was an “enlightening” experience to interact with people coming from diverse backgrounds having such varied opinions on both the issues. I gained some good friends and had great fun during the campaign but the biggest thing which I gained was – confidence. Confidence to speak to absolute strangers about stuff that concerns me and them but people are not willing to talk about, confidence to stand up for what I believed in even when heavily outnumbered and also what the power of conviction can do in such a short span of time!
The biggest realization of mine was that the residents of Youngistan were actually really aware of the issues of social importance and contrary to popular belief were willing to work to change the situation around them BUT they lacked a proper channel to do so. LFT provides exactly that, giving them the stage to come forward and take initiative for social action and make better citizens, more importantly better human beings out of them.
What impressed me most about LFT were their Social Action initiatives like ADAPT, ADAR, IYM, RFT and Visit for Compassion. I mean we all know deforestation is a problem but what do we do about it? ADAPT (ADopt A PlanT) gives us the chance to plant trees and change that. Similarly, lack of proper education in underprivileged classes is one of the biggest things stopping us from getting onto the highway of development. IYM (Igniting Young Minds) gives the better of us a chance to share the light of knowledge with the not so fortunate ones. In the same way ADAR aims at creating awareness about the ill effects of substance abuse and ragging in the campuses and RFT (Reporters For Tomorrow) provides a good channel for social journalism to bring to light the social issues around us.
What I found was that LFT is a multi-dimensional experience where you not only get a chance to change the way things are but also learn the art of managing a large and diverse group of people where volunteer spirit and a passion to restore our country to its once legendary state of glory is a common binding force. It is a highly professional organization that can unlock your hidden potentials and will help you to take these into any walk of life.
Truly, join us and became a Leader for Tomorrow!
