“Ever since the first day, every moment at Emerge was meaningful. I was able to relieve myself from the weariness I felt from my life through the advice the counsellors gave me, because at the time I joined Emerge, I was disappointed with my life. Today, I am at a place where I don’t think about stepping back, but will always keep a step forward. Even at times when I do feel disappointed, I have the capability to overcome it and move forward. Thus, this is the most meaningful experience I received."

“At Emerge, our skills and talents were brought out, and I was further able to expand my knowledge in IT and English. I didn’t know how to stitch, and was able to learn this after I got here. I feel that my life has changed and I have been strengthened as a person. I want to develop my strengths further, enter society and live well. After coming here, we were given new hope. They taught us not to fall apart if one job path is unachievable, and that there are other paths to explore. Even if our current dreams cannot be achieved, they encourage us to move forward and develop our strengths in other areas."

“The way I see it, Emerge is a family, it’s a good home, a family with good security. I like everything we do here, especially self-defense. It is very useful for us, in case we come across a dangerous situation and can protect ourselves. I came here in the hopes of finding a job, and I believe that I will be able to find a job in future. I love all the moments I spend here, I can interact with the participants here, and I can talk to the mothers. I feel very happy after coming here."

“Emerge has been like a mother to me. Emerge didn’t just teach us to bead, they taught us to read, write, did fun activities with us; they held events and presented us with gifts. I enjoyed myself a lot and I did many things that I never had the chance to do before. One of my most cherished moments with Emerge was the graduation. wore a saree (traditional Sri Lankan attire) for the very first time in my life for the ceremony. I disliked wearing saree, and I am still amazed that I actually did wear one. I did this for the happiness of myself and everybody else, and it has amazed me immensely."

“My favorite time in the program was self-defense. The training has helped me feel better about myself. When I first started, I did not know how to protect myself. Before the self-defense course I felt scared of going into society, I felt afraid when people looked at me. Or when I felt people were following me. It would make me want to run away. I have never been as good at something as I am at self-defense. I am happy with how far I have come. Now I feel like I can face things I am afraid of. I can face society, and I can face people without fear. I feel confident that I could protect myself from harm."

“Prior to joining the Emerge Centre I lived with many challenges…..I was always frightened, felt sad and cried, I couldn’t sleep well at night, I felt scared to travel alone, I had a bad temper and always quarrelled with other children, and was lazy. After taking part in the counselling sessions at Emerge, I know how to work with people as a team. Now I’m happy! I am looking forward to going to a job. I thank all the Emerge staff and the counsellor for helping us."

“Before coming to the Emerge Centre, I faced many emotional issues; I had lost my freedom, and spent so much time feeling sad. After joining the counseling program at the Centre, I have learnt to maintain a healthy mental lifestyle, to control my emotions, to solve my problems, to develop my self-confidence, and also control my anger. My life changed because of this, and now I am able to face my future with confidence."

“Counseling was my favorite part of the program. I had never been able to talk to a counselor before. After talking, I feel like I can be present again, I feel release. All of the subjects are different, every day is different, it makes my life happy. I learned English for the first time, and now can understand and speak a little bit. I definitely have improved in English over my time in the program. Self-defense class was good, in my life, if I ever need to protect myself, now I can and I will."

“In English, I have learned so many things! Letters, nouns, pronouns, verbs, etc. I now know how to make proper sentences. I have also learned how to speak in different social situations. These will be useful! I learned how to speak in places like restaurants, the bank, and the post office. I think that my favorite thing is learning directions… how to get to different places, words like “turn, right, life, straight.” The activity is fun. This English will be helpful for me in my life. Before I came here, I knew less than I know now. I want to take spoken English classes after graduation, to keep on improving."

At Emerge, we did many programs such as Life Skills, Creations, Yoga, Self Defense, and we also had fun activities. Taking part in the program has changed who I am as a person and how I view things. Emerge helped me with my future by helping me choose a job. Apart from this, the program always looked into my needs and helped me with whatever I needed. My experience has been really good and I was very happy during my time here. Emerge helped all of us with our education, with things like yoga and they always made it a point to seek and fulfill our needs and wants.”

“Before coming to the program, I didn’t know a lot of English and I didn’t like it, but when I heard people around me talking in English, I became interested. Everyone encouraged me to pursue this interest, and was one of the programs that was very meaningful to me mostly because English has become a language our country has started using a lot. Joining this program helped me become more successful; it taught me how to work towards an aim and move forward in life. My life has changed in a positive way. Emerge has created a path for me through education, and I have learned to work with a new society of people and gain a lot of experience.”

“I finished school when I was just 16 years old, after my O/L exams. In school, I only learned very little English. I like English here. My English is basic, I have learned things like numbers, dates, the days of the week, the months of the year, etc. I like it because it is easy enough for me to learn. When I leave the program, I know that I will use the skill to speak in English and ask for things like “what time it is.”