My name is Mercy. I am in year 10 at school and 20 years old.
In 2016, before Wise Choices for Life came, I had dropped out of school. I had decided that I would go into early marriage because I didn’t feel like I had many other options. My friend told me about the club and I asked my grandmother if I could go back to school, she was more than happy for me to go back.
Wise Choices for Life has helped me in many ways, including building my confidence.
The program has taught me how to have good communication skills, and to know the difference between assertive, passive, and aggressive communication. I’ve learned that my “no” can really mean “no” and my “yes” can mean “yes”.
The program helped me to improve a lot. I was performing poorly in class but now I’ve improved and managed to pass my Primary Level Exams above 23 aggregates (this is very good!). I was getting involved in really bad groups of people, reading bad books, but now I’ve left those things!
I would like to thank everyone at Wise Choices for Life.
When I finish school I want to teach other people the same things I have been taught. In my community, you can see that young people’s behaviour is so much better. I want to work for WCFL and join their cause to help other children in communities.
To those who support this program, thanks for all that you’ve done for us, helping us to improve our behaviour, controlling our bodies, and not using drugs.
A note from Mercy’s grandmother:
My Name is Fridah, I’ve been taking care of Mercy.
I want to tell you that I’ve seen my granddaughter change so much!
At first, she was not easy to handle, but through Wise Choices training she started to be transformed, she started being well and behaving well. Even at home, she would now work. She stopped moving around (running away) like she used to. She had started joining some bad groups but since she started training she has started making good choices with people that she’s moving with so I have less stress than I had before.
Before she didn’t want to go to school, but now she loves school, and she is so focused now.