Lusi

For the last three years Lusi Manukyan, 19, has volunteered practically every day.  Her most recent posting was with Newcastle City Council, helping them to improve their engagement with young people.  A laudable achievement, but nothing special until you realise that Lusi came to the UK with her family from Armenia as an asylum seeker three years ago only speaking minimal English.  She is barred from working or studying until her leave to remain status is established, which she is hoping will happen in the next year so she can begin a degree in International Relations at Newcastle University.  “It’s all very frustrating”, Lusi says, “but I feel I can do practically any job now as I have led projects in so many different places.  It’s my leadership skills that have improved most; I feel completely confident to lead now.  I’ve been offered jobs through organisations that I have worked with but frustratingly cannot take them up.  

“Developing my leadership skills and keeping myself busy has definitely stopped me getting very depressed – in my situation you have to have something to keep you going and to feel part of, and it’s so rewarding. Doing Future Leaders at Newcastle Council was a great experience for me because I got to evaluate and plan my project and met lots of important people. And I left a legacy of change – I led them into changing the way they work.”

Lusi’s example to other young people is inspiring. “Showing commitment to an organisation by leading a project means you can feel justified in saying ‘take me on’.”