“What brings you to DropZone?” I asked Mawi* as he waited patiently for the guitar instructor to arrive for the Thursday guitar class. “I really want to learn the guitar. I think it’s a cool instrument and not too difficult to pick up. I think DropZone is pretty cool,” he replied while attempting to tune the guitar.

Mawi has been our most regular member at DropZone. He is a quiet, unassuming kind of a guy with a big passion for playing the guitar. Mawi, like the other members, has found something attractive at DropZone. For him, it’s the availability of the instruments for practice to fan his passion – at absolutely no cost at all. The lessons provided at DropZone’s volunteers make the whole experience personal and meaningful.

After only three weeks Mawi was able to strum a simple song on the electric guitar – much to everyone’s delight! The second son from a lower-middle income family of five, Mawi excels in other areas- he has a pleasant personality and frequently takes the initiative to keep DropZone in order. He awlays helps to clear the place after a programme, rearranges chairs to their original positions and sometimes makes sure the trash is taken out. He has begun to develop a deep sense of responsibility of youth centre, as if it were his second home.

Mawi studies at a school in the vicinity. DropZone has become a second home for him and some of his friends. Besides the guitar lessons, DropZone offers a number of other exciting facilities to youth. While some prefer making their non-school hours pleasurable with a game of Snakes and Ladders, others choose to sink into the sofa and de-stress with music or a movie**. Others simply browse through the magazines and other reading material made available at the centre.

DropZone is growing with the support and presence of its members and visitors. What makes this place home is the lives that have intersected, with the availability of our facilities as the catalyst. It is really for the friendships and relationships made here that the youths keep coming back. We hope that DropZone will be a place where everybody knows your name!

Chong Keat Lim (Coordinator of DropZone)

*Names have been changed

**All movies are screened by the DropZone coordinator!

UPDATE : DropZone is no longer under SHELTER and is now under Leaderonomics