Global Give Back Circle – India launched its pilot on May 1st, 2015. Twenty girls from Magic Bus India Foundation were selected to be a part of the First Class! They were selected based on their leadership skills and their burning desire to continue their education and step-up to jobs in education, social work, medicine, engineering, textile design, IT, etc.

The weekend was filled with workshops designed to enable them to visualize what success looks like two years from now when they are in university or college and working towards their dreams of becoming a tax-paying citizen, able to move into the workforce with real jobs that are needed in their communities.

They wrote ‘Letters from the Future’ to their mentors or mentors-to-be so that mentors will have a roadmap from which to guide and coach as they walk with them on this amazing journey to independence.

Three of the girls were informed that they had been officially matched with mentors and they were quite excited to get their mentorship relationship off to a good start. Their mentors are all from Microsoft in the US and they will communicate via Skype and email.

Another workshop that took place was the Give Back Commitment Workshop. This workshop trains them on how to design, implement, measure and evaluate a Give Back Project that runs for twelve months whereby specific activities happen on a weekly basis. Inspiration on how to give back time and skills is derived from reading Bill Clinton’s book ‘GIVING.’

Over the coming months, they will continue participating in life skills workshops that prepare them for university/college while also focusing on skills such as financial literacy, time management, communications and all things related to health and wellbeing.