Hope and a Future

A new mentoring program launched by The Salvation Army's Aged Care Plus is creating opportunities for disadvantaged youth to overcome life's challenges through faith and fitness.

The Idea

The Hope and a Future program was born from a desire to do something that would have a lasting impact and create opportunities for disadvantaged youth so that they can overcome their challenges and become role models for their communities.

Built around four key pillars of faith, fitness, education and leadership, the program aims to provide the mental and physical skills for participants to overcome their challenges and become future leaders.

The Pilot Program

The founders of the program, Miriam Gluyas, Sharon Callister and Brett Mitchell, came up with the idea for the Hope and a Future program in response to the challenges faced by young people in Papua New Guinea and with the support of The Salvation Army’s Humanitarian Mission Services and Aged Care Plus were able to run a pilot program in 2014.

The pilot program consisted of eight young adults, male and female, who had exhibited outstanding potential and who were keen to embrace the four key pillars of the project- Faith, Fitness, Education and Leadership. Each pillar of the project was designed for the participants to develop news skills, build self-belief and confidence, with the ultimate aim for them to develop into future leaders of their church, their communities and in their workplaces.

Progress so far

The pilot program is now well under way and has already had an enormous impact on the eight young PNG nationals who are involved. 

In July 2014, all of the participants competed in the Gold Coast Airport Marathon and with their mentors by their sides, each one of them completed within their target time of 5 hours. (Video)

21–year-old Willie Gobana was overwhelmed by the experience and says his mentor has had a huge influence on his life: “The best piece of advice I received was from one of my mentors. They said ‘no matter how fast or slow you run, the main thing is that you finish the race’.

“Thank you Salvation Army for giving me this opportunity.”

18-year-old Dorothy is in year 11 and has ambitions to work in medicine or nursing. She says training for the marathon has been tough as she has never run marathon distances before.

“I’m happy I’m able to run and represent my country Papua New Guinea, and my church, The Salvation Army.”

Since completing their marathon the eight young PNG nationals are now undertaking the other aspects of the program including attending the QPAC Conference and further education.

Four Key Pillars

Pillar 1- Faith

The Salvation Army in PNG is a strong and committed Christian Church. The eight young adults, who were chosen, were and continue to be inspired by the message of Christ. The Faith component of the project underpinned every element- it is through God that all things are possible. As such prayer and self-reflection were a key component of all activities. 

Pillar 2- Fitness

The goal of this pillar was to include a life changing experience that would push the participants to their physical limits- something which when completed would leave an enduring self-belief that anything is possible when you achieve the seemingly impossible. All eight participants trained for and completed the 2014 Gold Coast Airport Marathon in Australia on 7th July. All 42.2 km’s of it! The opportunity and the achievement was truly inspirational.

The marathon element of this project was based on a similar project that has been run in Australia for a number of years by Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist Robert de Castella. His project has regularly witnessed participants “Drawing strength from family and culture to create proud, healthy and successful leaders and runners”. De Castella focuses on three key areas;

“Run- Running is one of the simplest and fundamental activities known to man, but running a full 42.2km marathon is one of the most challenging things anyone can do. Running teaches the importance of being healthy, reducing the likelihood of chronic disease including diabetes, heart disease and renal failure.

Sweat- Sweat represents the hard work necessary to achieve. No one ever succeeds without hard work and running is one of the most honest things you can do. Sessions are tough, constantly taking runners outside their physical and emotional comfort zone.

Inspire- Runners inspire themselves and others through their achievements. The culmination of their journey is their finish of the marathon being physically exhausted and emotionally exhilarated”.

Pillar 3- Education

The educational pillar of the project was individually tailored to each participant’s interests and capabilities. It included opportunities to obtain qualifications in community development, business, health and leisure or related disciplines. All education is aimed at creating better prospects for employment and/ or community development.

Pillar 4- Leadership

This pillar was included to develop the leadership and influencing skills of all participants. Whilst in Australia to complete the marathon, the participants attended a week-long discipleship and creative arts camp which identified ways to build and lead sustainable church and local communities.

Get involved

This exciting new program has already had an enormous impact on the eight young PNG nationals who are involved and we want to give other young disadvantaged people the opportunity to participant.

Moving forward we would like to expand this program to include youth from Papua New Guinea and in Australia but to do this we need your help.

Are you a marathon runner? Do you know of potential young leaders who need a life changing experience?

Contact Sharon Callister on 02 9779 9411 or via email