About us and Meet the team!



We are group of young mothers that have completed our Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh award with our children and are now fundraising for our Gold expedition which we have named Change Together.


We have all been volunteering for the last 12 months in our local community, getting physically fit and learning new skills to complete the other sections of our Gold Award and for our fourth section we are planning our expedition.




Our plan is to cycle on tandems around holland with our kids in trailers but to do this we need to raise £15,000! 

We will be the first young mothers in Europe to take our kids with us on our Gold expedition.

The Award has impacted our lives in many ways and has given us structure and purpose that we other wise lacked. We hope by doing the award we can inspire and motivate other young mothers and other groups of young people to improve their lives weather that be by partaking in the award them selves or working towards their dreams.

In Holland we plan to research and evaluate sexual health, pregnancy prevention schemes and young parent support groups and think about what we can do to bring the low level of teen pregnancy back to the UK with us. We also hope this can be the start of a community interest company of charity designed to prevent teen pregnancy, support young parents and educate the community.

This blog will be a chance for us to share our experiences past and present and also our hopes and dreams for this expedition and our futures.


We will each be blogging individually and as a group to give you an insight in to our lives and whats important to us.


 So watch this space!........






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Meet the Team!

Laura Pham- A bit about me...!


Hey I’m Laura, I’m 23 years old and have an absolutely gorgeous daughter called Aaliyah who is 5, clever, cheeky and determined to be a singing astronaut.
I first got involved in the DofE in 2007 when I joined a young mothers group (Break 4 U) to do a first aid course.
When I first heard about the expedition I was absolutely terrified!! I wasn’t scared of having to do the walking (I knew that would be hard) but I was terrified of having to live and spend all my time with the other mothers and staff for a whole week. I didn’t know what to expect and didn’t like the idea of having to adapt to other people. There were a number of times before the expedition that I nearly dropped out. But in the end I decided to just go for it!!
It has to be one of the best decisions I have ever made!
On the expedition I got a chance to know the mums and most of us became really good friends. We all learnt different parenting skills and techniquesfrom each other and I had time to be me – not just a mum. Once the kids were asleep we had time to play team-building games with the staff and mothers and got to know each other more. That had to be one of my best experiences of DofE.
The worst experience had to be walking through fields of cows and the cows not moving out of the way and just staring at us!! We were all absolutely terrified that they would start charging at us! (You don’t experience cows like that living in London)
Without sounding corny – DofE has changed my life.
Before getting involved in the DofE I was just a young mother - now I am a mother, friend, colleague, support to young people and most importantly doing my DofE award (bronze and silver) has given me the confidence and courage to be ME!! – Laura Pham
Completing my bronze and silver made things seem achievable. I became even more motivated and determined to do something positive in life and be a positive role model for my daughter.
I started volunteering with Break 4 U and with support from Janice Sealy – The lead PA for teenage pregnancy, I explored different areas of youth work and found my passion in Sexual Health whilst helping my friend and colleague - Emily Mailes organise a sexual health event for young people in RBKC.
I now work at Living Well CIC as the Youth Services Support Worker. I deliver our Sexual Health and emotional Well- Being programme- RITEstart in schools, colleges and youth clubs in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. And I’m absolutely loving it!
Completing my Gold will be such an achievement and I can’t wait to show all those people that doubted me, that I did it! Although it will be hard work I am looking forward to raising the money and come up with new fundraising ideas and experience the award from start to finish. I am determined to complete the award before I am 25, as I don’t want to miss out on this excellent opportunity.
My daughter Aaliyah also cannot wait and has been wanting to go ‘camping’ again since we got back from our silver expedition. Completing the award with my daughter will make it even more special and when she is older she can look back on the experience as something positive! Hopefully she will see that she can achieve anything with hard work and motivation.
The journey of my gold begins here and I will be sure to keep you updated of my highs and lows and my trials and tribulations.
Thank you for taking time to read a bit about my journey so far.
Laura x










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Emily Mailes- A bit about me!

I'm Emily, I'm 23 and have a 6yr old lil man called Luke. He is lovely,
clever, funny and also very very cheeky!
I left school with hardly any qualifications and wasn't sure what I was going to do with my life and when I became pregnant at 16 I was determined more than ever to be successful, be a good mum and break the typical stereo typical views people have of young mothers. Shortly after I joined Break 4 U- A young mothers group in RBKC.
Break 4 U helped me in so many ways. I made friends, learnt to be a better mum and gained loads of life skills that helped me move in to independent living in council accommodation and start college.
 
Within Break 4 u we also all worked towards our Duke Of Edinburgh bronze award which involved volunteering, learning skills and doing some physical activity once a week. We then worked with our youth workers and the RBKC DOFE coordinator, Louisa Guthrie to plan our expeditions.
I started volunteering with Break 4 U and I was trained up to be a qualified youth worker and then started a job helping to run Break 4 U South with Helen Simpson.
Through this role I applied for funding to run a sexual health work shop day and met many professionals in that area. This is where my interest for young people’s Sexual Health grew and I started looking for a role that was more specific toward it.
I am now the youth services coordinatior for Living Well CIC and run many services such as txtm8-
(www.txtm8.com) and also teach sex education including preventing teenage pregnancy in schools, colleges,youth clubs etc
I also occasionally volunteer to speak at events for the DofE fund-raising department to share my story and experiences of the award.
I have completed my Bronze and Silver DofE awards and was luck enough to be in the team of 3 young mothers which were the first to take their kids on a DofE expedition in Europe (Maybe further too!)
I am really keen to complete my Gold DofE and really want to be within the first team of mothers to complete their Gold so we have to act fast and raise about £15,000!
I've never really been good at finishing things so it will mean a lot to go from Bronze all the way through to Gold and also see how mine and my sons lives and us as people have changed. I will be adding loads of photos so you can see this for yourselves.
I will be writing loads more about my experiences, past and present and my future plans so please keep reading! 
Emily xx

I'm Daniella and my son Reon is 2 years old.
I was 15 when I had Reon and now I'm 18 and in full time college studying a BTEC National Diploma in Health and social care whilst my son goes to nursery.
I also volunteer once a week at Earls Court Youth Club helping young people with disabilities expanding their knowledge on healthy living and teaching them every day life skills they need now and in the future.
I got involved in the Duke of Edinburgh award through Break 4 U and really enjoyed the expeditions. We had to do 8 hours of phyisical activity a day and I helped with things like changing punctured buggy wheels, map reading and working as a team.
My best experience was getting to know the other mothers and leaning from their experiences and about their situations.
My Worst experience was on my Silver expedition when I got chased by an Eagle!!
From doing my DofE Bronze and Silver I have gained so much confidence in my self and boosted my self esteem I'm now confident to walk in to an interview room which is a big change.
I would like to do my DofE Gold as I would love to gain the qualification which is equivalent to an A level and its a once in a life time opportunity that I do not want to miss.
Thanks for reading,
Daniela

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Harmony Vasadidi-Ladi- A bit about me!

Hi my name is Harmony and this is my blog.... YAY... (I've never had a blog before). I am 23 years old and I have a Son named Isiah.
I first got involved with the DofE award after I started attending a young mothers group with my Son (now 5 years old!!!) I admit that at first I was wary but they offered me the opportunity to have fun whilst being active in a constructive way AND do it all with my baby in tow.... how great is that!!!
I have made many fond memories during my time on the Bronze and Silver expeditions such as sitting around the camp fire with the children attempting to read a bed time story, and the feeling you get when yot finally finish your hike and think 'WOOOO it's over!!! I did it!!! I'm superwoman!!!!' :-D
That being said there were times when despair set in .... like when I was knee deep in mud clambering up a hill with my son on my back (properly secured in a carrier of course...lol) and one of the examiners called to check how we were doing...... In that moment I thought 'Why me.... I'm gonna drop flat on my face!' fortunately I didn't.
I also thought 'this can't get any worse' unfortunately it did, as we then proceeded to get lost in a freshly ploughed field (not easy terrain to walk on trust me!) Frustrating as it was we survived (YAY) and in hiensight it was a good learning experience.
I like to think I have taken alot from my experiences such as the ability to be more resourceful and how to deal with high stress situations calmly. It has also helped to build my confidence and motivation skills which helped to figure out what I wanted to do in other aspects of life.
I am currently working as a freelance style adviser whilst doing some voluntary work for the young mothers group that I originally attended, I love the idea that I can help to give other young mums the chances that I have had through this programme.
I hope that by achieving my Gold DofE award I can not only fulfill my own goals (and have a little something extra to put on my CV ;-D) but show other young mothers that it is possible to commit to something constructive and achieve it regardless of how old you or your child is.
See you soon!
Harmony x

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Rennice Mitchell- A bit about me!


Hi my name is Rennice and I am 22 years old. I am the mother of Savai who is 19 months.
I first completed my bronze award with Lancaster youth club when I was 16 years old. When I was 20 I fell pregnant and through Break 4 u, which is a young mothers programme, I was encouraged to move on to the silver award. 

My daughter came along with me for my silver expedition. This has been one of my greatest achievement and It was far from easy. I was able to see how far I can push myself and had determination, drive and motivation. 
My daughter was only 7 months when I participated in the silver expedition. So It was a great experience for both of us. I really enjoyed camping with my daughter it was a lovely bonding experience. DofE has helped me meet new people and young mothers like myself. It has also been a confident boost which enabled me to see my full potential.
At the moment I have just finished a degree in Psychology and Sociology. I have also been employed as a young health ambassador volunteer for RBKC.
I would really love to do my GOLD as I am committed to completing all three levels of the DofE. In doing so would make me feel a great sense of achievement. It will also benefit me because DofE allows you to gain so many skills, many of which are survival skills. These skills are vital and relevant throughout the life cycle.   

Thanks for reading- Rennice.
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Hayley Anglim- A bit about me!



My name is Hayley Anglim and I am 21.  I have a wonderful little girl called Nicole who is 4 and a half.

I have completed my Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh award with the rest of the great mums that I met at Break 4 u. The experiences we have shared together has taught me so much as a person and a mother and I have been lucky enough to make some amazing friends.

I am looking forward to the challenge of doing my Gold award, as I know it will push my limits even more and give me a great sense of achievement.

My daughter also has gained so much from her previous experience, as past expeditions provided me with the time and skills to get her into a daily routine and keep her active and excited to try new things. 


My Duke of Edinburgh awards have supported me in my career as a youth worker too and I strive to achieve more out of my job with the completion of this Gold award. 


Thanks - Hayley