Tamsir Gaye is just starting as a mentor for our delivery partners Positive Youth Foundation in Coventry – but he has already found a creative way to get his message across to young people.
He has released a video for his self-penned rap song ‘Time Turns’, which is intended to show young people that no matter how bad they feel and what issues they’re facing, better times are around the corner.
The video depicts an urban scene with young people laying down their guns – images he hopes will impact upon the violence taking place in his community of Hillfields, north east of Coventry.
“I don’t really have personal experience of guns and stuff like that. I’ve never shot a gun before but in my area at the moment that’s what the big problem is. You don’t often see a black person in a video saying, ‘Put your guns down’, but that’s what I’ve tried to get across.
“I just wanted to show young people who listen to it that it doesn’t matter whether they’re from disadvantaged or privileged backgrounds, everybody has their ups and downs. Everybody’s time turns, no matter who they are."
Tamsir, 20, has participated in Positive Youth Foundation’s programmes since he was eight years old. He recognises now that he was at risk of becoming involved with the violence that is all too common in his community. PYF instead offered him opportunities which he made the most of, and after a spell as a volunteer and qualifying as a ski instructor, he’s now a youth engagement officer and mentor working with young people on their programmes.
Tamsir is also one of the trainees on the LtPF mentoring programme and has been working with young people for only a few months. Being a local lad gives him a definite head start and empathy with the issues being faced by his mentees. They love his music and have been hugely supportive of the ‘Time Turns’ video.
It was produced with the help of Bring the Buzz Entertainment and Tamsir’s mates from Coventry and London feature in the video.
“I started recording properly when lockdown started and I told myself to just keep going. There were so many people making music, but they didn’t release it. I thought, ‘I’m not going to wait for a label to notice me, I want to bring my message out and do what I want to do’.
“People at PYF are loving it. I wasn’t sure it was that good but they’ve showed me loads of support.”
That support works both ways, with Tamsir now working full-time with PYF participants who are not much older than himself. He does one-to-one mentoring sessions and helps them with their employability.
Tamsir is enjoying the LtPF mentoring training so far: “I feel like everything we’ve learned on the mentoring programme has been very helpful – and I’m not just saying that to impress you!” he chuckles. “It is always teaching me something new. It's like a ‘source book’ and has been so useful.
“I think mentors are really important - and I mean very, very important. People want somebody older they can open up to. I feel like young people with a mentor can go a long way because they have someone who makes them try that little bit harder. It’s like having an ‘elder’.
“In a gang background, when kids look up to the ‘elders’ they want to be like them, but in youth work the young people look up to them in a much more positive, legal way. Youth workers are the reverse of what’s happening out on the streets. It’s the method that’s working for these young people. They want to better themselves, otherwise they wouldn’t come into the PYF centre in the first place!”
Tamsir admits he has a lot to learn yet as a mentor, but he has already taken great strides in earning young people’s trust and building positive relationships.
“Mentoring has been a big journey for me,” he says. “At first I’d let them play games and do their own thing and they wouldn’t even listen. Now it’s been a few months and I feel like I’m not the best yet, but I have developed a lot.
“I’ve learned little techniques and styles. I feel like I have built connections with young people while learning what to do and what not to do. I was nervous in my early sessions, but now these young people are talking to me more than they were before and I am enjoying the experience so much.”