Back in July 2020, thanks to the donations Guildford Philanthropy had received in the first year of launching the Corporate Ambassador initiative, a grant was made to The Big Leaf Foundation; a charity which supports displaced young people who arrive in the UK from war torn countries.
The grant was to fund a equine therapy course whereby these young people could gain some respite from their circumstances.
One boy, Kavyan, had come to The Big Leaf Foundation after the Refugee Council got in touch imploring them to find a way to take him on to the project. He was very depressed and not talking to anyone. On the first morning, Kav arrived shaking and not able to look anyone in the eye. However, when he entered the stables he walked up to a horse, pressed his face against his nose and just breathed. He later said that just the smell of a horse was enough to bring him back from a very dark place.
In a couple of weeks it was clear to everyone that he was an outstanding horseman. The stables suggested that he might like to volunteer there and Kav leapt at the opportunity, and it was made even easier when a member of the stable staff promised to bring him every time, after finding they lived two streets away.
Over the past two years, Kav has become an integral part of the stables team. They all love him. They have paid for him to do all his instructor courses so he is now fully qualified, and a hugely popular teacher, especially with the kids. He now regularly runs the yard for the stable team, and has his own caravan on site. Members of the team have become dear friends to him, and they often take him on holiday with them. He is very much part of their family.
However, it later emerged that Kav was also a prodigiously talented musician. He first started performing on the daf (a framed drum) at huge festivals in Iran as a child. He has videos of these and they are amazing to see. The Big Leaf Foundation introduced him to the I Speak Music orchestra and their Music Connects project, and he came along in a leadership role to work with local and displaced teenagers together, around a song writing project aimed to build familiarity and trust between different people.
Kav has gone on to receive a High Sheriff award, making a moving speech on how he finds himself in his new home. He has also been part of The Big Leaf Foundation’s training programme with Surrey Police attending two training sessions to expound on the real context of displaced people in Surrey and to shed light on their experiences of flight. On both occasions, much of the room was in tears. His honesty, insightfulness and willingness to share his deeply personal experience was as moving as it was instructive.
Finally, towards the end of last year Kav won a national award for music leadership, at the Youth Music Awards.
You, our Corporate Ambassadors, started this amazing journey which has hugely benefitted not only Kav but all the other people he has gone on to help and the other attendees at the Equine Therapy courses.
Together we really can make a difference.
