F, a 16 year old boy from Afghanistan, was matched with N as his mentor in June. They meet every week and enjoy visiting lots of places around London. So far they have visited the Science Museum, St Paul's Cathedral, and the Tate Modern. F has also been part of Soundmix, a music project supported by SMILE. During one outing, F and his mentor came across one of the ‘public pianos’ placed around the city during the summer. N was very surprised when F sat down at the piano and proceeded to play something he had learnt in Soundmix.
N also helped F access an English class over the summer, and he has since joined a mainstream college to study English. Due to F’s exceptional talent at chess, his mentor has also found him a weekly chess club to attend near his home.
F still has days where he feels lonely and misses his family, but over the past few months his confidence and English has improved.
