“I first discovered Reality Gives when I attended the Dharavi tour with Reality Tours and Travel and that was where I learnt about the girls football program they ran and was very keen and excited to come back and get involved with the charity.

I worked on a few different projects, which was good as this gave me a lot of variety and a chance to get to know the charity in more depth. I helped the English teachers in the school to develop their English skills, worked in the community centre documenting their processes to aid looking at ways to improve these and conducted a study on the impact the girls football programme was having on the girls’ personal development. It was really insightful for me observing the girls playing football; the resources and facilities they have are very different to what I experienced growing up in the UK, and I was amazed that no one complained and they just got on and enjoyed playing the game. The enjoyment they received from playing was immense and provided an excellent escape from the day to day life in Dharavi.

I really enjoyed my time with Reality Gives, I strongly believe the charity has a very positive impact on improving opportunities for people from Dharavi and I really enjoyed the atmosphere working with my fellow colleagues. A large proportion of staff have come through the programmes themselves and you can clearly see how much of a benefit the programmes have on people’s lives.”