At 23, Esra Çelikkanat, a third year student at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey dreamed of being an art teacher; yet she was somewhat shy and reserved. “I was not one who could easily express my feelings,” she explains. “I felt restricted growing up.”

To help develop her skills – and her self-confidence – Esra began volunteering through the Dreams Workshop, a national education project supported through a joint collaboration among the International Youth Foundation, Nokia, and the Education Volunteers Foundation of Turkey.

Through the Dreams Workshop, youth volunteers, ages 18 to 26, receive training to serve as teachers of disadvantaged children. In the process, they develop essential life skills such as effective communication, empathy for others, and teamwork.

As a result of her experience, Esra confronted one of her greatest fears: speaking in front of a group. “Soon I learned how to run a class and how to communicate with the children,” she says. “I gained a confidence I could only have dreamed of.”

Esra discovered that many of her art students were equally intimidated when it came to expressing themselves verbally and artistically. “They didn’t like art at first,” she says. “They’d say, ‘I can’t do this.’”

“My role was to help them express themselves,” Esra explains. “To help them develop their imaginations.” Now her students come back saying, “I like this. It’s great.”

Today, three years after joining the Dreams Workshop, Esra teaches art at an innovative school in Istanbul. She also runs non-formal art activities in cultural centers and galleries in the city. She continues to volunteer with the Dreams Workshop and trains new volunteers coming into the project.

Since the Dreams Workshop was launched in 2003, the project has trained more than 500 youth volunteers such as Esra, who, in turn, have reached out to over 20,000 disadvantaged children and youth.