The aim of the Aelius youth mentoring organization is to pave the way for children and young people to pursue an education, be it a university degree or vocational training, irrespective of their social and financial situation. "We also want to encourage them to engage at the political level or act as volunteers," says the chairman of Aelius, Sagithjan Surendra, who founded the organization during his studies together with a friend in 2017. Surendra was born in Nuremberg, but as a child of war refugees from Sri Lanka grew up poor himself. He was able to study thanks to a scholarship for gifted students from the German National Academic Foundation.
Aelius' youth mentoring program is aimed at socio-economically disadvantaged children and young people, who often come from families with a migration background.
The most important support mechanism is mentoring: Aelius finds a mentor who is appropriate for the respective child or young person's particular circumstances and interests and who usually provides them with support until they leave school. Aelius also takes on education-related expenses such as school materials, language courses and Internet connections. The youth mentoring program is rounded off with workshops and summer camps, where children and young people can meet others from different regions who come from similar backgrounds.
Aelius has its headquarters in Nuremberg and a second office in Erfurt, Thuringia, but is active throughout Germany. Volunteers, many of whom are recruited from the ranks of former mentees, are a mainstay of the organization, which has seven permanent employees and is primarily financed by donations. The volunteers often continue to provide advice to the mentees after they have left school, e.g. when applying for an internship or for government loans or grants.
Surendra is very pleased with PROSTEP's donation and its sponsoring membership, which is intended to be long term, as Joachim Christ, the company's director of marketing, points out: "We, too, are constantly on the lookout for qualified young people and are aware of the challenges that Aelius faces. This and our convictions are why we are happy to make a contribution to providing disadvantaged children and young people with a good education."
PROSTEP's sponsoring membership of Aelius is also not an isolated act of solidarity. The company has been a supporting member of the non-profit aid organization Engineers Without Borders for many years.
