Luca Borsy

I have been working as a mentor at the Csányi Foundation since 2013. My group consists of a mixed team of primary school, high school, and higher education university students. Every child has the right to show their talent to the world, to walk the path that leads there, to take action for their own life, and to believe that they are unique and valuable.

I hold degrees in social pedagogy as well as social work.

I have also worked in a social center and in a temporary home for families; at the center of my work are those in need of help and deserving of support. Openness, acceptance, empathy, flexibility, and the intention to help form the foundation of this work, which the children themselves have also taught me.

Being a mentor is a complex and beautiful task, as one must fulfill multiple “roles” at the same time. The goal is to guide and protect the “little team’s” journey, to show the way so that they work together and gain shared experiences, and to ensure that the Csányi Foundation serves as a “bastion” for them over the coming decade. This is not an easy task, but the many struggles, battles, long conversations, laughs, occasional strictness, and camp memories that color the past years make it all worthwhile.

“Childhood experiences are the strongest; they typically define the core personality”—the words of generation researcher Krisztián Steigerwald represent one of the defining cornerstones of foundation life. Shared and peer experiences, moments, and the sense of belonging to a community—a “second home”—provide children with a foundation that will accompany them throughout their entire lives. Among other things, this is what makes mentoring work unique!