VOA常速英语:Program Breathes Calmer New Life into Angry Young Men

“Listen up. Don’t move. When I say switch, you go.”

Twice a week, all year-round, this group of kids gathers at Baltimore Police Academy to participate in Pneuma.

Most of these boys join the program because they had difficulty focusing in school or controlling their impulses.

“Up, shake it out.”

Here, they exercise and meet with adults who care about them, like school Principal Nikomar Mosley, who volunteers with the program.

“We allow our students to engage in different push-ups and sit-ups and things that will build them physically. Sometimes, with the physical push that helps to keep their minds focused.”

“In and out.”

Other exercises focus on breathing.

“We want our young men to understand that oftentimes when they act out of impulse actions, they don’t think about it.They just act. So, (what) we try to do is get them to slow down. If you take a deep breath, it slows things down.”

“I’m strong.”

And that makes it easier for them to control their anger and learn to forgive.

Pneuma founder Damion Cooper says it took him more than 4 years to learn this lesson.

“Throw!”

24 years ago, he was shot and the bullet stopped within an inch of his heart.He became very bitter and angry until he decided he had to move on.

“I started doing some volunteer work in a prison.Not been known to me, for a year and half, I wound up mentoring the very young man who shot me.Once we found out that this was the young man, I forgave him.”

“We have to learn to introduce ourselves.”

Finding the strength to forgive is one of the lessons Project Pneuma kids learn.

“My best friends have gone to this program. And they used to always fight no matter what some else I would say to them.But now, they calmed down to the point where you could push them and they could look at you and like shrug their shoulders.”

“You have an opportunity now to always get positive reinforcement.”

The participants range in age from 9 to 14.

“It gives the younger children an opportunity to look up to someone and to develop a big brother within the program.So, it develops leadership amongst our children and also helps keep it diverse.”

“I love it back in me, because I want to help, then I want to give it back, cause that’s what all about.”

Pneuma is also engaging these boys, young and old, in serious discussions about how they can change their community for the better.

Results so far suggest the program is working well.

“Since we started the Project Pneuma, none of the young men had been suspended at all — not one.”

“This program is very invigorating. This program is very fun for me to be around.”

Not only is it invigorating and fun, but kids have stayed with the Pneuma Project for more than 3 years now because it offers something many of them are missing in their lives — encouragement, moral support and consistency.

“Let’s go.”