Sunday, March 20, 2016

Steps

Last night I talked to Karla. She needs some help with an English project this week, so I got her started on it. We will meet later this week to finish.

Karla has taken the first steps to starting her own business. She was able, on her own, to get the supplies and help she needed to build steps to the room where she will have the photocopier.

New Steps!

Karla is hoping to open her business the second week in April. She doesn't have a photocopier yet, but she is saving money now to buy some basic supplies that the kids here need for school. Things that the kids with no money have to buy all of the time for their school projects. Things we never need in the US, but they are costly and required here. She is going to start out selling those things until she can get a photocopier.

Karla was happy to hear that Erika's sister, Kenya, enjoyed attending Karla's club yesterday. She said Kenya was very attentive and fully participated in everything. Karla and I hope this will be a stepping stone to get Kenya back on track.

I talked to Karla about how impressed I was with our coworkers this week. While I was out with coworkers doing home visits on Friday we had a lot of work to do in limited time. But we went out of our way to go house to house and talk to the kids who haven't shown up for the club.

I think it is amazing that we are actually hunting the kids down, talking with neighbors and family, trying to get the kids to attend. Most of the kids who aren't coming to their clubs are the kids who could easily be considered "a lost cause". They aren't going to school. They don't seem to care about their future. They are not very respectful. They are the toughest to deal with. When they do show up they can be disruptive to the whole club. Yet my coworkers are out searching for the very kids who make their jobs tougher because they know those are the kids who need the club most. To them, NOBODY is a lost cause.

I am older than many of my coworkers, but I want to be like them. I want to think like them. I don't want to ever label a kid as too far gone. I don't want to avoid serving them because they are hard to deal with. I want to seek them out, show them love, make them know they are important, and serve them well. Just like my coworkers.

No comments: