Day 10

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.John 15:13

We started off the day with this verse at chapel, and we talked a little about sacrifice,so keep that in mind as you read the rest of this post. I have so much I want to express, but I'm tired and not sure how clearly this will come out. I'll try to focus on the things that really stuck out to me.

We took the kids to the pool today, which was a lot of fun and wore them out a bit. It was an eye opening experience for me, because where I live, basically every kid knows how to swim. In Waverly, it's how most kids spend their summer. Today at the pool was a very different story, though. Hardly any of the kids knew how to swim,and of the few that did, they could only doggy paddle. It makes complete sense though: a lot of these kids are growing up in families that don't have extra money , and it costs to go to the pool. Also, there aren't many pools close. In fact, I don't really know of any others yet, and the one we went to today was in pretty rough shape. When we pulled up to the entrance , it reminded me of a prison because of the three strands of barbed wire that ran across the top. Scary. I had a parent yesterday that was quizzing me about the pool we were taking the kids to (along with many, many other topics), and she expressed concern for their safety , insisting that "someone will drowned".From her fear, I assume that she also doesn't know how to swim, or is unfamiliar with it. I can't blame the kids for being scared if their parents are so unsure. It's a vicious cycle of ignorance, and I don't mean that in a degrading way. By ignorance, I mean not knowing, because they've never been taught. Needless to say, my new goal for pool time is to teach at least a few of these kids how to swim. Maybe it can help break this cycle, or at least slightly alter it.

I tried to teach one girl today, but her mom told her she couldn't get her hair wet because it would dry it out too much and then it would break. The little girl told me she wished she had my hair. I told her she shouldn't wish that, and that her hair is great. She insisted that it's because she feels like it keeps her from doing fun things. This is something we were warned about during orientation. We are not supposed to touch the kids hair, and they can't touch ours either. They are fascinated by white girls hair because it is so different than their own. We have to keep telling them that it's only different, not better. I did feel bad for her though. Hopefully next time she will bring a swim cap or something so it's not a problem.

Class time was a bit of a fiasco. I'm definitely seeing my weaknesses come out as we face conflict with the kids. I'm horrible at commanding attention and at crowd control. Whew. They eat me alive. No more though. I've decided that tomorrow I've got to come up with some way to get them to chill out. We have a few trouble makers in our 5th and 6th grade class now: we have a few new kids. They just need some extra attention, and Justin and I are going to have to be a bit more strategic in who we let sit where. I had to literally push two kids apart today. That was ugly.We also have a little romance going on between a couple of them, so that's going to require some attention as well.

Tonight all of the interns got together and watched The Great Debaters. If you haven't seen it, you have to rent it. It's really good, and historical. It's about a debate team from black college in Marshall, Texas in the 1935. They were the first negro team to compete against white colleges and universities, and ended up beating the number one team in the nation--Harvard. The movie showed the extreme racism that still existed at that time, and even showed a lynching.I won't go in to great detail about the movie, but there were many sacrifices made by the characters, which made me think of that verse from the beginning of the day.

We had a great discussion afterward, and it was actually very motivational. It made me want to sacrifice more. Everyone here has given up their summer and making money. We're pouring ourselves in to this place for the next 7 or so weeks, but it's going to take more than just that to make a lasting change down here (we do have an impact and this is a great start for all of us though). Tonight made me want to give more. There are so many things that seem obvious to me that these kids don't know anything about. Justin and I are going to revamp our plan for classroom time again because we want to make this better. We're not exactly sure what that's going to look like yet, but we're a good team, and he is extraordinary. It is all going to work out.

For now, pray for the interns, that we are able to get a better handle on things so that we can truly pour out love on these kids who need it so desperately. Pray also (and even harder) for the kids, who hold the power for a revolution here. It's time.

Love,
LH