Against The Grain

Well the summer has been hit and miss with the tutorng part of Reach & Teach.  We have been to 2 VBS's and we do not meet in the evenings when we have VBS.  The kids are now in a program called Freedom Schools.  Freedom Schools is part of the "No Child Left Behind" initiative and is a summer reading program and an emphasis is put on African American History. 
We have met for the last couple of weeks in the evening tutoring program.  Last night was fantastic.  We had 24 kids with nearly 20 volunteers.  The kids ate up the attention and every group worked on math and writing…except the preschoolers (they worked on colors and following instructions).  Our 3 Candian volunteers (Carlanna, Charlene and Melissa) have been awesome.  Two of them worked with the 4th grade and up girls and the other worked with the preschoolers.  Today they are helping to organize around the office and tomorrow they will head back to the Freedom Schools program.  Although we have had a lot of fun this summer we are looking forward to school starting again so we can get back to our routine.  
The biggest thing that we are learning this summer is that these kids must live by two different sets of standards.  When they are in church, school, Reach & Teach, etc. they must get along with their peers.  Unfortunately, most of our kids are taught to fight and embarass other kids in the neighborhood so that they can survive.  The idea of "loving your neighbor as yourself" and "turning the other cheek" goes out the window or you become an easy target.  One Monday night not long ago we had a little scuffle between a couple of the girls and we talked about getting along and not fighting.  The conversation woke me up to some realities that I was not aware of.  One of the girls told me "my mom said that if I get picked on and I don't fight back…I am going to get a whippen when i get home".   I figured she must have misunderstood her mother or something, until the other girls in the room said "my mom told me the same thing…fight or get whipped".  Some of the men in the neighborhood teach the younger boys to fight and then place bets on who will win.  It is sobering to think that these kids are tuaght to fight or get in trouble, but that knowledge has helped us to understand a lot of behavior.  Please continue to remember the kids in prayer.

We are priveleged to have 3 young ladies from Canada down for 2 weeks volunteering with the kids and the moms.   They have been a great blessing.