“I want you to draw whatever you
think of when you hear the word home."
Mr. Joshua, Community LINC's Children's Program Manager, was explaining
an activity that I would never forget, "it can be your room, your state,
your old home, your family... whatever that is I want you to draw it."
Then he further explained his personal idea of home, “I moved around a lot when
I was younger, so where ever my family is, it became home for me.” Some children drew houses, others drew their
bedrooms, and participating staff drew pictures of their homes and maps of the
states where they lived. One person even drew an outline of California and the
beaches there back in her home city, however, there were two particular
children whose pictures sank deep into my mind.
Out of respect for their privacy, I
won't mention their names I'll refer to them as K and J. Both boys full of so
much character and personality; characters so very different but a walk of life
with similar obstacles. I asked K, what he was drawing, so neatly and
creatively, coloring away so care-free, no shame in his perspective of
"home.” "It’s the hotel,” he said still coloring without ever looking
up. Bringing back my oppressed memory of when my family lived briefly in an American
Inn Motel I thought it would be the appropriate moment to share our
stories. K told me about how much fun it was residing in the hotel, riding in
the hotel elevators every morning and having his family so close to each other
in one room. I shared with him that "we had two queen size beds in our
room and my brother and I would jump from bed to bed trying not to touch the
ground of imaginary lava.” K finally looked up, and we laughed.
J, who is six years old and incredibly
smart and does a hilarious hillbilly impersonation (sorry, that's what he calls
it), well he drew a picture of China. Completely puzzled and dying to know his
thoughts, I asked him more about his drawing. He told me, "I'm going to
live in China one day and it's going to be my home." He named some
historical figures from China and asked me if I knew any. Totally embarrassed
that I didn't know any of these great legends but thoroughly impressed at the
same time, I was blown away by his knowledge of a land that seems so far away
from us. J was a young man focused on his future, not held back or confined to
a definition of home, with an understanding that he could go where ever
he wanted in life, even China.
These children understand that their
circumstances do not define them and if they are ever doubtful, we are here to
remind them. They have an unusual perspective on life that we as adults could
adopt from time to time. But this is why Community LINC, is so important. The
reality is there isn't always (if ever) an opportunity to have these type of
conversations at school. At Community LINC these activities present so many
opportunities to for us to share our stories with one another, be able to
relate to each other and encourage our children that these situations aren't
ever –lasting. I must say that they help us as well with their resilient ways
of thinking which give us the chance to build on that foundation.
No comments:
Post a Comment