I got a little sad on the last day of camp and kind of had a short
therapeutic writing session to let out some of my feelings. What I wrote captured exactly how I was
feeling at the moment and so I typed it up below to share my final thoughts on
what myself and the boys had just experienced:
We have reached
the final day of Camp BE and I must say, I am so elated that I was able to be a
part of it. These boys are so
amazing! You would never know from
seeing them here that most of them are poor, like one meal a day poor; that
they have drunken, abusive parents; that they are orphans; and that they carry
the burden of being a child in a country that hardly allows them to have a
childhood. The kids are taking a post
test now, and as I sit here watching them work so hard and seeing them smile
from the satisfaction of what they have experienced over the past few days, I
can't seem to fight off this sadness that has overcome me. It's not so much the goodbye that breaks my
heart, but more the fact that each one of these boys must walk out of these
school doors and right back into their situations.
None of these
boys have ever experienced anything like this in their lives and most of them
may never again. Some, I hope most, will
take what they have learned and use it as a fuel to push toward greatness and
move beyond their current situations.
That is the good I see in Camp BE.
However it does hurt that after getting a small taste of "good
life" they must all go back to "bad" until they are old enough
and independent enough to make the changes that I know they can make. Now that they have come into this great
experience and have been surrounded by all of this positive energy, I hate that
tomorrow they will be right back in the presence of their degrading parents, a
gender discriminatory society, and a world full of "no" and "you
can't." We have told them that they
can and did our best to show them that they can. Now all I can do is pray that that's enough
and that they do! Camp BE really changed
my life;
please God, let it change theirs.
Love and Peace Corps,
Dametreea
P.S. During a closing
speech, one of the boys said, "the seeds you have planted will never be
uprooted or covered by bushes."
This was all the confirmation I needed.
We did, indeed, make a difference.
Dametreea, thank you for sharing your experiences with all of us. It is inspiring to read your words. I'm so proud of you. Keep making a difference and doing amazing things. - Laura R.
ReplyDeleteThanks Laura!! It really helps that I have so much support and encouragement from back home! I couldn't do this without you all!!
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