Today was a hodgepodge day, as I was "The Ira." Named after a former Hands-On-er, "Ira" drives around, shuttling people who stay on base to do morning cleanup, picking up folks early, taking anyone to the airport, etc. I had one major strategy in signing up for this duty--to see Biloxi. A side benefit was direct one-on-one conversations with people I had not met yet that are leaving tomorrow and have been here for 2 months (particularly Derek from Alabama who is from a family of New Orleans residents).
I am a geographer at heart, with a crisp visual memory and a strong sense of direction. I drove between Hands On Headquarters, west of the Air Force Base, and East Bilxoi (east of the AFB) about 10 times today. I tried to take a different route every time, see the neighborhoods, get a sense of my way around, and by the end of the day I knew the streets--major and smaller--reasonably well and felt much more comfortable here.
As a result of this, there are a handful of pictures, many from one foundation that looks at the beach from highway 90.
A few other incidents that highlighted my day included hearing Carlos, a whiny and agressive 2-3 year old, count back to me in English when I played toss 1-on-1 with him today. He was happy, not bothering the other kids, not crying just to get attention. We mentors do not want to only reprimand the kids in Spanish, because we want them to consider Spanish and English to both be important, wonderful languages. Usually, Carlos just points to something and mumbles "Ehh." Today I tried "tell me in Spanish." He responded, "agua." I said "would you like water? If you do, then ask me, 'water please'?" He mumbled words that sounded strongly like water and please and so then I went and got him water. Today it became clear that this yound lad, who barely speaks to us, can quite capably say all the numbers, 1 through 10.
Kim and I reflected on really making this about the children, as opposed to ourselves. Unfortunately we were concerned that some of the Dartmouth undergrads--who have been here for 10 days and are likely quite tired--are having a hard time still making this about other people and not slipping into making this about themselves. I fully know that I am not here on the premise of altriusm--I think anyone is kidding themselves if they think that is the only purpose. I am also here to get to know the other volunteers (during OFF times, as we did today with a undergrad-fac/staff/alum ice cream trip/mixer this evening) and to get the wonderful feeling of helping someone else and a community in need. Not to mention the amazing feeling of a local man walking along the line of all 30 of us in the ice cream shop with his kids saying, "thank you very much, thank you for coming here, we really appreciate all of you guys's work, thanks again, thank you so much for helping us," as he walked past groups of us on his way out of the store. That is not altruism, that is self-satisfaction and warming of the heart and soul.
No comments:
Post a Comment