Kid's Club

One thing I really miss about my old life in Philadelphia was just being involved in the everyday lives of the kids on the block. I haven't been able to establish the same kinds of relationships here in my own neighborhoods and it seems like most of my work is farther away. But recently I've been able to help out a bit with the Kid's Club that's run in the neighborhood of my church. There seem to be tons of kids just hanging out on the street, and Friday nights and Saturday mornings are opportunities for them to have a safe, loving place to hang out. They can study English, Bible, do arts and crafts, cook and play musical instruments (or bang on them really!)

It's kind of funny, but lately I've been teaching guitar. I'm sure some of you are saying, "Wow, I didn't know Deb played the guitar!" Well, I don't really, I'm barely a few steps ahead of these kids, and they are gaining fast!

Here's our class picture (Is, the boy on the left is way to cool to smile with the rest of us!). Even though these kids can only play once a week, or every couple of weeks, (because they don't have their own guitars, but borrow from the English Center) they are actually doing pretty well. They are always eager to play.....



Sometimes I wonder where to spend my time, it's so easy to get involved in a lot of different activities. But I realized how important it is to these kids after I taught them guitar just one night. We had a great time, but then I was traveling and out of town and didn't see them for almost one month. One Sunday evening as I was leaving church 2 of the girls ran up to me and asked, "Teacher Deb, will you teach us guitar this week?" I figured that if they were still so eager after one month (I was surprised they even remembered my name!) that it was a pretty good activity for me to be involved in. Sort of one of the basic principles of community development "start with what people are excited about doing - that's the open door to seeing lasting change and growth!"

But I think I'll find that as I spend time with these kids....I'm the one being changed the most along with way...