Informal Volunteer Work

As a Peace Corps volunteer, I have certain projects to which I devote my time. These include teaching three English courses, attending weekly youth group meetings, teaching a course on sexual health, and forming sports teams. However, I have found that some of my most rewarding work has come from the informal activities that I do.

There is a group of kids under 6 years old that constantly hound me to play with them. Chino (6 years old) wants to play dominoes, Inoche (4 years old) wants to color in my coloring book, and Jamison (2 years old) wants to read with me. These simple activities are ones which we all take for granted back in the States. For a long time I didn’t understand why these young kids come to me to play, especially since my patience often runs thin and I end up booting them out after 2 hours. But then it occurred to me: when these kids are with me, I am constantly telling them how intelligent they are, giving them encouraging words, high fives and pats on the back. One example that comes to mind is when I was coloring with Inoche. Every 2 minutes she would ask me what I thought of her picture, and I of course, told her it was beautiful and that I wanted to put it on my fridge. However, her family criticized the drawing, telling the 4-year-old that she was coloring too hard and out of the lines and that her picture ugly, and her hearing those things about her personal accomplishments only lowers her self-esteem and self-confidence.

In addition to the fun activities, I try to make everything educational. When playing dominoes or card games with Chino, I force him to count up the points to help with his math skills. When coloring I ask Inoche what color she is using, to practice her vocabulary and color recognition. And when I read with Jamison, we go over the sounds that the animals make. I have always thought that these questions (“what color is this?” and “what does a cow say?”) are what everyone asks little kids, but not here. The parents here leave the kids alone, and only give them attention when they are getting punished.

And while it seems like common sense (especially since I grew up in a home overabundant with unconditional love and encouragement), these kids do not receive that type of communication in the homes. These kids are constantly being yelled out when they do something wrong, ignored when they so something good, cursed at, spanked with a belt or tennis shoe. Their home environments are not healthy, but when they are with me I try to give them the type of home (at least for a couple of hours) that I grew up in.

And now that I have my own house, I can put my own rules on the kids’ behavior. They all now know that they are not allowed to cuss (you would not believe the words that come from their mouths!) or call someone stupid, and they must always say please, thank you and you’re welcome. The kids (and adults) think I am totally crazy for putting these rules into place, but hopefully it’ll start to rub off on their behavior outside of my house too.