Amazed
Every time I leave the Rescue Mission I am amazed by the women there. Most people think of the homeless as those who are druggies and drunks. While that is the case they are a small number. Some have chosen to live on the streets while other have been forced there by circumstances out of their control.
This evening I got to spend more time with Yaya's mom. She is a single mother (as far as I can tell) who goes to school during the day and sleeps at the mission as night. She is working on becoming and drug and alcohol counselor. She is taking the basic classes right now and working really hard to do well and understand things. In the mornings she takes Yaya to school and then she goes to classes. In the afternoons she picks Yaya up and they come to the mission. Yaya is clearly her joy. Anyways... as I said, she wants to be a drug and alcohol counselor. You ask why? Because she has dealt with and overcome those problems. She has figured that since she has dealt with those problems than she needs to help others who are in them. Listening to her tell me what she hopes to do made her come alive in my eyes. Before she was just Yaya's mom, now she is Nancy who wants to be a counselor to help others and take care of her beautiful daughter.
Yaya has also warmed up to me a little bit. Last week she wouldn't really give me the time of day. Tonight she came over to me to be played with. So we played peek-a-boo and some tickling.
I also got to talk with my supervisor(?) Cynthia more. I asked her what she did during the day and she ended up telling me childhood stories. It was so good to sit and hear about her. She is ridiculously funny too. When I left she gave me a big hug to say thanks.
It made me so thankful for these women. They are able to teach me so much even in their hardships (or what appear to be hardships to me). So many of the women were happy to see that I was back. I had a few more people ask why I was there. One of them was surprised when I said that I wanted to be there. That I've been wanting to be there, this is just the first time I've had a schedule that allows me to do so.
Next week I am going to make banana bread and cookies for them.
One of the ladies also asked if I could "get my sorority girls together" to give everyone makeovers. I just had to say "I don't have a sorority, but I will check things out."
I didn't get much done (homework wise) tonight, so I really have to bust it out tomorrow....
This evening I got to spend more time with Yaya's mom. She is a single mother (as far as I can tell) who goes to school during the day and sleeps at the mission as night. She is working on becoming and drug and alcohol counselor. She is taking the basic classes right now and working really hard to do well and understand things. In the mornings she takes Yaya to school and then she goes to classes. In the afternoons she picks Yaya up and they come to the mission. Yaya is clearly her joy. Anyways... as I said, she wants to be a drug and alcohol counselor. You ask why? Because she has dealt with and overcome those problems. She has figured that since she has dealt with those problems than she needs to help others who are in them. Listening to her tell me what she hopes to do made her come alive in my eyes. Before she was just Yaya's mom, now she is Nancy who wants to be a counselor to help others and take care of her beautiful daughter.
Yaya has also warmed up to me a little bit. Last week she wouldn't really give me the time of day. Tonight she came over to me to be played with. So we played peek-a-boo and some tickling.
I also got to talk with my supervisor(?) Cynthia more. I asked her what she did during the day and she ended up telling me childhood stories. It was so good to sit and hear about her. She is ridiculously funny too. When I left she gave me a big hug to say thanks.
It made me so thankful for these women. They are able to teach me so much even in their hardships (or what appear to be hardships to me). So many of the women were happy to see that I was back. I had a few more people ask why I was there. One of them was surprised when I said that I wanted to be there. That I've been wanting to be there, this is just the first time I've had a schedule that allows me to do so.
Next week I am going to make banana bread and cookies for them.
One of the ladies also asked if I could "get my sorority girls together" to give everyone makeovers. I just had to say "I don't have a sorority, but I will check things out."
I didn't get much done (homework wise) tonight, so I really have to bust it out tomorrow....