28th
Have You Ever Heard Of … ?
Trying to have conversations and interactions with children who on most levels you could never relate to was at times very challenging. The division became apparent in seconds, and not just because of skin color. Barriers such as language, culture, and economic status made all first encounters very uncomfortable.
When we first arrived it was raining and since most of the service work we wanted to do involved being outside, we decided our time would be spent interacting with the kids. The challenge when talking to them was finding a starting point to connect with, and then building on that.
I quickly discovered that the kids and I could discuss two main things: rap music and soccer. Living in America and being from England originally I have a certain knowledge about both of these areas, and our conversations soon became animated discussions about who was a better player and whether they had heard of this song or this team.
I learnt from this first experience that even the smallest action like waving to the kids or giving them a rub on the head touched them more than I could ever have imagined.
