4H?

Tuesday at Anna's we broke away from our usual routine and had a guest 4H teacher come in to have a session with the kids. Instead of feeding the kids dinner and getting them back to working on their homework directly after, they got to eat their dinner as a lesson was taught by our guest teacher. Growing up, I was never a part of any type of program like Anna's Arts, and I don't think I had ever heard of 4H. I feel that the demographic of the students at St. Anna's is ideal for a program such as 4H because I know that these kids benefit from the subject matter. Our guest 4H teacher, Ms. Susan (who was great and very well-liked by the kids), had prepared an interactive lesson that taught the kids the ins and outs of good health and good hygiene. It is sad, but many of our kids come to us with stained clothes that obviously were not washed, hair that is dirty and un-groomed, and many of our students have evident signs of decaying teeth. It is easy to over look these little things once you are working with the child and getting to know them, however, it is such a touchy subject that I don't think any of the volunteers feel comfortable mentioning anything to the student or to the parents when they come to pick them up. Obviously, we don't want to offend anyone or make implications that parents are negligent. I honestly believe that most of it is just that the families don't have the means to pay to wash clothes, buy toothpaste, etc. so these things have been put on the back burner. The great thing about Ms. Susan's visit was that the kids learned basic hygiene standards like showering or bathing every day, cutting your finger and toe nails, washing your hands often, brushing your teeth, and so on. At the end of her lesson she even did a little quiz about things she went over and gave kids the chance to win prizes such as hand sanitizer, toothbrushes and toothpaste, floss, shampoo, and many others. Overall I think it was one of the most beneficial days for the kids!

Chauffeur for the day

When I went to do my service work on Tuesday I got to do something different than I normally do. Normally I work at the desk, and do little chores around the Hope Lodge, but I got approved to be a driver for the shuttle. The shuttle is one of the most helpful aspects that the Lodge offers because a lot of people come to stay during their cancer treatment and can't afford to bring their cars, so they're stuck in a new place without a way to get around. The shuttle brings those without cars all over New Orleans to their appointments (which can be downtown or in Metairie or anywhere else) and then they call and we pick them back up. Also, even though we're not supposed to, we bring them to the grocery store and other places to pick up the necessities because it's one of the only ways they can get the things they need. I really enjoyed doing this yesterday because it allowed me to talk to the patients one-on-one and hear their story, and when there were multiple people I got to hear about all of the things that they had to go through that day, and just to be a listening ear.

Also, on December 10th, we're having a Homecoming for all of the patients who stayed there to return and see the friends they made while they were there. So if anyone is interested in volunteering let me know!!

Front lines vs. Behind the scene

Just did some more development related work for NGR. Turns out the last development lady quit (nobody told me, I was so confused about where she went!) and they just hired a new person. He graduated from my high school three years before me, then Loyola. He is like practically my age! It gives me confidence, hope. I can do this type of work! I am qualified (or will be shortly when I get that stupid piece of paper). Anyways, that makes me feel good. I drafted up a donation request letter and did some research on an Americorps grant we want to apply for. Grant writing is SO complicated and frustrating. Especially federal grants. They are certainly not going to make it easy to get that money- no such thing as a free lunch. For real. I don't know why I am attracted to this kind of work. Maybe because it puts me in pressure situations, where I work best. Maybe because its so vital- non profits don't exist without their grant writers. Maybe because its almost like a puzzle that must be figured out. Maybe because I would rather decipher contorted directions than deal with the actual people suffering from social injustice face to face. Being behind a desk in an office is easier psychologically then being out there on the front lines of non-profit work. Interesting things to think about, eh?

Workin in da garden

This morning I went to Wise Words Community Garden and harvested for an hour. There was a NOLA Green Roots member there and I really should have struck up a conversation with her, she seemed very nice. But it was very early (7 am) and I was in a pensive mood. We harvested arugula, green onions, mustard greens and some peppers. I wish I had talked to the member because it was my chance to try to get to know the group of people NOLA Green Roots serves. Alas, hopefully I will have another chance. I went back in the afternoon and did some office work; reorganized their filling system, added events to their online calendar. I learned today that NOLA Green Roots is going to build another garden, to be run and managed by a private development company. This is the model which the ED wants to use to expand the business; NOLA Green Roots uses their expertise to build and start community gardens which it then hands over to be run by someone else. This is truly aligned with their mission; building sustainable communities through gardens. Right now NOLA Green Roots has built three gardens and manages them all (from which they get veggies and stuff for their members). But I think we need gardens everywhere! So using their expertise to start new gardens is a great idea.

Ahh... I think I may have ran him away.

The last week has been pretty crazy for me! First, our enrollment has doubled-- we started off with about 6 or 7 students overall and now have about 14 that come. It's crrrrrazy! Thankfully, there are some other volunteers who are covering other shifts throughout the day. Initially, I was the only instructor, working Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30am until 12:30pm. Now, because of this insane upward motion (of students), we now have a Monday morning shift (8:30am-12:30pm) and Tuesday/Thursday afternoon shifts (2pm-4pm). Again, thankfully we have some other dedicated folks that are willing to come in and help out. Otherwise, we would have to turn students away and that's DEFINITELY not what we want to do.

As discussed in class a couple of weeks ago, I was having trouble with one of the students who was saying some unnecessary things about other students in the class. Well, I took your advice and confronted him about the issue. I was very polite about it, and I was definitely extremely professional. For the most part, I THOUGHT he took it well, but then I assumed he didn't because he was not showing up to class after that. Well, this past week, I was informed that he formally withdrew himself from the program-- without an explanation. Now, I'm sitting here feeling completely terrible about the whole thing. Did I run him away or something? I talked to my boss about it and she said that these kinds of things are bound to happen and suggested that I not sweat it. Well, being the education advocate that I am, I can't help but feel bad at the fact that I may have run someone off-- meaning, I took away their education (in a way...????).

Anyway, with finals around the corner, I am excited to be almost done with my service learning! I AM EXHAUSTED! However, I will definitely miss my students and co-workers and I plan on working with them again when I return from England next year!

Peace,

J.C.

WWLTV St. Anna's link

sorry, forgot to attach it! Here's the story link:

http://www.wwltv.com/on-tv/wwltv-reporters/paul-murphy/Treme-Church-Vandalized-With-Hate-Messages-Graffiti-134151083.html

Vandalism

This past Thursday at Anna's Arts was very exciting. I knew it was going to be a big day because our director had notified all of us that the primary funders of the Anna's Arts program were coming to check up on the effectiveness of the program. However, I was really shocked when I pulled up to the church and saw a WWLTV van in the parking lot. I went in and was informed that St. Anna's chapel had been victim to a hate crime just a few hours earlier. The church doors are unlocked during daylight hours for parishioners to come in a pray, and apparently, Thursday, the church had some uninvited visitors. People came in and carved swastikas into wood work, drew swastikas and racial slurs onto prayer cards, and desecrated a statue of an angel by breaking its fingers off and marking it with graffiti. It was extremely unreal that this happened. I'm not sure why this was done, they possibly were mocking the episcopalian church for its accepting nature of varying races, genders, and sexual orientations. Whatever the case, it was definitely unnecessary and created for a very hectic day with the kids! I hope the funders were pleased with what they saw, but with a TV crew in the middle of one of our classrooms our kids were very hyped up! Anyways, I'm sure I will hear whats going to happen with our funding, and hopefully it is good news!

Also, here is the link for the WWLTV story on the vandalism:

In the Kitchen at Anna's

Today for service learning, instead of working with the kids on their homework like I usually do, I worked in the kitchen making dinner. The volunteer that usually does the cooking wasn't there today, so kitchen duty was all mine. Before today I never realized how much work goes in to feeding 20-25 kids. The director, Katie, plans the meals, and she really puts a lot of work into feeding the kids a healthy, balanced meal. I spent basically the entire three hours today in the tiny St. Anna's kitchen just to prepare all of the food and clean the pots and pans. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it.
As the kids waited in their little line and got their plates and thanked me for the meal it really made me feel good. At first I didn't feel like me cooking was going to be a big deal, but it definitely was. Katie thanked me over and over again because cooking for that many people is not an easy task, and apparently, no one really likes to take it on. I feel really good about today, and I feel like I really was a big help.

Zen of Green Onions

I suppose I am cutting the green onions so that New Orleanians without regular access to fresh foods can have the health (and soul) benefits of fresh, healthy, locally grown foods. That is the big picture. Also, it is quite meditative to do repetitive motions like that for periods of time.

When I was living on the Ashram in Virginia we all had to work in the kitchen or housekeeping a few hours a week, I loved working the cutting veggies shift. You could meditate while you worked! It was good for the soul. Working in the garden is also good for the soul, and that is one of the things NOLA Green Roots provides garden members- the chance to do some meditative communing with good ol' mother nature.

I spent today harvesting a ton of arugula from the Wise Words garden in Mid City. It is beautiful, there are tons of beds bursting with stuff and a huge chicken coop with little ladies prancing all around. The arugula spelled wonderful as I harvested it. My back was killing me in about 1 minute though, and I thought about people who have to do backbreaking labor like harvesting all day everyday. I thought about migrant workers, and sharecroppers back in the day. I said a little prayer (or whatever you might want to call it) giving gratitude for all the amazing opportunities I have had in life, and tried to send a little positive energy out into the universe.

Changing it up

I haven't been doing any development work lately, for some reason. I have the sneaking suspicion that Deidre, the development lady, is avoiding me. I have been doing basket prep and garden work lately. I like this work cause it doesn't tax my brain so much, but its hard to make the connection with social justice when I spend 3 hours cutting green onions.

More on what I was talking about it class: I am perplexed by the executive director. He is intelligent, a good businessman. A terrible communicator. And weird. I feel like with my limited experience I could teach him some things about being a boss and a communicator.

Things I have been wondering about: NOLA Green Roots is combatting food deserts and building sustainable communities through gardens. I wonder, of all there members and volunteers, how many are actually the at-risk communities the non-profit proposes to help. When I worked at Global Green, we found that the people who were gonna work with us or who were interested in what we were doing weren't the same people we were targeting (as, were not poor or working class). You have to make a real concerted effort to reach that group, and I wonder if NOLA Green Roots is being succesfull at that.