Volunteering

Today was my first day volunteering at St. Mary's aftercare center. As the title suggests it is an after (and before) -school care facility which is doing wonderful things for severely impoverished kids in the township. It was founded 27 years ago as a means to provide food for hungry kids going to school in the township, but in the last 5 years especially, the center has taken on a whole new set of goals and aspirations.

The children arrive at St. Mary's around 7 every morning, receive breakfast, are showered, clothed and sent off to school. After school they are brought back, are fed a snack, play and do homework for a few hours, are fed dinner, return their school uniforms and go back home. The reason uniforms, school equipment, etc. does not go home with the children is because in many cases the children come from homes highly affected by alcohol abuse and if the child brings home anything of value his or her parent is likely to take it and sell it for money to buy alcohol. Therefore this facility provides a nurturing environment for children who otherwise would have nothing like it. The center becomes like a second home for them. They are taught many things by the volunteers depending on what we, the volunteers, are interested in and can excel in. One girl is teaching the children Karate. There are drama workshops going on several days a week. Just recently the children received these amazing laptops geared towards children ages 6-12, and they are learning how to work them. Soon they'll learn how to type, chat, get online, make music on computers, music videos; all sorts of things!

Think of how lucky these children are. They will leave this place with knowledge on how to work a computer; something a lot of kids in the US don't even really understand. They'll leave knowing how to read, how to write, how to speak properly, and with several other acquired skills that will make them a shoo-in to universities and highly employable. Even after one day I am so excited to be volunteering with this organization. I just want to think of some other way I can continue to give to it after I leave.