Our deepest fear

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth...It has been a week since my last post and I guess the lack of motivation to update comes from the fact that we are in a bit of a routine now and the excitement for my activities and work has died down. However there are little things that happen throughout the week that are worth mentioning:
Tuesday:
For some reason, it was a particularly violent day and the kids would not stop hitting each other, for the smallest things! I was beginning to lose patience since it seemed that very little I said or did could stop them for hitting, so I brought out my biggest weapon: I said very seriously that if the hitting did not stop and if I did not see our stopping strategy (if you want to hit someone, give yourself a high five instead), there would be no coloring. Since this weapon is not used too often it is very effective and things calmed down a little. A few minutes later though, one of the girls, Diane, was pushed by a boy, Eddie, next to her and she gave him a good whack....but IMMEDIATELY afterwards she gasped and apologized to the Eddie and then looked at me and apologized. This was a truly golden moment! Not only did Eddie not hit back, for which he was dully praised, but Diane had recognized what she had done and had apologized! This has never happened before and I don't know if it will happen very often but it is a moment I will remember forever. Who knows, maybe we are making progress?
Wednesday:
I awoke in the usual morning daze and headed for the bathroom, only to step into an inch of water: the evacuation pipe for the washing machine had come out and had flooded the bathroom and the water was quickly headed for the computer. It is remarkable how fast the human body can wake up...I slid along the floor, grabbed a towel, and slid back just in time to create a barrier for the computer. It was pretty smooth! So Denissa and I spend an hour mopping and gliding around.

Thursday:
Bob made fudge and toffee!!!! The power of sugar in those moments of sadness or homesickness is remarkable and I think Bob recognizes it and would rather have three hyper girls in the house than three depressed moping girls. Bless his heart!


I want to share a quotation that a friend of mine shared with me when I was feeling down one day. It is one that I find particularly applicable to youth today, all around the world. I have always wondered: why is it uncool to get good grades at school? Why are youth so scared to show their talents? Why is it so bad to accept a compliment about one's good looks? Why must teenagers deprecate themselves? Why are we afraid of success? Why don't we give something our all and if we don't succeed accept it and recognize the value of our efforts? Anyway, this quotation gives great inspiration and might help resolve some of the questions above.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God - your playing small doesn't serve the world. There si nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." - Nelson Mandela
Think about it!

A Special Saturday

Saturday November 12th is the anniversary of the birth of Baha'u'llah, the prophet founder of the Baha'i Faith. It is a day of great joy for Baha'is, and it was our opportunity to hold a big event to which we could invite all the people from our various classes. It was organized a bit last minute since it kinda sprang up on us, but as usual, everything came together in the end. While I went around picking people up, Denissa and Victoria decorated the "carbet" where we were going to have the celebration with beautiful streamers. There was lots of singing followed by some prayers, and then one of the youth told the story of the life of Baha'u'llah.


Despite having heard the story many times since childhood, throughout children's classes and holy days, I never tire of hearing it. It is a very moving and inspiring story and one can never hear enough of Baha'u'llah's kindness towards all who crossed His path; even those who wished to do Him harm. To hear of the extreme suffering He underwent makes ones own problems and difficulties seem insignificant.
Following this story, we sang some more songs and then moved to a different area to watch the documentary "The Journey Home" made by incredibly talented mother (a totally unbiased evaluation of her writing,filmaking, and editing skills). It tells the story of the choir from Congo that traveled to Haifa, Israel for the opening of the terraces in May 2001. We felt it would be appropriate because of the joy in communicates and the unity in diversity it shows. Also, the people here feel a very strong connection to Africa, since they are direct descendants of Africans brought over here as slaves (although the history goes that as soon as the slaves arrived they escaped into the jungle and the people here are very proud of the fact that they were never slaves). However the connection is very much a spiritual one and they have a great thirst for images and anything concrete from Africa.


They watched with great attention, pointed at this and that, clapped along with the singing. It brought tears to my eyes; I thought I was back home.
The evening ended with prayers, and I drove a car full of 8 children back to their camp, who, despite yawning every two minutes, interrogated me about what animals I lived in Congo and what food I ate and what color my mother was (they had seen my white father in the movie).
It is a slow process to "re-invigorate" the community here but I think we have made a good start. Now we have seen a bit of what works here for celebrations and we will hopefully be able to plan something nice and big for the next one!

Tattoos

There are some days when you just have to make due! Our dear friend Mr.Printer decided to have a fit and become dysfunctional making it impossible to print coloring sheets! The thought of the children not having coloring time is a fate worse than death...so I became the human coloring sheet. Check out my new body art:

Apology

I would like to take this blog to apologize to all parents around the world on behalf of teenagers around the world. There are many things I can apologize for (i.e: lack of sleep, driving you insane, phone bills...) but this blog is dedicated to two specific apologies, and here is why:
There is a boy in one of my children's classes whom I have grown very fond of. His name is Jean-Luc, he is four, and is extremely adorable (see picture below). His home situation is very difficult, like most of the children here, but it was simply his joyful energy that attached me to him. I quickly realized this though, and recognized the importance of not playing favorites in my classes, however, this took on a whole new meaning yesterday. He had been sitting in on another one of my classes, which he knew he wasn't supposed to be at but nobody could get him to leave (our classes are done outside and kids from the neighborhood often drop in).When it came time to color, I didn't give him a coloring sheet since his class was the next day. He continued to ask me for one and I explained over and over that he couldn't have one because it wasn't his class, until finally he went off to pout in a corner. I wanted so badly to give him a sheet but I knew he had to understand this lesson. (This is apology number 1 to parents: Sorry that we pout, yell, shout, and cry when we don't get what we want and all you're trying to do is teach us detachment and patience).
Later on, he came back to the class and was watching the others color (with the most tear-jerking puppy eyes I have ever seen). He accidentally bumped someone, who inevitably whacked Jean-Luc across the face (a very common response to any kind of annoyance here). Exasperated, I reminded everyone for the millionth time that hitting is not good, asked for apologies, and then went to comfort Jean-Luc who was crying. When I reached out my hands to hold him, he jerked away and wouldn't let me touch him. It was one of the most horrible feelings I have ever had! Here is this child that I love as if he were my own and he won't let me hold him to comfort him. So I just sat there next to him until the crying quieted to a whimper. I ended my class and walked Jean-Luc home. I stood at the gate until he got to the door at which point he turned around, and I gave the warmest smile I could come up with. He gave a little wave and disappeared.
Dear parents (mine especially): For all the times we jerk away from hugs and cuddles, brush your hand off our shoulder, or pull our hand away when we see friends....I'm sorry! I can't even imagine how it must feel to have it happen several times, sometimes for years on end.

Lesson Learned: True proof of love is not always giving the person what they want, but rather what is best for them. Although we are not always in the position to judge what that is, parents most often are. My deepest respect goes to parents and teachers everywhere who deal with this every day, and persist through the temper tantrums and "I hate you"s out of true love for children, and a desire to see them manifest the treasures that they inherently possess.
"Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can alone cause it to manifest its treasures and enable mankind to benefit there from." (The Baha'i Faith)

The Golden Rule

Hindu Faith: "This is the sum of duty: do naught to others that which if done to thee would cause pain."
Jewish Faith: " What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the entire Law; all rest is commentary."
Zoroastrian Faith: "That nature is only good when it shall not do unto another whatever is not good for its own self."
Buddhist Faith: "Hurt not others with that which pains yourself."
Christianity: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Islam: "No one is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself."
Baha'i Faith: "Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself."

I have heard people say that the religions of the world will never agree because they are so different. The Golden Rule is present in all religions. It is the basis of faith and the basis to creating a united world. If all believers of the world adhered to this law we would not have the religious prejudice that is so prevalent in our society, nor would we see religious wars. This thought leads to a deeper one of not judging a religion based on the actions and behavior of its followers. We must be just in our evaluation and search independently for the truth.
Our Friday night deepening was on this subject. It was a very interesting evening, during which we decided that each one of us played a part in creating a world in which everyone abided by the Golden Rule. We discussed the challenges that we would face, particularly facing those who do not return our kindness, and then to put some of this into practice, we split into groups to create skits.
What would you do if a new kid came to school with a bit of a "strange style"?

Help her out of course!

What would you do if someone came up to you with the latest, juiciest gossip?

What would you do if someone bumped into you in the street and started looking for a fight?

What would you do if someone you tried to be nice to ignored you? Just keep being nice...they'll give in eventually.


Lesson Learned: the creation of a peaceful and united society will not be easy, but it is a process that we all play a part in. We must become cognizant of this in order to begin the process. World peace (as corny as those two words now sound thanks to "Miss Congeniality") is inevitable, but the amount of time it will take to achieve it and the amount of suffering we will undergo before we attain it depends entirely on us and the amount of effort we put into it.