I was told before arriving in Ethiopia that one of my main
projects would be working with their street kids training program. This past
Thursday I was finally able to attend part of their training that day, and from
this observation I am now expected to create activities that can better draw out
leadership lessons that they can apply to their lives. That is the boring
mumble jumble background for you… here is what I saw…
I saw 45 boys and young men between the ages of 10 and 18
that two different organizations had sent them along for this training session.
All of them had developed their own coping mechanisms for dealing with the
harsh reality of living on the street. Notebooks and pens they were given
quickly vanished if not hidden in some ingenious space. There was always a
constant tension at each table full of boys and it often boiled over into a
hard jab to the stomach or chest to settle the matter. During activities the
materials given to the boys were thrown maliciously at other participants even
though the activity was meant to support teamwork. I saw tough kids acting
tougher than they were because if they didn’t they wouldn’t make it.
Working Together in one of the activities
At this point I was imagining how in the world can a group
like this be contained? How can all of this energy be used positively? Is there
hope for these guys? Then some other stories started coming out that made me
feel awful for even thinking that last thought. 15 of these kids had not been
sent to the training on busses that were provided by my organization. They had
heard about what was going on and wanted to be a part of it. They wanted to
learn and they were willing to pay money out of their own miniscule pockets to
get there. I saw that there is a passion for education in these guys once you
get past the rough façade.
Sharing what he has learned to the rest of the group
Throughout the morning I made my best effort at joining
different tables and interacting with their broken English and my feeble
attempts at Amharic. These efforts were
met with comments that I could not understand, obvious annoyance, and laughter.
I remained in their midst despite their attempts to make it hard for me. I had
seen it before, and I knew that these kids wanted attention and someone who
cared, so I gave it to them as best I could. At the end of the morning when I
was being led off to another meeting I went up to one kid who had just volunteered
to sing a song (a cappella) in front of this tough crowd and gave him some
knuckles before walking back to the car. Then a stream of these kids came up to
me and all gave me knuckles before I left. That sealed in my desire to do
whatever I can for them. The plan is to visit 4 or 5 organizations next week
that are working directly with street kids here in Addis to see what their
conditions are like and how CCL can continue to help give them these kids more
tools that they can use to better their situation.
The story I meant to tell in that longwinded description
above did not fit, so here it is… The training facility being used was located
on a compound for the blind, and the room we were using had a small café located
in the back of the room. So while a short lecture was being given to the kids,
two old blind men staggered through the front door. Then, before they even got
to the challenge of navigating around the kids, tables, and chairs situated
between them and the café, two young boys (who, don’t forget, have no material
possessions and fight for their food and lives each and every day on the
streets) jumped out of their chairs, rushed over to the men, grabbed their
hands, and patiently guided them to a seat near the café. I was completely
humbled!
My favorite picture from Ethiopia so far. There is just so much to learn from this boy!
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