wednesdays

Every wednesday I get out of bed at eight to catch bus #20 and travel to the International Institute on the lower East Side South Side of Providence. There I volunteer at the Refugee Resettlement Program, helping to look after the kids, while their parents take resettlement courses. I look after kids mostly from Liberia, Cote d'Iviore, Burandi, and Iraq. There are not a lot of resources or money flowing into the Institute, so the kids are kept in a makeshift daycare. One room not very big, but made to seem bigger by the lack of things to fill it up with other then kids. There are about 12-16 kids in the room at a time, and unfortunately, half of them have figured out that they can open the door, run across the hall, and find their mommies or daddies. The kids themselves are amazing, they were so open and friendly within five minutes of meeting me, hugging me, kissing me on the cheek, asking me to play with them. Only about two speak good english, and the others either speak french or can hardly speak at all. The kids dont have a lot of toys to play with, so a lot of the time they fight over what they do have. Not surprisingly when they get mad the resort to their native tongue, probably out of instinct, but maybe so I cant understand them. None of them can read, or write in english, and because they are such a handful already, not a lot is being done about this.
So far I really love it, the kids are wonderful, and I can't wait to get the chance to help them.