Thinking About Next Year

These past few weeks have been incredibly busy. Every weekend, I went to a new place. Being busy pushed all the activities I did for self improvement and reflection to the side. But, I'm back and ready to process. Recently, I have been thinking what I am going to do after this year. I'm excited and scared. Part of me wants to stay in Atlanta and find a job here, hopefully in the non-profit world. I enjoy the people here and love working in a job that means something to me. Like I said before, I'm a little bit scared. I lied. I'm terrified what's going to happen next. I keep thinking about what if I can't find a job here or somewhere else. Will I lose all of the progress in handling my social anxiety. Despite all these variables, I'm optimistic that next year will offer as many new things and opportunities as this year. I now know what I can do. As long as I am motivated new doors will open.

Friday day was field day at the Kindezi School. For the entire school,  kids played fun indoor and outdoor activities.

Post field day dance party!!!!

Discernment

In the last week or two. I have been thinking about what I am going to do next year. We're past the half way mark and the International placement event was a week ago. The new YAVs are getting ready to have their adventures. I'm excited for them and myself. This year has taught me a lot. It has got me thinking where do I want to go next. Though I'm still not sure, I still feel called to Atlanta. I am drawn to the people here and the work I am doing at my placements. However, I yearn to learn and take more responsibility. I want a bigger role working at a non-profit. I feel God drawing me towards a larger leadership role.

While the path is becoming a little bit clearer, I'm trying to process what is going happening. I reflect by drawing and walking. Recently I have been meeting with friends, supervisors, and family to talk through my discernment. This has been a powerful experience in itself. They offer me advice, tell me their experiences in the program, or even just listen to me ramble for an hour. In these discussions I realized how many people care about me. Everyone I talk to went out of their way to help me in my journey. The community I am apart of is a strongly knit grout bounded by God's love.

On Friday the kids got the chance to duck tape Principal Dean to the wall. I can't specifically remember the reason  for the occasion. 

Hobbies

For me drawing has become a period of relaxation and reflection. Most of the time, my mind is racing, jumping from thinking about future job prospects, work, and really anything that pops in my head. Sometimes I think I have ADD because I can't sit still or work on something for a long time. This why I have trouble reading big books because my mind starts to wander. Drawing on the other hand, I can sit for hours. When I draw, my mind is calm. I don't really think about anything besides what I am drawing ahead of me. Drawing by observation is really a problem I have to solve. When you drawing something from reality, you have to capture what it looks from your eyes. This means you have to see the relationship different objects in a scene. Some objects are farther away than others so they will appear smaller. Others appear bigger because their closer to your line of vision. If you slightly move your position, the scene you are trying to draw changes. 

This year has given me that chance to really pursue my passion of drawing. I don't have the distractions of home. But most importantly, this year presented me with challenges that pushed me to look for alternatives for dealing stress. At the moment, drawing, cooking, and walking are my ways of reflection and relaxation. My hobby in someways has consumed me. I thirst to learn new ways of drawing things. I buy and read books on artists, comic art, color, and drawing from life. I just hope that this passion doesn't die out when the year is over.

Every few months, the Kindezi school throws a party for students who didn't get involve any conflict  for significant amount of time. Peace Parties usually have potato sack races, pizza,  the game twister, and face painting.

Chairish

I had a very busy weekend. Saturday was Charish, the Furniture Bank's big fundraising event for the year. The event consisted of a art auction, silent auction, and even a game of musical chairs. This was my first time ever attending/volunteering something this fancy before. As a volunteer for the Chairish, I helped get the place ready for the guests and take everything down at the end of the night. I even got the chance to be a server. It was a long day. I didn't expect to work 12 hours. But by the end of it, I'm glad I got the chance to be something as wonderful as Charish. It's really powerful to see hundreds people gather together for a cause. I think having events like Chairish gives people the chance to be enlighten and refocus on issues that are affecting their community. 

Auction items sitting in our tiny office before being shipped to Puritan Mills.

Front Entrance of Puritan Mills where Charish was held.

Volunteers setting up for the event.

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Guest playing a round of musical chairs.

A piece of art being ready to be sold at the auction.

Seeing Your Work as a Form of Community

A week ago, I decided to go see a play about Black History Month at Kindezi. It was the first time I went to one of the big after school events due to forgetfulness and lack of motivation. The play was wonderful. They didn't talk about the typical historical African American figures. Instead, they discuss of the importance of African culture throughout world history leading up today. They even taught this history major a few things. For example, I had no idea that a power ancient civilization thrived in the heart of what is now Zimbabwe! By the end of the play, one of my students ran up to me to give me a high five and meet his parents. I was flattered.

 I was really happy I came to the school that night. Sometimes it hard to motivate myself to participate work-related activities outside my normal work day. When the weekend comes by I just want to go home, relax, and forget about the world.  However, I'm beginning to see the benefits of taking the extra-step in putting yourself out there for your placement. It gives you the chance to see the people at your job in a whole different light. I never saw my students act or dance until I saw the play. I was awestruck by their talent. I also go the chance to meet some of  my students' parents.

Besides a new perspective, these events give more opportunities in building relationships. I see this in the after school soccer club that teachers, interns, and administrators participate in every Friday. In that type of event we are not working, but just having fun. All the worries about grading papers, grants, and talking to disgruntle parents melt away. The more of I think about it, Kindezi and the Furniture Bank are in some way a community. They are not just co-workers, but friends. They are willing to go out of their way for each other. It is this deep understanding of interconnected and friendship that separates these organizations from others.

Here it is! It has literally took a month, but I did it! I finally got a pick of the  Furniture Bank  warehouse.

Here's a interesting fact, we do not own this property, but rent for a lot money.  This will change next year, when the Furniture Bank moves to its new location on Murphy Ave. 

Here is one of our trucks (left side) and mattress trailer (right side). We have two mid-size trucks  and a mini-truck  used for delivering/picking up donations. The large trailer is use for dumping mattresses that are too ragged or stained for our clients. 

Serving Our Neighborhood as a Community

      By neighborhood, I really mean the city of Atlanta. Yesterday, my housemates came to the Metro-Atlanta Furniture Bank to volunteer for a few hours. This is something we planned about a month ago. I wanted my housemates come visit my job and give them a taste of what I do at the Furniture Bank. They agreed to come this Saturday. The day turned out great besides a few mishaps. As a group we moved furniture, sorted mattresses, and built tables. It was hard manual labor. Something I believe we were missing in our community. We have spiritual direction, bible study, logistics, but what about service? This year is suppose to be about serving our neighborhood either that be our street or the entire city of Atlanta. I think working together in a more dynamic and engaging environment allows to form stronger bonds as community. We are living and serving together.
        As dwellers I think we to expand beyond our placements for serving others. We can always learn new things from volunteering at a different organization. We gain a new perspective on other ways of helping others. For example, some members of group work directly with the Homeless at the Outreach Center at First Presbyterian. They help people getting birth certificates, IDs, or food stamps. Our work day on Saturday gave them the opportunity to try to something different.

Greg, Sean, Ed, and Leslie building tables for clients.

Emily sweeping the floor in the warehouse.

This chair is part of a the fundraising auction the Furniture Bank is holding in March called Charish.

     

Working With Children

Even though I had experience working with kids before this year, I forgot how challenging it can be. As a club leader/tutor you have to establish boundaries early and be consistent. My first experience leading a club this year ending on a sour note. I didn't set rules early on and my kids took advantage of it. Throughout the club they constantly push my buttons. I should use more discipline. It's hard to discipline a child because you want to be the cool guy, the friend. In reality in order for my students to have good time, they needed rules. They needed a teacher not a friend. In my new club I'm trying to practice being a teacher,.  I decided to let them create the rules (with guidance from me) and have them sign it. Also, I'm a lot more firm in keeping the peace during club time. So far this club has gone a lot better than the previous one. I feel personally, they are getting more out of it.

Rest

These past few weeks, my life has gotten exceedingly busier. I've been working longer days and even some Saturdays. Outside work, I had spiritual direction, a community logistic meeting, and dinner with DOOR staff. In the last two weeks, it felt like I had no time for myself. Eventually it started to take a toll on my mind. I started to have anxiety. I became more frustrated with housemates and work. I started doubt the benefits of living in community. If these negative emotions were left unchecked, they could start to affect my relationship with others and my performance at work.

I needed a break. I was stuck in a rut and there hasn't been time to reflect. This weekend, I decided to take it easy. On Saturday I slept in until 11am. Afterwards, I went for a long walk in the city. Sunday, I went to the cemetery to draw. By the end of  today, I felt renewed. I'm not nearly as frustrated or anxious as I was earlier this week. I was surprised how good I felt. In two days my negatives emotions  that have been building up inside me melted away. I think this is probably one of the most important lessons I learned this year. You cannot be at your best if you don't take the time to relax.

This week,  I remembered to get a picture of  Kindezi. The building was originally Turner Middle School, but closed. The building is now home to Kindezi and KIPP Atlanta. KIPP is another school that works with middle and high school students.  I believe this is Kindezi's last year using the Turner building. Next year they are relocating, I am not sure where though. 

Volunteers And The Difference They Make

At the Furniture Bank, they asked me to coordinate volunteers on Monday nights and weekends. So far it has been an incredible experience and breaks up the monotony. However, recently I been thinking about the volunteers role in maintaining the Furniture Bank. More importantly, Do volunteers think their making a difference? This question came up when one of my housemates politely turned down my offer for the DOOR house to cleanup the Furniture Bank warehouse in February. In his eyes, he didn't think it was beneficial to the families that came to through the Furniture Bank. His response caught me off guard. I know the volunteers work is essential, but volunteers  it must be hard not to witness the fruits of their labor. They don't get to see how much easier for our clients to locate furniture they need after the warehouse is reorganized. Or the smiles in their faces when they come through the door and see a clean space. Also, the Furniture Bank is a small organization with about 8 people full time. We could not operate efficiently without volunteers. I try to say this the groups that come to the warehouse. Hopefully, they understand they have an essential role in our organization.

This is the inside of the warehouse. At the bottom left are the tables volunteers. Most of the tables will be gone by next week.

This is the mattress section of the warehouse. We currently have a steady stream of mattresses  being donated by original mattress factory. 

This is our workshop. Volunteers come in here and make the tables you see in the picture above.  

Let's Try This Again!

Alright the first time, I tried blogging it didn't work out so well. So this time I'm going to try to blog at least once a week. Instead writing a lot, my post it be pictures I took throughout the week. I believe pictures will tell you guys more about my time in Atlanta than me writing about it. Plus, I like photography!

Here are some pictures of my adventures so far!

Home Sweet Home in Grant Park!!! Grant Park is a transitional/gentrified neighborhood.  Living at Grant Park makes  DOOR Atlanta unique compared to other DOOR sites because our positions are not connected to the local neighborhood. Most of us work  all over Atlanta take a look at me for example, my positions are in Northwest Atlanta. 

First grade took a field trip to the Open Door Community. The Open Door is comprised of devoted  and compassionate individuals who give up their regular jobs to serve the homeless in Atlanta. 

A first grade class conducting a science experiment outside. 

Another class watching a documentary about Arctic wildlife. 

This is Dean Leeper, the principle of Kindezi Charter School. 

We're about a block away from Grant Park. It is really nice to have a big park close by , but if I need get away I go Oakland Cementery. Despite being a big park you feel your out of the city. It's really hard to find peace like at my former residence  

This Oakland Cemetery. Even though some people my find Oakland creepy, it
 has been sorta of a sanctuary for me. When I like to get away I come here and reflect.

This is a picture was taken from Oakland Cemetery. In the distance you can see the tall skyscrapers that makeup Atlanta's midtown. One the things that shock me the most moving to Atlanta is how big it is. I never thought there were large cities in the South. 

This is our local Pizza Place.

This month I'm leading a nature club at Kindezi. Most of the stuff will be doing  will take place here in Anderson Park.

In my next post, I will try to give you guys more of a glimpse of the Furniture Bank and Kindezi.  So Stay Tuned!!!!