When someone asks me what I do, the normal and quick response is to say that I direct summer camps and after school programs for kids in underprivileged and low-resource communities. If I still have the interest of the speaker, which I usually do, I usually begin to explain how youth are trained by UrbanPromise Honduras to teach and lead the children in these programs and I explain what classes are given on a normal basis: English, Bible, Art, Discovery, Cooking and Health. While I share these basic details, faces of children in our programs fly through my head and visions of miraculously wonderful classes being taught by youth play in my mind.
One such story that occurred this week in camp involves a young boy named Douglas. While signing Douglas up for this vacation camp, Camp Libertad, he was timid to say the least. From the first day of camp, Douglas has participated in activities and gone through the motions of camp, but it was rare to see a smile on his face or a great deal of excitement on his part during any crazy camp activity. I chalked it up to a normal dose of "pena" (bashfulness common among children in the underprivileged communities) because he's new to our programs and decided to give him time.
It appears that time and a Creative Stories option at camp was all he needed. This week, three of our leaders led a week-long Options class on creative stories in which they read stories, acted them out, created alternative endings, and drew representations of them as a group. Our leaders assigned roles to the children in the class before beginning a story and the children jumped into action as the story demanded it, especially Douglas. All week long, my ears have been filled with the voices of excited leaders sharing about how much and how well Douglas is participating as the various characters in the stories, how much he is coming out of his shell, and how impressive it is to hear him read aloud. During various stories, Douglas transforms into Prince Charming or the lead rooster. During the Creative Stories option within Camp Libertad, Douglas transforms into a different child with a different attitude.
In my heart of hearts, I know my quick answer about what I do is nowhere near complete and doesn’t actually speak to the full impact UPH is having on the children and the community. I believe improving the explanation means improving the verbs. Through stories like Douglas', my eyes are opened to the fact that I'm blessed to direct programs the provide creative outlets to children in underprivileged communities. We are blessed to see bashful children transformed as they act out children's stories in a safe space. We equip youth to lead and serve children and their communities and we inspire them to be better, stronger people who deserve the title "leader". This is what we are privileged to do.
