I believe I've mentioned it before, but just to reiterate, I work at 2 different orphanages in Belmopan. The first is Marla's House of Hope, and the the second is King's Children's Home. Every weekday morning I walk over to Marla's to work and play with the preschool aged kids before they go to school in the afternoon. We have an educational activity for about an hour, and then I play with them and help them get bathed and fed and ready for school. They are probably the most challenging, but most hilarious part of my day. Like I said, it's an absolute miracle to hold all of their attention for longer than fifteen seconds or so, but we make it work. Our activities include learning basic concepts such as shapes, colors, animals...you get the picture. So if you ever land a gig working with very small children, here is what little advice I can give you: they love to color (but sharing isn't always their favorite thing, so be sure to have plenty of crayons for everyone), dancing and singing is always a sure bet to catch their attention, and they love to wash their hands. Seriously. I'm not sure if it's a fascination with water or soap or the combination of the two, but their favorite part of the lesson is washing their hands, which we do every 20 minutes just to keep everyone happy. They do an impressive job of it too. There is also an intimidatingly real chance that I might try to bring one of them home with me; it's a genuine fear I have.
Our morning lesson at Marla's
Moving on, I use my time during the midday to run errands or prepare lessons or work on whatever I need to complete, and then I head off to tutor as soon as school ends. Monday and Wednesday I return to Marla's for the afternoon, and on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday I spend my time at King's. My job description is pretty self explanatory, but I spend several hours working with the older kids and their school work and then head home for the evening. This is what I would most likely consider my most rewarding part of the day. I love working with the little ones, but there is something truly gratifying about watching children learn, especially when you are a part of it. For example, the other day I taught about ten kids at King's how to work with percentages. It was somewhat of a double victory for me because I was excited I even remembered how to solve percentage problems (I haven't taken a math class since calculus, my senior year of high school), but the most exciting part was watching the kids catch on to the method and start giving correct answers that weren't random guesses. I was actually teaching them, and they were responding to my efforts with positive results. It was something of a lightbulb moment for me, because after I returned home that night and was thinking over my day, I realized that I had found something that I love to do. Teach.
Now, ever since I entered college I said that I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I knew that I didn't want to be a teacher. And that's still somewhat true. I don't think I want to be a typical teacher in a normal classroom setting. Let's face it, I'm not exactly what I would classify as normal, so your everyday job isn't really going to catch my attention. But whatever I end up doing, I want it to be something that includes instructing and encouraging and helping people succeed, to reach their potential. I don't know what that occupation might yet be, but I do know that whatever it is I don't want to compromise on any of those points, because those are what matter most to me. And I won't.
I think our generation is put under a lot of pressure to succeed in a very horizontal definition of the word. There is a stereotype of the occupations we are all expected to pursue, and I think it's really unfair. Our goals of what we want to be have become distorted into what we believe we should be, and too many times those ideas don't parallel. So I say let's all take a deep breath and return to the ideals and goals that we grew up admiring. Even if you can't be the next Beyonce, find a way to keep music a central part of your life. Even if you aren't going to be the fashion designer you envisioned, stay involved with design and art and the styles you love. Just because you aren't going to have the same occupation you claimed at age 6, doesn't mean that you can't still make what you love a major part of your career and your life. And that is worth so much more than the success that society tells us matters. If you have a passion for what you are doing, then you will find true success, and be truly happy. And that's what matters.
Raquel, Susanna, Mercedes, Richard, and Maxwell
