Monessen Day 2: The Kids

Our first full day in Mon Valley started early with a shower at 5:45.  See, I had to wake up, and then walk to the third floor to pee.  From there, I walked down one more flight to the second floor to shower and then the whole way back up to the 4th floor again.

We ate breakfast and I came to the realization that I was going to need to pop over to the supermarket during our free time later as breakfast was not giving me many possibilities.  After breakfast, we had devotions and then my group followed Kyle across the alley to where Kid's Club was hosted for an orientation.  

I was a little floored and confused by all the rules.  After all, Kirk and I had done Kid's Club the previous year and there really weren't any rules and Megan had even told us last year that if there were any disciplinary problems to bring the kids to her as she was the one person who would be with them all summer.  Now, here was Kyle empowering any of us to give timeouts.  

After orientation, we broke down into groups.  All of my church kids elected to head up crafts, which I hate, so I wound up going with music with a handful of teens I didn't know.  They handled things more or less themselves though I made a few suggestions.  At lunchtime, before the kids arrived, we had to eat with our groups and I am one who is surprisingly shy with folks I don't know.  I could see our kids at the craft table and I longed to be with them as they laughed and teased.  Then one of the girls I was sitting with said, "That Maryland group is weird."

I was very much taken aback.  Did she not know the group she was talking about was mine?  I elected not to say anything as she continued, "I mean, they're nice and all, but they're really loud."

I was rather offended.  The fact was that our kids are extremely outgoing.  They are the group that never meets a stranger and will welcome most anyone into their fold.  They are as close as siblings and all these traits had always struck me as positive things.  I didn't comment on what was said and as soon as lunch was over, I spoke to Kirk and we both pondered over all the rules of Kid's Club.

My vehicle was one of the cars that would be dispersed to go and pick up kids from the projects and I had to take a male and a female youth with me, so Kirk and PK came along.  We followed the directions up the hill and we laughed at all the shoes tied to the power lines (we didn't learn until later that the shoes represent gang activity) and felt a little uncomfortable at all the men hanging out along the streets, jumping to and from cars.  The area we'd been in last year was very rural, but it was becoming abundantly clear that we were now in a very urban neighborhood.

We arrived at the project development and the African American kids swamped the car.  We had to check them in and stamp their hands as to what development they would be returned to.  What seemed really odd was that there was not a parent in sight.  We could take 4 kids each trip and Pam, one of the other adult leaders from Michigan was also picking up from this development and she had a van.  Even with her van, my car had to make three trips to get all the kids.

When we arrived back at Kid's club, it didn't take long for us to understand why there were so many rules.  The kids were a different breed altogether.  Some were adorable and sweet and others were loud, disrespectful and carried two ton chips on their shoulders.  Paula and I buddied up with two girls, both doll babies, named Shalon and Miya and we played a game of Sorry until it was time for the kids to move up for songs and their Bible lesson.  This is the time when the problem kids acted out the most.  Two of us, had to essentially play Bouncer by making sure no kids tried to escape lesson time.  Others would talk loudly during the lessons and songs and we had to try to get them to pay attention. 

When the lesson time was finally over, the kids split into two groups; the older kids had playtime outside and the younger ones had craft time and then in thirty minutes, it would switch.  As music was over, I headed outside to help Paula, who was on game duty.  Most kids shot baskets or played Four Square.  Others played in the trash can that the balls were kept inside of.

The time went by fast and I helped usher the big kids back inside and prepared to help the little ones outside to play.  Pam walked up to me and whispered, "Holy shit."  So I knew it wasn't just me getting an eye opening experience of where we were.

The rest of the time went by quickly and soon we were driving kids back to their respective developments.  When we returned, I approached Kyle and informed him that he was definitely going to heaven and was sitting next to Jesus.  As we all took seats and discussed the day with Kyle we learned that there were actually kids who were on a week suspension from Kid's Club but would be returning on Wednesday. I think we all secretly rejoiced that on Wednesday, we would no longer be at Kid's Club, but would be painting and cleaning up apartments at the projects.

We were supposed to go swimming that afternoon, but due to rain, we were unable to go.  So our group headed to the grocery store, where I bought some low fat peanut butter and bananas for breakfast.  The rest of the evening was dinner, Club and church group time.  The kids were still disgruntled about their lack of friend making, but we assured them it was still too early to judge anything.



Preparing for Kid's Club



Four Square