Workin´ It!

For the last two weeks I have been working part time for ADRA—The Adventist Development and Relief Association. This is an international organization that has various social assistance projects all over the world. My responsibilities with ADRA fall into two categories: office work and street work. The office work is easy—writing and translating proposals in English to (hopefully) get funding for new projects, visiting project sites to do analyses and thorough write-ups (in English!) of existing projects. This is no sweat for me. Old hat.

The other part of my job is the most stretching experience I have had in a while. Two days a week I go to one of ADRA’s projects in Asuncion, where I work with street children. For two hours I (attempt to) teach them English because Paraguayans, like much of the rest of the world, are fascinated with American popular culture. The English is not so much the end goal, but a way to connect with the kids, get them in of the streets and sober for a couple of hours, help them learn how to learn, work on developing some discipline, etc. This is a rough crowd much of the time, but t here are also times when they just act like kids who want to be loved and taken care of. The kids have serious behavioral, emotional, and drug problems. The first day I visited I was offered cocaine by an 8-year-old. Very shocking and very sad, but not beyond the hope. I often have to remind myself that some of the kids at the Hogar lived on the streets and had many of the same problems before ending up in that home.