Walls are good for two purposes- keeping things out and keeping things in. Which is why it is so common to use walls in our world today. Peru is full of walls. My house is encased by twelve foot concrete wall topped with electric wires. We use another type of wall- metaphorical walls used to keep secrets locked up, and people away from the delicate matters of the heart.
On Wednesday, Express Connect came to Westfalia Orphanage to do a workshop with the kids fourteen and up. The first workshop we talked about bullying, but we soon realized how quiet all the kids were and decided before the next group came that we needed to regroup. Sometimes, before learning can occur you need to break a few walls. In this case, we needed to get them to relax and be more comfortable with us and themselves before we dug into anything deeper. We played games with the second group, which proved to be more effective.
These kids have a lot of responsibility. They take care of the cooking and cleaning, wash their own clothes, take care of younger siblings or children, work in the gardens, and some have jobs. It was fun getting to know the teens and seeing them relax for a few hours.
I hope we put a few cracks in the walls these kids had put up- and am excited for the next time I get to spend more time with them. (:
Darcie, you were a born writer. You have a wonderful way with words and expressing them. I love your heartfelt posts.
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