Thursday
Today Alex, Sly, and myself ran a poetry/hip hop class for the youth at the winter camp the MSU study abroad students are putting on. We did several kinds of structured poetry for the older youth, and a rhyming exercise for the younger ones. The structured poetry included haikus, describing something ugly as beautiful, poems where they had to draw a picture and then write a poem inside of it, and diamond poetry.
It was really amazing to hear some of the poetry from the kids. Mpumi and Nonhle wore especially moving poems. Mpumi wrote about her hands and how they build things, all connecting it to how her future is in her hands. Nonhle wrote a poem about an innocent schoolgirl—one who pleads for the ethical treatment of young girls, begging for the raping of children to stop. It was very moving, considering that she’s only 9 years old, but it was very scary at the same time. It makes you realize that these kids have to go through so much each day, are exposed to so much hardship and internalize it at an early age.
The miracle of this is that we are still dealing with genuinely good kids at the center. None of them are into drugs, none of them are delinquents or problem children in school. Sure, kids will be kids and get into mischief sometimes, but the children and youth at the center have good hearts and good souls—they take care of one another and respect each other—we’re starting to build a sense of family between them. They are going to need that strong bond someday, especially since many of them find themselves without parents or guardians due to HIV/AIDS.
Friday
Day two of the hip hop/poetry class at winter camp…
I have never been able to write like these children. Today I heard some of the most powerful poetry yet, mostly by the older youth. They see the hardships around them and it breaks their hearts, but at the same time it inspires them to love each others, their families, the people at the center—everything really. You would think such conditions would inspire them to hate, but this is not the case. They are good kids who love to laugh, smile, learn, and love. I feel truly blessed to be a part of this center that helps people grow in many ways—on their own time, with the support they need.
We decided to put a twist to the poetry session today. The kids were told to free write poems for about 10 minutes or so, then if they chose, they could perform their poetry over some hip hop beats Sly had on his computer. This made the poetry extra powerful. Some were better than others, but in my opinion, the women dominated. Throughout many of the poems I found myself choking back tears, especially the ones by the girls who wrote about how special they were or the ones who wrote of their fears of being raped by strangers and even family or friends. They wrote so easily and casually about these things- things I have never had to worry about in my life!
It makes me wonder, what kind of person has it made me? Am I weaker because I have never had to experience major deaths in my family or because I have never had to fear the men in my life sexually abusing me? There are members of my immediate family that like to use words to hurt sometimes, but I’ve never been beaten by them. Some of these girls literally have to worry about being abused daily—as they walk down the street, in school, at home—my God! It pains me to think of some of the things they have to go through daily. Even so, after listening to them speak, I know they have the confidence and the strength to fight it. I can already see it in the way they carry themselves.
Today Alex, Sly, and myself ran a poetry/hip hop class for the youth at the winter camp the MSU study abroad students are putting on. We did several kinds of structured poetry for the older youth, and a rhyming exercise for the younger ones. The structured poetry included haikus, describing something ugly as beautiful, poems where they had to draw a picture and then write a poem inside of it, and diamond poetry.
It was really amazing to hear some of the poetry from the kids. Mpumi and Nonhle wore especially moving poems. Mpumi wrote about her hands and how they build things, all connecting it to how her future is in her hands. Nonhle wrote a poem about an innocent schoolgirl—one who pleads for the ethical treatment of young girls, begging for the raping of children to stop. It was very moving, considering that she’s only 9 years old, but it was very scary at the same time. It makes you realize that these kids have to go through so much each day, are exposed to so much hardship and internalize it at an early age.
The miracle of this is that we are still dealing with genuinely good kids at the center. None of them are into drugs, none of them are delinquents or problem children in school. Sure, kids will be kids and get into mischief sometimes, but the children and youth at the center have good hearts and good souls—they take care of one another and respect each other—we’re starting to build a sense of family between them. They are going to need that strong bond someday, especially since many of them find themselves without parents or guardians due to HIV/AIDS.
Friday
Day two of the hip hop/poetry class at winter camp…
I have never been able to write like these children. Today I heard some of the most powerful poetry yet, mostly by the older youth. They see the hardships around them and it breaks their hearts, but at the same time it inspires them to love each others, their families, the people at the center—everything really. You would think such conditions would inspire them to hate, but this is not the case. They are good kids who love to laugh, smile, learn, and love. I feel truly blessed to be a part of this center that helps people grow in many ways—on their own time, with the support they need.
We decided to put a twist to the poetry session today. The kids were told to free write poems for about 10 minutes or so, then if they chose, they could perform their poetry over some hip hop beats Sly had on his computer. This made the poetry extra powerful. Some were better than others, but in my opinion, the women dominated. Throughout many of the poems I found myself choking back tears, especially the ones by the girls who wrote about how special they were or the ones who wrote of their fears of being raped by strangers and even family or friends. They wrote so easily and casually about these things- things I have never had to worry about in my life!
It makes me wonder, what kind of person has it made me? Am I weaker because I have never had to experience major deaths in my family or because I have never had to fear the men in my life sexually abusing me? There are members of my immediate family that like to use words to hurt sometimes, but I’ve never been beaten by them. Some of these girls literally have to worry about being abused daily—as they walk down the street, in school, at home—my God! It pains me to think of some of the things they have to go through daily. Even so, after listening to them speak, I know they have the confidence and the strength to fight it. I can already see it in the way they carry themselves.
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