Last night, I went to teach ESL classes at the center with Arjan, who is a student intern. We waited around for about an hour, but nobody showed up, which was a disappointment, but I had the opportunity to just get to know Arjan better. It didn't take long for me to learn about his feelings toward religion and faith - he is a Religious Studies major and chose this major because he is interested in knowing why people DO have a faith or believe in a higher being, as he openly told me he is an atheist. Through various conversation topics, we discussed multiple topics of faith, from evolution to creationism to church. What I found most interesting was talking about his motivations behind social activism and why he wants to help others. This is definitely something that we talked about at orientation for my program and a passion of mine, especially recently. Through the grace of God, I shared my beliefs and convictions about service being faith-driven and about modeling the life of Jesus Christ. Praise God for granting me this opportunity and also opening my eyes to it!
Some of the reasons (a few more valid than others) why they refuse to come to the center include:
-seeing visibility out on the streets as the best way to get a job.
-there currently isn't any law or police enforcement saying they must leave (although police actually secretly support us and even stop by the center to chat and drink coffee with some of the men and have asked some workers on the corners if they want a ride over to the center).
-a lack of trust in institutions (many of them have experienced very unjust governments, massacres and wars back in their home countries).
-the belief that the CLRC is the antichrist - some even go as far as saying that Satan will return soon and he will capture the souls of those who are in an organized group first.
-the claim that we play favorites in the center - in reality, we have a pretty fair system based on first come first serve (changes based on skills needed by employer and if employer has pre-established relationship with worker).
Anyways, so Devin & I walk across the street to another plaza where there are small groups of men gathered, many of which are separated based on where they come from, both country and type of location (city, rural, etc). We approach two guys who are pretty friendly but also reserved at the beginning. Eventually they relax a bit more and the four of us talk for over an hour, simply spending time investing in them as individuals. Did I mention that they only speak Spanish? That was probably one of the highlights for me - hearing some of their stories and holding a conversation in Spanish with native speakers. We had mentioned in the beginning that we're helping out at the CLRC, which all of the men know about, and that there are ESL classes offered. As time passed, they seemed to be much more interested in learning English and asking about when we'd be there to help them learn. After over an hour, we bid farewell and returned to the center. Sure enough, less than ten minutes later the two of them sauntered in, looking for our faces. We spent the next two and a half hours with them 1 on 1 teaching them English with any questions that they had as we went through a picture Spanish English dictionary. Through this ESL lesson, they also shared a lot of personal stories that applied to whatever we were talking about. It was such an incredible opportunity to get to know them better and to help them with their English skills that they openly yearn for.
My thoughts??
With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
--Matthew 19:26
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