Youth Friend

I volunteer as a mentor every Tuesday morning with five kids from an inner-city middle school. I've been doing this for most of the school year. They are in 6th and 7th grade. There are two boys and three girls in the group. These kids come from difficult circumstances, for instance the twin girl's mother is Cambodian and their father is black. Their father was murdered a few years back, they have three brothers and sisters. So they are living with an immigrant mother who has some language challenges since English was not her first language, and a single mother of five trying to survive. Unbelievable! Some of the stories they tell me are impossible to relate to - I did not have these experiences in my childhood. One day one of the boys said his uncle was coming in to town. Turns out he's coming from prison. Not an event that is in the realm of my experience, I wasn't sure how to respond to that - why was your uncle in prison seemed inappropriate? I was blank on a follow-up question.

As if the circumstances of their lives were not enough, the school district fails them. Even as 7th graders they have trouble reading at a basic level. Kansas City Missouri's schools have been struggling to earn accredidation for the entire time I've lived here - nearly eight years. Recently it was announced by the school district the kids school will be shut down. This group of kids is going to three different schools. I won't be able to meet with them at three schools, I had to tell them last week. It was sad. In the time I've been meeting with them, according to the teachers, they have improved in their classes and behavior. I am going to miss my kids!

I pray they are able to pull out of the cycle of poverty. I pray they do not end up young parents, in gangs, or jail. There is only so much influence I can have meeting with them once a week. I fear one of the girl's is well on her way to a young pregnancy. One of the boys has anger issues, and I fear he is on the path to violence and possibly prison. There is one girl at their school who's mom is a prostitute, this little girl dresses herself and gets herself to school everyday. If I were a married person, I would probably adopt a dozen kids - some from here and some from India. My heart goes out to them. I want to do something to improve their lives. The best I've come up with is to love them, expose them to options/opportunities/alternatives, encourage them, and simply be present in the moments I have with them.

In spite of the no child left behind policies, these children are being left behind.