Volunteer junkie
by Kathryn Urick
Published
Kathryn’s Korner - The Daily Tribune
Nothing else that I’ve done in my later years comes as close to providing rewards (if I need rewards) as working with children – at any level, from any nationality. I am kept busy just counting my blessings and the riches added to my life.
Ames is a town in which it is very hard to find your spot – especially when you come as a stranger as I did. Everyone else seemed to have the proverbial sheepskin in his/her back pocket.
But the ringing of the telephone changed all that – I can still hear it. I was feeling pretty lonely and left out at the time. The voice on the phone was that of a teacher-friend who said, “Gram, can you help me? I have a new third grader who desperately needs help in learning to read. If you don’t come, I can’t take her.” He suspected my hesitation was filled with doubts, real or imaginary. “I will help you.” He seemed to be pleading.
Overjoyed, I began the next day. Exciting and enriching experiences were mine almost daily. Kids make you feel that you are “somebody.” My volunteering mushroomed. A few students were even coming to my home.
The year was 1978 and the boat people from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were coming to America – and to Ames. Many had never gone to school, - could not speak English.
I believe that blessings come to you in all shapes and sizes. In counting these little blessings again just the other day, I found they added up to 29 countries of various shapes that furnished 31 children of all sizes, K-10.
I can remember instances about every child but there’s space for just a few. (I will have to write a book). Sometimes they tugged at my heartstrings as they struggled with a difficult assignment. Rodriguez, Guatemala, sixth grader, tried hard to memorize 50 chemistry symbols. Esau, a Japanese first-grader, was terrified on his first day at school. He fiercely gripped his chair – wouldn’t budget. Only when I asked him to help carry the many things I had to the Media Center did he relax his hold. He went willingly and happily. (So did I). His parents beamed when told of his new cooperative spirit – no further problems. Chinemere, a fourth-grader from Nigeria, quickly drew me a picture of a setting in the jungle trees near his home where he and his friends played. Gabriella, first-grader from Spain, who had the blackest and brightest eyes I’ve ever seen, pointed to the picture of a hammer, reached beneath the table and pounded three times, searching my face for my reaction. I’ll never forget Neda, from Saudia Arabia. She insisted on grabbing all the teaching aids from my hands, proceeding to teach me. Luna lived in Katamando, Nepal, and was a sixth grader. The first thing she said to me was, “My grandmother saw Big Foot.” Who was I to doubt?
When they go back to their country, I miss them very much. Their parents’ stay at ISU leaves plenty of time for me to become attached. Doubling your pleasure in working with them, a large percent of these international children seem to have a passion for learning. I could understand their leaving the Midwest to go to warmer weather, and also, to where they find “more of their friends.”
At first some teachers were puzzled at my quick success with these no-English speaking children. But I never revealed that candy in a wrapper was very popular and worked wonders, with, of course, their promise to save it until the next recess.
One teacher declared, “I don’t know what she does but when they come back to class after being with her, they are different kids.”
It is equally as worthwhile and interesting to work with American children and these lines from Charles Dickens enter my minds often:
I love these little
Is not a slight
Thing when they,
Who are so fresh
From God, Love us.
Today, the face of volunteerism is changing. Where once its ranks were almost exclusively filled by young or middle age socialites or homemakers, today’s volunteer is often the retired or semi-retired woman or man.
Enjoyments come from taking life’s continuing challenges. Older, retired people who need another dimension in their lives, might find it in the giving of themselves with their special skills and talents, directed to children in the schools.
Volunteering has been my ticket to exactly where I want to go.