In Ecuador, my team worked with an organization called Incalink. They help to link together people who want to help in the community with other organizations that need volunteers. Through Incalink, we were paired up with a after school program for at risk youth name Covi. Children would come to Covi either in the morning or in the afternoon when they were not in school. The kids raged in age from four to fifteen.
At the begin inning of the month, my team would go to Covi trying so hard to form relationships with the children, but for the most part they seemed to keep us at a distance. We all love kids, and we just didn’t know why we were connecting with them. We would try to play soccer with them, or play card games. Most of the time, they would stay we kicked too hard so they didn’t want us to play with them. But the truth is they were way better with a soccer ball at the age of ten than we were as adults.
I think the change came when my team started to praying before walking into Covi every morning. We prayed for a breakthrough and to be able to make an impact. After the first week or so there was a shift in the kids. All the sudden they wanted us play on the jungle gym with them or help them with their homework. Their attitudes towards us had changed as well. They would joke around with us and get so excited to see us when they first walked in. We got to see the “trouble-makers” staying to calm down and accept us more.
Then it came time to leave. What we had prayed so hard for happened, and these children come to accept and love us. Which made saying goodbye much harder than any of us thought. Those kids softened my heart in a new way, and taught me a new love. For that, I will always be grateful.
I also want to say Happy Birthday to my friend Jesse Poplin.
