For the past 3 weeks, I’ve been working at Beats & Books. For those who don’t know, this ministry is an after-school program for kids to learn musical instruments and receive help with homework. When I learned that I had been placed at this ministry, I got so excited. I couldn’t wait to work with music and tutor kids again. Well, ministry didn’t always look what I expected.
We get to the house at 8:30am. We have a devotional for about 30 minutes, then get started on what needs to be accomplished for the day. For the past 3 days, I have typed out and taped spine tabs on books to be placed in their library. The “library” is the entire living room space. Walls are shelved with books in the space that we have, and from all the donations, they need even more shelving units. There are lots of collections: Junie B. Jones, Curious George, Magic Tree House, etc. There were several times where I stopped what I was doing so I could flip through those books, bringing back precious memories from my childhood. Other times, it was checking the violins to make sure they were all in tune for the kids to begin practicing when it was time. Some of the other girls were doing crafts or painting. There’s a backyard where the kids have dance class twice a week, so the fence was decorated with dance and garden quotes. I’ll be honest: we helped bring beauty to that place and make it feel more like home from the outside.
After lunch break, we come back to the house for a quick meeting. We go over what the afternoon will look like and figure out who’s doing what. The program starts at 2:30pm. Kids have been outside, waiting to come in for 15-30 minutes, but we don’t let them in until 2:30. They pile in and take a seat at one of the small tables to do their homework. If they don’t have homework, then they go into one of two classrooms and work on literacy or numeracy skills. There is never a quiet moment during this time because while they may be working on their homework, they’re talking to the people around them. Sometimes this can be overbearing, but it can be mended quickly through classical music playing in the background. At 3, we tear down the homework setup and bring in what’s needed for worship. We set up the projector so the kids can sing along to the songs while playing tambourines, jamba (African drum), or shakers. We generally sing 3-4 songs, then Carla has some announcements for the kids. After those, we transition to musical training. This is where I help teach 6-7 kids the violin. Most are beginners and learn by ear. They don’t really know how to read music, but that’s not a big deal all of the time. Carla told me to teach them “Victory is Yours” by Bethel. It’s a pretty easy song to pick up, but when you have different levels of experience, it can get pretty hectic to focus on just one kid and keep the others busy with something productive. Even though I’m leaving, they have another lady come in on Tuesdays and Thursdays to keep teaching them. On the other days, one of the oldest girls teaches them. Some other kids learn piano, trumpet, and guitar. Guitar lessons are only available when one of the volunteers knows how to play and can teach them. As far as I know, Beats & Books won’t have another team coming in for a couple months. It’s kind of sad because Carla needs all the help she can get. Anyway, the rest of the time looks different every day. On Mondays, it’s a devotional led by Jonathan, Carla’s husband, or something involving a lesson. On Tuesdays, they have library time where they can check out books for the week. On Wednesdays, they have dance class. They have something on Thursdays, but I don’t remember what all we did. On Fridays, we have dance class again. We’ve had a couple beach days where we walk the kids to the beach, play games with them, and let them splash around in the ocean. We almost lost one girl because she went too deep and started to drown, but she was saved by one of the B&B volunteers from South Africa. That was a really scary day, but thank God she didn’t die.
These kids have hard pasts. Several have experienced abandonment and live with their grandparents or a foster mom. Another girl has AIDS, but she takes a pill so it doesn’t manifest itself in her. Another girl is cross-eyed and has a learning disability. Sometimes fights break out in the front yard, so we have to break them up and send them home. They use their fists more than their words to hurt.
When I first walked into Beats & Books, I thought we would have more space for kids to scatter and work on homework. I walk in, and the library is the size of a living room, and the tables for the kids allow no room for us to walk around and help them. They didn’t always listen or respond quickly when silence was called. However, God is good through all of the chaotic moments and it works out at the end of the day.
Thanks for reading!
