The first year my family used our summer vacations to go down to Philly to teach VBS we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We were just a naive middle class family wanting to make a difference, and we had decided to do it in one of the worst areas in Philadelphia. My dad waved and said hi to drug dealers and believed every sob story someone told him when they asked for money. My mom almost had a panic attack the first time we heard gun shots near the church where we taught VBS, and we all made our share of naive tourist blunders. Yet despite all the “culture shock” we lost a piece of our hearts to the children of southwest Philly.
I will never forget meeting Sinnia and Arianna our first year, partly because they were the only Caucasian children that attended the program and partly because of their sad story. Their dad was a drug addict that the church had tried to help multiple times, but he just couldn't kick the habit. Their mom was an overworked anorexic woman who looked like she was coming unglued. Despite their tough upbringing, these girls were the sweetest most respectful children you could ever meet and we fell in love with them, and they with us.
When I arrived in Philly this April I immediately tried to make contact with them as I really wanted to have them attend the weekend programs. Despite the letters I sent and looking for them, I was unable to locate them. They had moved and their contact information was out of date. I was very disappointed that I was unable to find them.
Tuesday evening as we got ready to start our VBS program for the evening, I walked to the front door of the church to make sure all the children were inside their classrooms. As I rounded the corner an excited Sinnia ran across the room calling "Miss Mary" and giving me a huge hug. My eyes immediately welled up with tears as I bent down to wrap my arms around these precious girls. My heart was overflowing with thanks as I went to kick off the evening. It felt so good to finally have the girls back.
No comments:
Post a Comment