Charleston - Children

29 March 2012

After a day of enjoying the best of Charleston we went right back to work. We started out the morning at Adaptive Gardens. This was the first day being there without having a group of kids from a neighboring school there as well. The morning was devoted to helping the farm get ahead on some projects that they would not normally have time to get to. We started 2 new flowerbeds, which was pretty similar to the work we have done the whole week. This required tilling up the ground and uprooting everything in sight. The mosquitoes were out in full force but we battled through it and finished the morning strong. Once these were finished some of the group started planting sunflowers in the new garden beds, while others were transferring Thyme plants to bigger pots. The rest of the morning was spent doing the chores that were normally done by the kids. This included watering all the plants and taking care of the chickens, as well as any other little things that needed to be done for the store. Being the first day there without having to do the work with kids it was definitely different, but it was still a great morning. This was kind of like our time to experience the therapeutic side of the gardening first hand. We got to experience how relaxing it was to just be out on the farm, doing our own thing and being able to relax in the awesome atmosphere while doing it. We got to experience what the kids get to do on a weekly basis.

The afternoon was spent at Charleston Youth Development Center. This was a very unique system that was almost like a foster home. I guess a better way to describe it would be a group home for kids who need to be taken out of a dangerous homes, run a way from home, parents have abandoned them or any other time a child needs a place to stay. The kids may be there for a day, a week, or 3 years. It is different with every kid and situation. At first we got a tour of the entire campus. The campus consisted of several different houses for the children, an administrative building, grass fields and playgrounds, and a career center. The career center was a place for the kids to go to learn specific job training and skills development for future jobs. One way they prepared the kids for a job was by working with them on developing their interviewing skills, assessment skills as well as helping them figure out how to fill out an application appropriately. This was also a place for them to learn job specific skills.

After the tour we started on our project for the day, which was building a greenhouse for them. They wanted to get a gardening system going again so the kids can grow, sell and eat their own produce. The greenhouse was definitely one of the most difficult challenges of the week. A nearby school that had used it for a while donated it. The problem was that there was a fair amount of parts that were broken from being torn down by the prior owners. Instantly this brought frustration to our group. It was difficult to figure out how exactly we were going to get the greenhouse put up without all the necessary parts. Patience was running thin already and the frustration was elevating quickly. For about 15 minutes we just kind of sat around helplessly looking at each other, trying to figure out what exactly what we were going to do. Shortly after, we decided to take on the project the best we could even with the adversity. It was cool to see our group come together and start getting things done shortly after the adversity had raised some tension within the group. From then on the greenhouse started moving a little faster as the day went on. By the end of the day the greenhouse was mainly done. We left there giving them something to move forward with and an opportunity to get their gardens going strong again.

While working on the greenhouse, parts of the group would take turns going out and interacting with the kids. This started an afternoon of playing basketball, swinging and just getting to know the kids that were apart of CYDC. It was awesome to meet the kids and be able to talk to them about what their plans for the future. One kid we got to know really well was named Daniel. Daniel was eighteen years old and trying to finish high school and get his GED. He talked to our group a little about his background. But he was extra excited to talk to us about his future. He wanted to finish high school and then play football at a junior college and eventually get recruited to play at a D1 University. Most of the kids that are residents at CYDC don't have a strong or supportive family. We could tell that Daniel had potential to do everything he wanted but as a child he didn't have the right guidance to lead him to the right choices. Which subsequently could lead to the full development of his potential. Overall in the few short hours that we were at CYDC, we had an impact on the kids but they also had an impact on us. It was encouraging to see a kid like Daniel, who has had so much adversity in his life, realize his potential and have the drive to fulfill his dream anyway. At the end of the day the head of CYDC asked us to come back next year for the whole week. Which was really cool because they were very skeptical about having us in the first place.

It turned out to be another great day to add to a very successful week. A day some thought might fall short of the rest, did everything but that! It was a different, but very successful day!