Atlanta, GA 2 - Homelessness and Poverty (Post 2)

Believe it or not, the 'followers' in a group can impact a trip just as much as the leaders. On this trip, we've bonded and gotten close, but at the same time, we've also clashed; those occasions have only arisen when too many people try to lead at once.

So it's been a learning experience, in short. The too-many-alphas-in-the-lion's-den dilemma occurs especially when we're driving. Traffic sucks here in the mean streets of Atlanta, so Ara and Alex, our drivers, are more stressed than usual. Coupled with 9 oblivious team members just trying to help out by yelling directions, and you have what started out as helpful intent turn into straight up chaos.

Realizing our full potential as individual leaders means sometimes we have to know when to stay quiet. And that's pretty hard when we're all strong, capable people who all want the best outcome to a situation.

We talked about this more and how it applies to our time volunteering at Open Hand, Genesis, and Our House. We had good experiences up until yesterday, when Open Hand stuck us with what we considered minion work.

We were tasked with picking up trash and moving boxes in their warehouse, and one employee was even rude to us when we were just doing what we had been told. In short, morale was lower than it'd been as of thus.

Then everyone, already frustrated with the slight exploitation we'd felt at the hands of the employees, started bickering while putting bags of food together for senior citizens.

But tensions loosened up that night when we realized that we could learn a lot from this rocky group dynamic. People could contribute best by being quiet and observant, but perceptive enough to point out mistakes or setbacks diplomatically. At Open Hand, we had tried to do things our way, which might have ruffled a few more feathers than necessary, and so we had an idea to make amends.

We started an affirmation circle, where every person in the circle got encouragements from each of his/her 10 peers. Little things we'd never realized about ourselves came to light. So did characteristics we'd noticed in others. Everyone's smile grew a little wider as the night went on.

There was so much love cycling around. In that moment we weren't just 11 strangers in the middle of the South. We were all 20-something's, scared of what our futures would hold, but determined enough to discover more about ourselves to come on an Alternative Spring Break trip.

So, you could say our comfort zones have been stretched. But through sleeping next to each other, eating meals together and ultimately sharing life together, we've found the zones have now expanded. We can take on a bit more of the world now thanks to what our fellow Atlanta trippers have showed us.



On Wednesday we cleaned toys at Our House, a childcare and support center for homeless families.



Shortly after cleaning their toys, it was finally time to play with the children. We spent the rest of the afternoon reliving the glory days, playing pretend, swinging on the swings and sliding down the slides.



All of the children at Our House absolutely loved Alex. He taught several of the children how to play hopscotch and chased them around the playground during an intense game of tag. They all knew his name by the end of the day.



This girl was a fan favorite of everyone on the trip. It was her birthday one day while we were serving at Our House, and Alex gave her his sunglasses.



Not only did we get to play on the playground with the children at Our House, but we also went on a short nature walk with them through the woods near the facility.



Taking turns cooking the meals and cleaning up after everyone was done eating has been something we've done throughout the week. It was a great way to unwind and debrief after a long day and a delicious meal.