Something New

I've become accustomed to working with inner-city "at-risk" kids. After 8 months of being in the neighborhood, I have seen a lot. Yesterday, however, I saw something new.

I have two sisters in my program, age 9 and age 6. Yesterday, they showed up with their brother, 18 months. They had walked probably close to 1/2 a mile with this boy. When I asked the 9 year old what was going on, she said nobody was home so she had to take her baby brother. This girl has had to stay home before due to babysitting her baby brother, but I guess I've never actually seen it before.

Part way through the program she asked where she could go to change him. She had a clean diaper in her hand, but nothing else. As I watched her, I asked if she had brought wipes (or anything else, for that matter). No.

I couldn't believe the responsibility put on this dear 9 year old girl. She told me later that her mom comes home from work at 9:30, which means this girl will feeding her siblings dinner tonight. Or not feeding them. On other nights the mom works until 11pm. I asked my student who normally watches the baby brother? A cousin, or maybe granny.

We were making mother's day crafts yesterday, so I was seated at a table helping the kids which led to some good conversation. At one point this 9 year old girl said she wanted to attend a specific high school, "because they teach you how to take care of babies there." Wow.

At the end of the day I am more determined than when I began. I will strive to provide an exceptional education for these students so that they might have options as adults.