today was intense.. it started with a trip to the new schools for new orleans.. where we got an introduction into the state of schools in new orleans, and what the "educationers" planned to do about it. following that, we went to one of the schools where we learned about educating kids with special needs, in this case, most of the kids where from poor, predominantly black, single parent backgrounds, with many living in trailors and/or living with relatives rather than parents. it was interesting to try and understand the kind of needs such kids might have and how much more a school needs to do, in order to create a conducive environment for these kids to learn.
Then, we had one of the most amazing experiences of our lifetime. We got a chance to listen the life story of a man who had committed a first degree murder as a juvenile (it was actually a manslaughter because he was a juvenile at that time) and to a lady who had juggled with twins as a homeless sixteen year old. It was sad and inspiring at the same time to listen to their life stories and find out what sustained them, and what they saw themselves as and what they wanted their lives to mean.
All this happened in an orphanage of sorts called Hope House, which was run by a group of nuns and headed by the aunt of our trip leaders, called Sister Lilliane (or aunt cece, depending on who you are). She later told us her story of having been the "winterkeeper" for a man sentenced to death row. And the second, was a man named Ted who had devoted his life to fighting for social justice in New Orleans... and his thoughts on segregation and obama's candidacy...
now that i have stated the facts of the day, let me tell you a bit about how i felt as each of them spoke. the lady named jonika, was clearly a victim in so many ways. her mother was a drug addict, and she was rendered homeless by the time she was thirteen, rendered by pregnant by the time she was fifteen, she lived on welfare ($130 income, $30 rent and the rest to feed and clothe herself and her twin daughters). she described to us, how it was to live hand to mouth, among drug dealers, her only inspiration to live being her children, who she wanted to have a better life (which in her definition was to go to college and to live through their teens and twenties without getting pregnant) than what she had suffered... it was touching and we all felt so helpless at her what she has gone through, and i felt so much for what sister lilliane had devoted her life to...
when patrick spoke, i did not realize at first that he was going to tell us his murder story.. but when he did, my blood curdled momentarily with an emotion akin to fear, but more like disgust.. but later, just to realize the fact that he had agreed to confess of sorts to a group of strangers, made me realize that maybe there is hope.. that people change.. but still, i could not imagine being warm and kind to a murderer and it makes me ever more in awe of sister lilliane and all the people like her who had devoted their lives such a noble cause.. as to give comfort to the homeless hopeless people of our society..
and then sister lilliane spoke of her relation (that is how it seemed to me) with this death row inmate whose name i forget, maybe john or something and the many poetry that he had written in his last days... and how he felt.. again i found it difficult that people who have committed murder could feel such remorse.. forgiveness that cam so easily to sister lilliane seemed unthinkable to me.. even though i knew that i had no right to make judgment calls, when i cannot tell what i would have done if i had faced the situations that these people faced in their lives...
lastly, when ted spoke, i could so understand it just because i had seen something similar in my own country.. it is so difficult to acknowledge that in a country that boasts of opportunities, the opportunities depended so much on the mere color of one's skin.. the cultural divide, even the difference in accents where all too real to ignore, and it gave us all some food for thought... on how we can make a difference, on how we should make a difference...
more to come...
maalika
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