Heal the world, volunteer!

This was THE day. The day of volunteerist and service, the day of our group. We started at 9 am at the office as usual. Today Peggy and Anya came with us. Lisa stayed at the office as they are having another group at the same time from UK, with severe peanut allergies.



We walked to Adams/Wabash corner and went to the Chicago Area Project / Youth as Resources headquarters. It’s basically an NGO for resolving problems in the youth communities by youth. The also have an office on the east coast and several offices throughout Chicago. We met an African American group there, they were just full of energy. We taled a lot about volunteerism and organizing it and volunteerist by youth (YAR). We also created ideas of Youth organizations and events in 15 minutes.



It was time for a typical Chicago lunch. A very special group of youth served us beef sandwitches and hot dogs, in the Chicago-an way. It was all delicious. We had a “talent show“, where the youth from CAP rapped and sang to us, it was so cool, they are really creative. We took a lot of group photos and all sorts of pictures and it seemed like noone wanted to leave.




We ran to the CTA station and ended up waiting there for 50 minutes until the Dream Leaders came. We went to the very tought side of Chicago to Clara’s house. Clara is a very strong old lady who has had a shelter for homeless kids and their Moms for 25 years, she is determined and she has a big heart. We went to the backyard with the kids and everyyone got a child to read with. I ended up with a two year old girl Simone, the prettiest and cutest thing I’ve ever seen on Earth. We read some books, mostly looked at the pictures and counted the apples in them and said the names of the animals in them.





Eva was taking pictures throughout all the time there, I was too busy with Simone. She played with my locket and she seemed to be happy with the situation. We went to the table and she draw a picture, that she later gave to me- the best souvenir from America. She was sitting on my lap and we chatted a little, as much as possible with a two year old. It really was a facinating experience to have and it made me want to go to Africa to volunteer with kids or do something like that.





It was time to take the group pictures and say our goodbyes and we took the CTA back to the office. We did some reflecting with Lisa and now we are driving home with Metra. I still have Simone’s face in my mind. :)