When Life Hands You a Lemon...

I work at an after school program in an impoverished community. The neighboring schools are Title I status and many of the children come from situations at home that I cannot even dream of.

It is a fantastic program. Unfortunately though, as generous as our partnering facility is, we don't have the space to fit all of those kids comfortably and we spent a lot of time trying to find somewhere for our kids to play. 

Last November an outside organization came in and built a playground for the facility we are housed out of. It was a wonderful day, and the kids now had somewhere to own and escape to. This was their place to be.

Today I received a shocking email describing the shock that our community partner experienced when she arrived at work and found that our playground had been burned.

My heart broke the moment I read the email. Who would do this? Where would our kids go? 

When I arrived at work Channel 5 news crew was at the scene and crime tape covered the grounds. The bus driver that dropped our kids off every day had told them that the playground had been burned, so the children burst through the door exploding with questions.

Can we see it?
Who did it?
How did it happen?
Will we ever get to play on it again?

Then one little girl pulled on the sleeve of my shirt. 

"Ms. Sarah, I want to fix it. Can we help?"

At that moment, I realized why I have the job that I do. As an undergraduate, I have nowhere NEAR the expertise or qualifications to solve all of the worlds problems (who does?) I can't even fix the community that I am in.
Let's face it, I'm lucky when I fix the computer when it crashes.

But I do have the expertise or qualifications to help these students be inspired to make a difference for themselves, their community, and the world. At that moment, I realized that what kids need is for someone to catch those golden moments where a child knows what is right and seize it. If she sees the impact that one statement can have and did have on me, then she will make more of them, and hopefully one day follow them through with action.

It's pretty crazy to me that so many highly educated and successful people look at communities like this and only see it as somewhere the needs their help, or people that can't help themselves. I think it's incredible that the very people that are up against every obstacle in the world are still asking:
 How can I help?

I can tell you, that when I feel like life is up against me, I am way more likely to say:

 "Do you see what I'm dealing with? Figure it out yourself!"

  And my hardships are definitely minor in comparison.

I guess this is one of those situations where I amazed by the people in my life, and need to take a step back to be inspired and be thankful for the blessings I have.

Cliche, but remember the saying: 'when life hands you a lemon, make lemonade?'

Hopefully this lemon can turn into lemonade.

Maybe this is room for us to work with the students to make this a project, how can they help make this right? 

What can they do to help take ownership of the playground, the facility, and their community?

Maybe this is room for me to learn from the kids, the work, and the community I interact with every day.

Kids are amazing. It's a shame they don't get more credit.