"You have too much food" - African refugee boy

Both children reminded me why I wanted to teach.

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I was startled. No, offended. You mean my thrown-together plastic baggies and sack lunch was too much?

How dare he assume such as he clutched his bag of Cheez-Its.

"what about your food there?" I pointed to his modest snack.

He countered back with the same question.

There's no denying the fact. Comparatively, I DID have too much food. Think of that. I traveled two hours and paid 150+ dollars to help people... yet when I arrived, I refused to help.

Just when I was about to give in to his guilt-trip, Caleb saved the day and gave the boy a slice of pizza.

The African boy and his cousins said many wild things our first day.

"are you married?"

"how much are they paying you?"

"I worked hard, when will you pay me?" (after dirtying the donated clothes and "playing" the piano)

And my favorite? "You lie."

Sheryl, who spoke Swahili with them, also admits they're a difficult set of kids. Still, I shouldn't have given him a cold shoulder.

In a perfect world, I would have knelt beside him and said, "Ask nicely please," before giving him my leftover pizza. I would have given him tools for effective communication.

In that moment, I wish my teacher mindset showed itself. I wish I was more generous.

But we're not in a perfect world.

Before I went to bed that night, I prayed God wouldn't let me develop this cold shoulder.

---

Her little five-year-old arms dusted the refugee center which didn't need to be dusted, at least not with all the gunk we spent two days wiping down. After watching her wave her duster for a few minutes, I paused my brooming and handed her my dustpan.

"Hold it here," I said gently.

It didn't take long for her to exclaim, "I can do it!"

She really did.

---

Both children reminded me why I love learning.