Friday, August 20, 2010

This is gonna be so cool!

I've made it through week two! I got a much clearer picture this week of what I'll actually be doing throughout the year with SOURCE, and I got to meet more of the people I'll be serving! My conclusion: this year is going to rock, literally at some points. I went out to Pooler, Georgia today to meet the 3 guys that I'll be visiting every Tuesday and Thursday. They are 16, 22 and 23 and they all have cerebral palsy. I went to the youngest one's house and he is one of the coolest people I've met so far in Georgia. Within 2 minutes of walking in the door we were both rocking out on the guitar and he was belting out one of his favorite songs. I was soon inducted as a band member. Talk about a cool introduction. He was so excited to have a guy around to hang out with because he just has his mom, sister and nurse at home. I was excited to hang out with a guy too, I mean nothing against my wonderful community members (we're getting along fantastically!) but sometimes I just want to hang out with some dudes. He kept asking me if I'd be back on Tuesday, he was so excited. I can honestly say I was thrilled as well. He loves to go outside too, so hopefully I can help him get out and do more.

So on to my fellow 22 year old. He lives in a personal care home which very much resembles a nursing home because he is the only one there under 65. I'm not sure what happened with his family but whatever it was, he's kinda on his own now. Evidently, he's been asking about me for the past month because he's also excited to have a new buddy around. I also want to help him connect with people his own age and get out of the care home a little bit. So that will be my goal. He also LOVES video games and we already have it set up to play some Playstation when I go back on Tuesday. I'm excited.

The 23 year old (sorry - I'm hesitant to use any names with all the training I just went through about confidentiality) has significantly less communication ability so it was harder for me to understand how he felt about me being there, but from what his mom was saying he was very happy to meet me. She said he's just thrilled for anyone to sit down and talk to him. He can understand what is going on around him, it's just hard for him to communicate. His mom also said that he loves to go outside and go on the computer too. So I'll be able to help him do more of those kinds of things.

So basically, my Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be awesome! I've also spent more time down in the Adult Day Center at the Georgia Infirmary and spent all day yesterday listening to a woman's life story. It was amazing. The things she has been through and the experiences she has had - I can't even imagine. It was struggle after struggle - heartbreak after heartbreak, and here she was the brightest shining smiling face in the room. It was truly amazing. I took notes as best I could and typed them up for her - she wants to put together a book to save for her grandchildren. I am so happy that I am able to get to know these people and even now I'm a little anxious about having to up and leave them in a year. 

Apart from work, it looks like we might be headed to the beach tomorrow --->
So that's exciting - hope it doesn't rain. I also found out about pick up games of ultimate frisbee and soccer a few nights a week down at Forsyth Park so I will definitely be taking advantage of that in the future. 

I hope everyone is doing well, and be sure to drop me a line every now and then!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Hello Savannah!


I have been in Savannah for a week and finally got around to starting my blog. It has been a crazy busy week and I'm very much enjoying sitting down and unwinding today. In case any of you haven't heard and are wondering why the heck I'm in Savannah, Georgia, I am spending the next year here as a member of the Mercy Volunteer Corps. I am serving as a community outreach coordinator with the St. Joseph Candler SOURCE Program here in Savannah. In a nutshell, SOURCE works for disabled and/or elderly people who are living independently or wish to live independently soon. This is an effort to keep these people a part of their community rather than confining them to a nursing home or group home unless it is absolutely necessary. So SOURCE makes sure that these people's needs are met, that they're seeing their doctors, taking their meds, getting enough food, etc. We also have an adult day center where SOURCE clients can come for the day to allow their care givers at home some time to work, run errands and take care of themselves. My job is to help each person that I work with connect with the community. I spend a good deal of time getting to know each person - their likes, dislikes, passions and desires. Then I try to find ways for them to experience a feeling of community with others who may have similar likes or passions, all while making sure their needs are met. I starting to learn that this process is going to look very different with each person. I might help some people find a job, learn how to ride the bus, write a blog, or just be around as someone to listen to them and make sure they know they're not forgotten.

I started work on Wednesday, and I've already seen things I've never seen before and been challenged in new ways. I learned that one of my clients is deaf, and that I will be learning sign language. After learning that she was unable to procure any food for the remainder of the month due to financial misunderstandings, I was able to get together some food for her with the help of my community member Linda who works at the food pantry. When I went to drop off the food, I was met with the warmest smile and the most sincere gratitude I have ever seen. She couldn't talk to tell me how much she appreciated it but I could see it in her eyes. That's enough to make any day a good day. I'm also progressing in sign language! I know the alphabet and some other basic signs. I'll have classes starting next week, too. I also met one of my clients who has had a unbelievably hard life. She kept asking me if I was quitting soon, if I was going to leave her. It made me so sad to realize that she was used to that and came to expect it. Anyone who comes around and seems nice will soon leave and forget about you. Then I went out into the country, rural Georgia. I saw poverty like I hadn't seen before. I don't mean worse, but different. I've seen extreme poverty in the city and homelessness. Not to detract from those peoples' sufferings in the least, but there are some resources to help them in the cities - shelters, food banks, hospitals. Out here there was nothing but dirt roads and the occasional vulture flying by. I got the feeling that my boss and I were the first visitors in quite some time. My first stop was at a seemingly half deserted trailer park in the middle of nowhere with a very isolated community. There was a history of inbreeding with this community, dating back a couple of centuries. The result is the current population, most of whom have severe physical and mental disabilities. One woman I met was very short, maybe 4 foot 6, and mentally handicapped, but was the brightest shining face that I saw the whole day. We were there to check up on them and make sure they had enough to get by. When we were about to leave she got up, gave me a hug and said she loved me. She was so happy that we took the time to come by and chat with her for a while. I reminded her that it's always a good idea to pray, she said a prayer for us before we left. I couldn't understand everything that she said but the intent was clear, and it about broke my heart to see this woman who was so disadvantaged in life and had so little pray for us. Then we had about 7 or 8 other visits that day, each one offering a different and moving experience. That's only a small taste of my first three days, so I can already see that this year will have no shortage of memorable moments and forging new relationships.

In addition to work, I have been loving Savannah itself. It is more beautiful than the pictures I saw beforehand and I am so excited to spend the year here. I don't expect the drive to work, under a canopy of oak trees and spanish moss with the morning sun shining through in spaces, to get old anytime soon. We explored river street and saw Savannah in all its tourist glory. My favorite moment so far just might be getting cut off by a car who didn't know how to drive in the squares (they're treated as roundabouts), noticing the Virginia plates, and muttering something about "stupid tourists...". That was on day two. We went to Mass at the cathedral downtown which is absolutely beautiful and even saw Paula Dean's restaurant. Not that I really know anything about Paula Dean, but down here I guess she's a big deal. Besides that, I've been settling into our new home with my wonderful community members. We were planning on going to the beach today, but it decided to thunderstorm so we spent the day cleaning instead! Haha, not quite as much fun but it feels good to have the place spic and span. But Linda, Carla, Regina and I are all getting along extremely well and this place is starting to feel a little more like home each day. 

If you want to see pictures, I may put a few up here, but you can check out a whole bunch more on my facebook. Sorry for writing a book for my first post, but I had a busy week to catch up on! I hope everyone is doing well and I miss all my family and friends!