Our Shari Prestemon Social Justice Interns have graciously agreed to share some of their journal entries so that you can hear about the experience they’re having at Back Bay Mission! You can read a journal entry by Diarra Molock below.
It’s finally the end of the first week. So many things have happened thus far. We’ve been to a couple of meetings. We’ve worked with a couple of different programs including the food pantry and the Micah Day Center. Of all the things we’ve done this week, today has been the most interesting for me. A couple of days ago, Bethany, Mr. Kenny Washington and I attended a Neighborhood Viability committee meeting where we discussed things going on in East Biloxi. One of the members discussed her plans for a Father’s Day event she was spearheading at a community center in a nearby neighborhood. She needed volunteer workers to help her set up and take down for the event and Bethany and I decided to volunteer.
I wasn’t sure how things would go because working with low income children is much different from working with poor and homeless adults. Most of the homeless people we work every day are pretty certain about who they are, where they are, and how they got there. Most of the people we serve everyday are very humble and grateful and don’t mind telling you their stories. Children on the other hand, while also very honest about their situations, often do not understand why they are in their situations. I quickly got over my anxiety of working with children when I saw their smiling faces coming through the doors of the community center wanting to help set up. Bethany and I were instructed to help put up decorations, set up food, blow up balloons, and build an obstacle course for the children. The community center was putting on a Father’s Day celebration by setting up fun activities for the children in the neighborhood and putting on a barbeque.
There were plenty of children present, mostly between the ages of four and twelve. There were also some teenagers and about a handful of adults. After the kids came in from playing outside, a local pastor as the guest speaker gave a small sermon for the children. I have never been surrounded by such a large number of people, nonetheless children who did not have fathers in their lives. I grew up in a predominantly black middle class neighborhood where almost every child had a two parent household. Growing up I always knew about the stereotypes of the black family but I generally ignored them because I could take advantage of the fact that one parent households was not common where I grew up. Yet here I was standing in front of at least black children where less than half of them had fathers in their lives. Of course I realized that fatherless households exist all over the country, but hearing about them and seeing the impact are two completely different things. I honestly believe that this is the first time I called my father on Father’s Day and sincerely thanked him for being in my life.
