Alright everyone... I'm going to try to make this brief ... But to be honest, I could go on for hours about the last two schools we've been in! But I will try my best to summarize :)
So yesterday (Thursday) we were in an elementary school in Hamilton called Cardinal Heights. There were a few complications with this school. For starters, there was no direct ramp going into the gym, so we had to carry all our gear up about 5 steps to get it all in! Then, once we got into the school and laid eyes on the gym, our jaws dropped. This was probably the smallest gymnasium I had ever seen in any elementary school anywhere, and we had to fit 300 students in it, as well as our whole stage. Needless to say, we were pretty rattled, bummed, frustrated, annoyed, etc! However, all our emotions changed very quickly after hearing what the principal had to say about the school. She told us that this particular school was very impoverished. The kids come from homes that sometimes don't have much money or don't have very supportive parents. She told us that most of the kids have lost hope, and a great number of them stopped coming to school altogether last year. She then went on to say how she wanted to see a change in the school this year, and she had faith that we could start the change right then and there. That was enough motivation for us right there to get everything set up and start the show in no time!!! And, as if we weren't excited enough already... The principal brought us in two large boxes of donuts and two big bags of cookies all from Timmies and also informed us that they would be providing pizza for us for lunch!! Wow :)
The show went soooooo well! The kids were so responsive to everything! Cutest thing of life: While I'm in the middle of my monologue, still pretending to be Anna, I say a line that goes "They sent me away because they didn't love me!" and one little boy yelled out: "I love you!" and the whole gym started laughing! Soooo funny! lol. The principal gave us time to walk around from class to class and mingle with the kids. They all wanted autographs and pictures with us. I never expected to be looked at so highly!! One little girl said to her friend as I was signing my autograph for her: "I'm going to go home and tell my mommy that i met famous people today!" ... I thought to myself... I'm famous?? what???? We've all decided that after each show, we're going to have to all hit each other to make sure we all bounce back into the real world where we're all just normal people again! hahaha .
Todays' school was very similar except it seemed to be in a higher class neighborhood. The principal at today's school let us hangout with the kids outside at lunch and actually extended their lunch hour for us because the kids were having so much fun! We got to talk with kids who opened up to us about our stories and began to share their own personal stories with us as well. There were 500 kids there today and i'm pretty sure at least 80% of them got all of our autographs... Needless to say, my handwriting got pretty messy near the end! We also got fed at this school as well and got free gifts of water bottles!
This trip is already proving to be so rewarding for me. I never thought that my life could touch so many people! We are all quickly learning that kids watch everything you do and you become their role model. It's amazing to realize how much of an impact you can have in a kid's life by simply living differently than everyone else, and caring about them. One of the easiest things to do is to ask a kid their name. And to them, it means the world. One of the most motivating things to hear from a kid is "I want to be just like you when I'm older". It's then that you realize that you're on the right track. You begin to understand the movement you're starting.
Now, I am not perfect, and I make that clear to the kids I speak with. But knowing that they look up to me and watch my every movement for the couple hours I'm with them, inspires me to continue to live different... with every step I take, and every word I speak, I am chosing to live different.
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