Last week I surprised everyone by coming back a month early. While those closest to me hate to ask, those that casually know me always interject a "So when do you go back?" For those that hate that question, it's more of an undesired event: my departure. However, for me personally, I view it as something beautiful. Not necessarily excited. Not necessarily exciting, though it can be. Mostly just pure beauty.
For the past two years I have lived in Ethiopia. Part of that time I was doing more photo-journalistic work, taking photos to update one organization's sponsorship booklet as well as writing a short essay on their story. But the majority of my time spent in Ethiopia was spent setting roots as well as introducing myself to the way of teaching. I began spending time with my sponsor kid at the beginning and now have become part of the family, learning the language and culture, as well as just living life with them.
I also joined the
Unforgotten Faces team as a volunteer. I started more as a general "walk-around" tutor, helping the kids with English and Mathematics. Once I got the language a little more under my belt, I began to take whole classes and tutor on English the topics they were studying in school. Just as I was getting ready to leave I began to teach my own curriculum using the materials I had on hand. I would take a small group at a time and teach either reading, early phonics, or basic grammar and conversational English.
That beginning time in Ethiopia really gave me the opportunity to grow and find myself, or at least begin to discover my identity. I find myself more of a helper-type personality. I love to help people. As I've moved across the globe, my form of helping has changed drastically. I like to help people on an emotional, spiritual level. Helping people find peace and know themselves. However, due to a huge language barrier, that has been forced to come to a basic level of emotional help. The emotional support given in friendship or as someone who doesn't treat the person like everyone else does. As my language develops, so will my pathways to pursuing that part of who I am. At this time, my help has become more holistic, which I neither regret nor despise. I teach English. I tutor Math. In the process I might offer advice or show love or concern. But those things aren't my focal points right now. English in a developing country is a very marketable skill. If a child can learn English now while he or she is in school, then university will be that much easier and finding a good job will be almost endless. Then their lives in the future will fruitful. And I will, in that moment, have helped them at a level beyond merely holistic for their lives and perspectives will be changed.
So when I go back at the end of the summer, I will pour my heart out all the more teaching those children English. I will create a teaching atmosphere in which they can learn. I will officially begin my life as an English Teacher to students of a different language. I will begin to mold the future of a handful of students as they learn English. And that is beautiful. Not that I am the tapestry, but rather I am a thread being woven into the tapestry of life. More precisely, I am a thread being woven into the tapestry of the life of each of my students. I am not the weaver, I am not the tapestry. But I can change the way the tapestry looks from here on out. Not drastically. But slightly. A change in hues. A shift in rotation. A break in color.
And you can bring me to the loom. You, too, can invest in the tapestries of life. I am volunteering with Unforgotten Faces. They do not pay me. I have no other job from which an income flows in. I am living off of the generosity of people like you. Therefore, while I may be a thread woven into their tapestries of life, I will eventually run out. But that is where you come in. By your gifts of love, by your thoughts, by your donations I can continue teaching.
If you want to help out, take a look at the "How You Can Help" tab. In there you can find a list of different things for which I am raising money. Concisely: plane ticket, healthcare, living. Check out, also, the "About" tab for more information not covered in this post. Additionally, I will continue to keep my "Child Highlight" tab open. I intended to use it more often. This time, I will highlight one of my students, showing how he/she has grown as a student or even as a person. It might not be frequent, but I will make a blog entry notifying when I update it, so keep an eye out!
Thank you for your help, support, and thoughts!
Kevin Barrick
kevinmbarrick@gmail.com
