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Editor’s Note: This story was written by Jenny Robey, a Mennonite Voluntary Service worker in San Antonio, Texas. She currently is serving at InnerCity Development in a home-schooling cooperative. Originally from Keezletown, Va., Jenny filed this as a quarterly report to Mennonite Mission Network on her activities with MVS. SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Mennonite Mission Network) – Drugs, alcohol, abuse, neglect, fighting, feelings of worthlessness and despair never entered my mind when I started my new life in the sixth grade. Instead, I worried that I wouldn’t have a lot of friends or be in the “in-crowd.” The first day of school that year I fretted over which shade of stirrup pants coordinated best with my long, flower-printed sweater. My biggest fear was the looming question of what we were having for lunch. My teachers and parents helped me to recognize the importance of an education. They helped me to know that it was vital for me to succeed in this challenge so that I could have other opportunities for enrichment later in life. When the challenges seemed overwhelming, my parents and teachers reminded me that I was going to be successful and that I could overcome any difficulty. People believed in me! I had many goals and dreams and I knew that I would accomplish them. I had shatterproof hope for my future. Hundreds of miles away from my middle school, the promise of another kind of shatterproof hope entered unseen into my world. That hope took the shape of 11 new youngsters, each placed amid pollution, crime and hate. Their worries and struggles were not clothes or school lunches; they were dodging gang violence and trying to meet the basic needs of life. Hope becomes muddled when drugs become an escape from a dismal world. Hope diminishes when a child’s grandfather tries to shoot him to steal his mother’s money. Hope tarnishes each day when children act more responsible than their lone alcoholic parent. Hope seems to disappear when they look at where they live and think that they’ll never have opportunities to make it “out of here.” As I come to know the kids I work with, I fear that hope is dead in their lives. I can’t help but compare my middle-school years with theirs and wonder how they’ve made it this far. I think to myself, “What an impossible task it seems to talk about hope amid drugs, alcohol, abuse, neglect, fighting, feelings of worthlessness and despair.” And then I am reminded... Romans 5:3-5, “...but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit...” Yes, these children face many difficulties. Yes, they have suffered. But there is hope! I feel so privileged to be working at a place were I can recognize this special kind of hope each child possesses. Inner City Home School offers this reminder of bold hope; like sprouts of new life and air heavy with the scent of blooms, the things that remind us of the first day of spring. Each day the children are reminded how special they are to us. They know they are important and valued by us and society. Each day they remember that they can persevere in any struggle. They know that they can accomplish their goals and dreams. Each day they are believed in, encouraged, supported, and most importantly, LOVED! Perseverance produces character; character, hope; and hope does not disappoint them, because God has poured out his love into their hearts. Jenny Robey |
