Crossroads

You know, I don't really think of myself as a writer.  I mean, I like to write, and I write often, but I have never been trained at writing and I don't believe I write all that well.  That being said, I have something today that I feel I HAVE to share, and writing is a means for me to do that.  I want to write about this thing today because it's important; it's not just the moments in life that I have found funny, or the experiences I've had while traveling. Today I write with a much heavier heart, and I really hope you stick around to see why.

This afternoon, at my new school in Dongguan, we participated in a poverty simulation. Before I tell you about what that was, and what it meant to me, I have to explain first why we would do such a thing. I also need to express that, while I'm sitting here typing, I have a knot in my stomach from our earlier session and I have a pressure in my chest from the emotions I felt come out of that session, not just my own, but from everyone that was involved.  I have also already shed a few tears and I'm positive that by the time I finish this blog, I'll have shed many more.

Before I took my job at ISD, I felt very drawn to the school. Actually, it was one evening in my kitchen in Charleston, SC that I read ISD's mission statement and began to cry.  I knew that my mission as a teacher aligned with ISD's perfectly.  Essentially, I believe it is my job to educate children in the core subjects, but more importantly, it's to educate them to become lifelong learners. Along with this comes the idea that students should become better global citizens, and in doing so inspire one another to make the world a better place.  This may sound like a Miss America pageant answer to her final question, "World Peace," but honestly, it IS something that is attainable.

ISD is a school that is based upon certain standards and beliefs.  Some of those beliefs align with the International Baccalaureate program's mission:

"The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect."

Today at ISD, teachers had the privilege of working with David Begbie of Crossroads Foundation.   Because I'm not a writer and I don't necessarily have the words to share EXACTLY what was felt in the room today during our time with David, I ask that you bear with me, that you open your heart, and that you really try to understand what happened and what it means.  I'll also say though, that if you EVER have the chance to work with Crossroads, you take it. There is nothing I have ever experienced quite like what I experienced today.

At 12:00 this afternoon, the faculty at the International School of Dongguan gathered in the gymnasium on campus. We were briefly introduced to David Begbie of Crossroads Foundation.  David began telling his story of how he became involved with community outreach and humanitarian work.  Then he told us about the work he'd done with some big wig companies and people such as Microsoft and Sir Richard Branson.  He made a point, however, to let us know that, at the school level, we had one of the most important jobs when it comes to "fixing" the world.  He wanted us to see what he does with these big wig companies as well as students to help us all get the bigger picture, that money isn't the only way to help people in poverty. He wanted us to experience what some people suffer through every day.  Crossroads' website quotes an old proverb, "I can't understand a man unless I walk a mile in his shoes."  Using this philosophy, the "X-periential simulations of need" were created.  Today, we at ISD participated in the poverty simulation.

We were briefly shown a demonstration (twice) of how to make paper bags out of newspaper.  We were shown how to glue them together using a mixture of flour and water and our fingers as a brush.  We were divided into "families" of five and told that we would have ten minutes to make as many bags as possible. We would have to sell our bags, ten at a time, to the shopkeepers in order to make our rent and food money for the week.  Rent would be 180 and food and water would be 100.  If we chose to have bathroom facilities, that would be another 30.

The simulation began with Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" blaring on the radio.   The shopkeepers and the landlord raced around the room screaming at us.  After my family made our first ten bags, I went, groveling on my knees, to the shopkeeper and asked, rather begged, for him to purchase them.  He explicitly showed his disgust with our product by ripping them all into shreds.  I raced back to the family feeling slightly defeated, but we kept on folding.  After our first ten minutes were up, we hadn't made a lot of money, not enough to cover rent AND food and water, but the landlord was "gracious" and allowed us to stay in our home with minimal nutrition because one of us offered up a piece of jewelry.

During the second rotation of our bag making, we were told that two of our family members had measles and so they wouldn't be able to participate.  During the first round, a free clinic had been offered, but we were so involved with our work, we didn't hear the announcement.  Once we paid for their medication, they joined us in bag making again.  In this round, when I asked a shopkeeper to buy our bags, she told me to fan her, then she asked for a kidney.  She said she would pay good money for the organ, 200.  One of my family members pretended to donate a kidney, then gave her arm. Working with her foot and one hand, she kept on producing bags.  Later in that simulation, the same girl was asked to have sex, so she was paid more money.  All of the money would go towards the family, towards the rent, the food, the water, the hope for a better future.

By the middle of the second simulation, I was shaking and nauseous.  One of my other family members thought she would burst into tears.  These were our REAL emotions, despite the make-believe setting in which we were working.  The second ten minutes ended.  We had food and water, we had rent.  Because I was so humble when I took the landlord our rent, and because I gave him a "hug," we actually didn't have to pay full rent that time.  We had a little leftover money, but not enough to send a child to school. That would cost 500, and that was our dream.

When the third round was about to begin, we were reminded about the option for bathroom facilities and how no one from our family had taken advantage of this.  Because we had not, we would have FOUR family members sick for two minutes at the start of the timer.  Our food had been contaminated with waste.

The third ten minutes finally ended, and by this time I had sold my bracelet, my watch, and my grandmother's ring, along with the "hug" to the landlord. My family members had all done the same or similar. We had survived, but we certainly hadn't thrived. Our main goal, to send a child to school, had never been reached.  We would never be able to break the cycle of our poverty at the rate we were going.

After the simulation, we took a few minutes to debrief, and David shared with us ways in which we could help.  He didn't ask for money; that was NEVER a question today.  He shared with us ways that WE can TEACH OUR CHILDREN to be aware of this type of living environment so they can help stop it.  He showed us how we can inspire people, not just adults, to "engage with global issues to make a difference."  He explained that doing charity work is great, but that it must be "sustainable" help.  We must break the cycle of poverty.  Although this was just a "game" to us, a setting in which we could play "poor," it became something much larger today.  This was the intended purpose after all.

I can not begin to describe the emotions I felt in that gymnasium this afternoon.  I can use the words my colleagues shared to depict their feelings, but I don't think you'll truly understand unless you participate in something like this, or God forbid, ever live in an environment like the one that we imitated.   Downtrodden, heartbroken, unworthy, miserable, distressed...they're all words to portray how we felt today, but honestly, they don't even tip the iceberg of our emotions.

Please, please, do your research on Crossroads...use the simulation if you can, and begin to think globally.  I do believe we can make the world a better place...it's not just a dream; together, we can make it a reality.