A Good Lead

A Good Lead
by Shirley Ann Kinsey

“Christian! Yo recuerdo que tu eres un buen lider!” On my first trip to Dorcas House in November, Christian, age 10, led 11 adults and 28 children on a two-mile trek to the nearest park. Assigned to the head of the line with him, I had been impressed by his leadership abilities.
It was now December, a Monday morning. We – four Seattle-area teachers and two San Diegans – entered through the Dorcas House rusty green gate pulling suitcases full of supplies. Christian flashed his winning smile at me as I greeted him with a side hug and the compliment.
The children’s eyes sparkled as they offered hugs and excitement. Sylvia, the director, had divided the children into four groups, and we set up four stations: a music station led by Monique Caron, a tie-dye-shirt station directed by Gayla Boast and Linda Mattoon, a painting station supervised by Sharon Fabrizio, and a journal/vocabulary-puzzle station led by me. Claudia Arellano, a bilingual volunteer, floated from station to station to give directions and help us understand the children.
At my station, set up inside next to lace curtains and bookshelves, the children hugged the colorful heart-striped journals to their chests as if to say don’t take this back. Victor explained that we would write in them today then put them away and write more in the coming days. They belong to you, he assured the children. And he told them how they can write about their lives and feelings.
Each child wrote their name, address, and phone number inside the cover. Some children wrote stories; others drew pictures and labeled them.
Every 30 minutes the groups of children switched to a different station. They danced, painted, made shirts, pieced together puzzles, colored.
Our reliable taxi driver, Rafael, who we affectionately dubbed Mr. Mouse because he told us that the other taxi drivers call him Mouse, arrived 15 minutes early to fetch us. We cleaned up, gave goodbye hugs, and waved: “Hasta manana!” Cramming six into one taxi for the return trip to the border, we all commented on Sylvia and Victor, how wonderful they are to work with, how calm and caring they are with the children of Dorcas House.
On the following days David Brummitt joined us. Legos, Connect 4, Tangoes, sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, bird-house building, a huge solar-system puzzle, and many other activities kept us all happy. Almost. The youngest children, when asked to work together on the 48-piece puzzle, fought over pieces and hoarded some. With kind patience, Sylvia encouraged them to work together and share. I divided up the pieces equally among them, and after a few more struggles, we all stood back and admired the beauty of our solar system in giant puzzle form. Sylvia taught us the Spanish names for the planets.
On our last day, Sylvia offered us lunch. Christian invited me to sit with him. He wore his red, black, and white tie-dye t-shirt with RAW written in large red letters at the bottom. All smiles and enthusiasm, we counted to 100 in Spanish together and to ten in English. I pray that Christian will stay at this house and become a leader for goodness in his world.
We Seattleites wish to thank Calvin Johnson and Donna Perdue, leaders for goodness on our side of the border, for making this trip possible by sharing their lovely home with us. Their generosity to us and the children of Dorcas House amazes and inspires us.
And as we saw with our own eyes, this is a home worth supporting, a home where children’s needs are truly met.

“Where are you?
Do you know that the heart has a dungeon?
Bring light! Bring light!”
by Mary Oliver