Some of you may be familiar with the song, "Walk it out", some of you may not. Regardless whether or not you know the song, hears the literal meaning of what it means to 'walk it out'.
Honestly, there is alot of buildup and sequence of events that lead up to this story, but I'll do my best to limit my wordiness.
Towards the beginning of the school year Ron, Chandy and I (through answered prayer and divine intervention) were asked if we would like to go to Taft Jr. High during the lunch period to participate in an activity called, "Impact". There are 3 different lunch sessions, one for each of the grades 6th, 7th and 8th. During each session we would go throughout the halls and lunchroom handing out passes to students who wanted free pizza and an opportunity to get out of the stinky lunchroom (no offense lunch ladies). During the mad scramble of kids fighting over pizza we would find a 10 or 15 minute gap for a small message to be delivered and offer prayer over the entire assembly, as well as to any individual wanting some 1v1 time. We were located in the gym during this time primarily because it was a large area and had seating for everyone in the bleachers. Because of our location I was able to meet one of the P.E. teachers, who also coaches the boys basketball team.
After a few weeks of talking to him and learning that he had to organize and select 12 kids from a group of 70 who were trying out I figured I would ask if he needed any help. He did.
Several weeks later, after tryout selections, morning practices and some bumps along the way, we have 9 players(due to grades and failure to attend practice) and are 4-0.
Two weeks ago after a home game one of our players, "Joe", asked me if I could give him a ride home. I gladly agreed. As we walked to my car I asked Joe were he lived. He informed me he lived on the northeast side of town, which seemed unusual because his school, Taft, is located on the northwest side of town. While driving to his house we had a good 20 minutes to chat. Joe was, to my surprise, relatively talkative. He informed me that his foster mom wasn't able to pick him up that night because she had some prior engagement. Which meant he would have to catch a ride home. He went on to tell me how he had been living with his foster mom for about three months now. Prior to living with his foster mom he, his two brothers and his mom lived in an apartment but were being evicted. A few days before he and his family could move into a new house their mom had "bought"(who knows the actual sequence of events and validity of the story)they had to find somewhere else to stay. Joe described their situation by saying that because they don't have any family or relatives in OKC they were "kinda homeless" or "on the streets" for a few days. I guess their family/mom has been in some trouble or has a history with DHS because once their case worker discovered this the kids were immediately taken from her(for good reason, as far as I'm concerned, but that's def. not my call).
Since that time, Joe and his two brothers have been living with their foster mom on the northeast side of town. Before dropping Joe off at his foster moms' house here is what I learned was his typical day.
5:30 - wake up, take a shower and get to bus stop by 6:00
6:00 - endure the city-bus stop and go experience until he arrives at the closest bus stop to Taft around 7:20-7:30 (usually closer to 7:30 because practice starts at 7:30 and he is usually late)
7:30-9:00 - basketball practice
9:00-3:35 - school
3:35-8:00 - on game day, take bus to game, watch girls game and maybe do some homework, play in guys game, then, take bus back to school and figure out a way to get home
I learned all of this two weeks ago. This past Monday we had a game on the southeast side of OKC. The guys' games start at 6 so I leave straight from work at 5 and meet the team at the game. After the game I asked Joe how he was getting home. He didn't seem very worried about it as he told me he was taking the bus. I figured that was a reasonable option as I got in my car. I thought to myself, he's taking the school bus back to school and then the city bus back to his foster mom's house. Or wait, maybe he is taking the school bus back to school and then his foster mom is picking him up at the school...
Turns out, Joe took the school bus back to school and then walked home.
He walked from northwest 23rd and Penn all the way to the northeast side of OKC, that's a couple miles east of I-35. That's a twenty minute drive. He did this at 9:00 at night, which means he probably didn't get home until, around, 10:45 or 11:00. He's in 8th grade.
After hashing out how we address this unbelievable occurrence and how to avoid it happening in the future, coach and I questioned Joe about it. The thing that got me the most about this whole event was that when we talked to Joe about it, he acted like it wasn't a big deal at all. Who knows how many times he has walked that same trip. There are so many things to consider, to question and thoughts that come to mind about this story, but the bottom line is, this shouldn't happen. Coach and I are going to do the best we can to make sure that it doesn't happen again.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me next time. We live right there and would be more than glad to take him home. Tell me when & where and we'll be there in a heart beat.
ReplyDeleteSociety is a bit dysfunctional about this issue. We are very protective about our kids in school these days. Schools are monitored to make sure that any adult that is there actually belongs there. Kids are not allowed to wander on and off campus during the class day. Teachers and schoolbus drivers are more and more often vetted and background checked. We're horrified when we here a story about a schoolbus driver letting a child off at the wrong place. But the public city busses as part of the system for getting kids to and from school? No big deal. Hey, we can start vetting and background checking everyone that gets on and off these public city busses. Or that hangs around the bus stops and the downtown transit station. No problem.
ReplyDeleteThat's not what I am suggesting. But rather what I am trying to do is bring to light an issue or lifestyle that this kid has to live out and how ridiculous his circumstances are.
ReplyDeleteThen maybe, just maybe, someone might be enlightened and be spurred into action to give this kid a helping hand or a break, which he hasn't gotten many of during his lifetime.
Meanwhile you can keep using my blog as your persoanl mockery board.
Sometimes I hate this online text format. What I mean comes out completely different from what I type. I meant no mockery whatsoever, Luke. I think it's admirable what you are doing for this child, and the lives of all the children you interact with. For a short time I was without transportation to and from work and had to take the public city busses through the downtown transit center. I had to leave early enough in the morning to get to work on time that I wound up at the transit center at the same time that a number of school age children arrived at the transit center and waited to catch the same bus I did to the stop where they got off and walked the rest of the way to their school. I was shocked that so many elementary age and middle school age children were dependent on this system for unsupervised transportation to and from school. Your post reminded me of this and was in no way meant to mock you or your efforts to follow God's lead in your ministry. I'll stop posting on your blog. You have enough on your plate without trying to interpret my weird sense of prose.
ReplyDeleteIn no way am I trying to discourage you from posting on my blog. The problem is because of my work and the pain I see alot of these kids endure I tend to be a little sensitive and protective, which lead to my mis-interpretation.
ReplyDeleteWhen you wrote, "But the public city busses as part of the system for getting kids to and from school? No big deal. Hey, we can start vetting and background checking everyone that gets on and off these public city busses. Or that hangs around the bus stops and the downtown transit station. No problem", I felt like this really might be a pretty big ordeal to even begin to plan. So, because of this I thought you were suggesting it's not the city's fault this kid has to walk, regardless of distance, so basically I needed to quit my whining. Which based on your last post, isn't the case.
Again, I hope you will continue to participate and give your thoughts on each of our blogs. Your ideas and thoughts are appreciated.
A couple of decades ago, I lived in downtown Los Angeles skid row. I spent some time on a discipleship program at the Union Rescue mission working the desk in the chapel where homeless men came to sleep in the chairs at night, and families came to listen to the service before filing into the dining hall for the meals. Parents that lived in the skid row welfare hotels often brought their children there for meals. I'll never forget the horror stories I saw in the eyes of some of those children. The fact that you tend to be sensitive for and protective of the kids you work with is perfectly understandable. And very admirable. Keep up the good fight!
ReplyDelete