Easley 1

I was nervous to think about jumping into the after school program without knowing much about it. But the experience I had in just one visit was amazing! The kids were done with their home work when I got there, so I played basketball with some 8-9 year old girls. After 5 minutes of shooting, two of the girls grabbed my hands and said "Can we play with your hair?" They marveled over the color and texture of my hair while playing "salon." A bunch of kids came up to them while they were "fixing" my hair and asked if they could feel it. It was adorable! I was the only white person in the vicinity for the whole hour, so it was a little bit intimidating to me at first (although I'm not sure why). The girls then played "school" and they were my "teachers." While we played, they gave me "spelling tests" and "reading assignments". I was able to help them with their spelling and math while we played. They loved my name, asked me if I knew the other girls in the class who had already visited, asked if we could be friends, wondered when I would come back, and just stared at me for long periods of time. These kids want companionship and crave learning and discipline as much as attention. I can't wait to go back!