okay this one is getting posted a bit late, sorry guys i wrote it earlier this week but haven't been able to get around to editing and posting it.
First off I'd like dedicate this to Ivy, for her huge heart and for always being present with me your an amazing woman and I feel honored to call you a friend!! Just to let you guys know what she did, she listen, stored, then acted through her heart when an opportunity came up for me and my mentee!!
I told her about some of the interests of my Mentee ice skating being one of them, well it just so happens that Ivy being so present remembered this and when she found out her Dad could possibly get VIP tickets to the world championships of figure skating, she asked me if I would be interests, hell yea i replied:-) I was so touched that firstly she remembered this and secondly that she thought of me and how much my mentee would enjoy this opportunity so thank you miss Ivy, Thank you for getting the tickets and thank you for being you!!
So for those of you that dont know what a Mentee is or what this is about. About 2 months ago I became a mentor, the program is for at risk youth in middle school. My Mentee's this breath of fresh air, energetic, funny, full of light little 12 year old named Yasmine. When first meeting her I instantly loved her and after completing a somewhat "speed dating" process of trying to match mentors to the children (mentees) we were asked to write down our top 3 choices of whom we wanted to be paired with.
Yasmine and I chose each other as number one!! I think we were the only ones to choose the other as number one. I believe in life there are no coincidences there is no doubt that Yasmine is a blessing to my life in every way and who would have thought I would be a mentor to someone who smiles as much as I do:-)
I really wanted to share this experience with all of you because being a mentor it is a part of my life which is new and very exciting and it is defiantly deepening my awareness of the realities of what's really happening in our society.
Being a mentor has been a desire I've had for a long time but never felt settled enough to do it till now. This desire was based on having such a positive experience myself having a big sister at one point in my childhood, I can't even remember the name of my big sister but i remember how loved I felt being in her presence, I remember for those few outings that we had that I felt special that she truly really cared about me and at this time in my life I really needed that affection. I had such gratitude for that experience and longed to one day give it back to another child. I feel deeply grateful to be in this space where i can finally do it and believe me every moment I am with my mentee is so rewarding.
Today I picked Yasmine in what seemed like a compound for the "just shy of being homeless" families living in south Central LA. All eyes were on me as I wondered around the few men lingering outside whom had the presence of being gangs members. Trying to endlessly search for the right unit I thought to myself how deceiving this world can be, how this little angle can carry so much light coming from a place like this when you see people with all the richest being so miserable. It was a nice reminder of how little we need to truly be happy... that happiness really does come from within.
After finally finding her unit I was greeted by her disabled father whom was warm and inviting and I stepped into a split level space no more than 500 sq feet in total, housing a whole family in a space that some of us have as just our bedrooms!!
Since Ivy had to work I now had an extra ticket so we invited her 8 year old brother to come along and it was off to the Staple center we went.. she actually had no idea where we were going so this was all going to be a surprise:-)
When she finally caught on to where we were she was so excited, I could see her withholding her excitement out of shyness, this only being our first one on one outing. However, from the communication in Spanish between her brother and her which sounded like "blah blah blah ...this is awesome!! blah blah blah ...this is so awesome!!" I got the giffs that she was really happy to be there:-)
Witnessing the interaction between the two siblings brought me back to the relationship between my old brother and I. He was my best friend growing up, in fact it somewhat felt like we lived in a separate world of our own that could only we could share. Together we invincible, able to get through anything, to this day I've still never felt alone knowing he's there.
Well as the night drew to an end having already stuffed ourselves on stadium junk food. Losing and winning a few bets on different pairs of skaters I was to drop them off to the church. I had no idea that church service went that late it was already 9pm! and it wasn't even over yet, Yasime was about to go teach some of the kids there how to play the drums!! Yes this is one of her passions FYI any musicians out there:-)
With all the work that I have been recently doing the one thing that stands out the most amongst the less advantage is that they have a lot of faith in god. In fact one of the question I had to ask Yasmine in one of our group activities was "who do do you admire the most?" and she answered "god." When I asked her why she answered with full confidence "Because he takes care of me and my family". It's with a breath of release of my own believes that I am finding gratitude in knowing that there is something out there that gives the world hope, for hope is light so I welcome whatever will allow us shine brightly:-)
until next time...:-)
also you'll find a new posting of pictures of this outing on my facebook:-)
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