Being a Drop in the Bucket
I’m working on a weekend post about some things I’m mulling over in Latin pedagogy (because I have definitely got my finger on the pulse!) but I wanted to do a quick midweek update on a couple of things.
As we near the end of World Refugee Month, I am happy to report that the refugee family my group has co-sponsored moved into their new home today! They have been living in temporary housing (with no kitchen or laundry facilities) for quite a while now, so this was a huge step forward for them. I drove up to meet some other people in my group to help pack all their things in the early morning heat, and then rode along with a couple of the kids to their new home in a new town. Once we got there, volunteers from the local organization were already there setting up beds, and the unpacking of the truck was fairly easily done thanks to having so many willing hands. They even managed to pivot well enough to get a large couch through some narrow doorways. The volunteers of that town were all so enthusiastic and efficient and I know we’re leaving them in good hands.
My other update is that the school in Ukraine that I helped write a mini grant has purchased the furniture we wrote the grant to seek. (I wrote more about it here.)They were able to have a couch custom made for the space and I can’t wait to see the final photos of the room all set up. (I’ve seen the “in progress” photos and they are so bright and colorful.) No word yet on if there was need of some pivoting to get that couch in the space. I hope that going forward the school psychologist is able to use that space to bring moments of calm and peace to students traumatized by war.
As I have mentioned before, I see myself as more of a worker bee than a leader. Today’s events brought home for me how beautiful it is when many worker bees come together for a common cause. I myself did not do anything extraordinary, but because a lot of people came together to labor under the hot summer sun, a family is going to sleep in new beds tonight in their first American home. The Ukrainian mini grant was made possible because of a variety of fundraisers carried out by returned Peace Corps volunteers over the year, and of course the efforts of the Ukrainian teacher and her coworkers. I was a necessary link in the process, but not a major player on my own.
Beautiful acts of kindness often call for a swarm of enthusiastic worker bees to get the job done. We may each just be a drop in the bucket, but those drops can add up, and in the meantime, we get to mix with so many others who want the same kind of world we do, a world where we help our neighbors from around the world, where love is more powerful than hate or fear. Whatever metaphor you want to use, great things are accomplished when individuals show up.