Doing Good In the Hood

In my writing 150 class I have been able to go do fun service all the time. The majority of our class had the opportunity to go down to Salt Lake City to volunteer for a program called "Good in the Hood." This program was made around a community in Salt lake with refugee families that have come to America for a new home. As part of the program we were able to play with all the kids of these families and give them attention. Maybe of the kids were bilingual and could speak English very well. They were also extremely hyper! When we arrived, I saw kids kicking a soccer ball in the parking lot, not even worrying about the cars that were parked everywhere. It reminded me of when I was little in my home town. We used to play soccer anytime there was a ball no matter the circumstance. it brought back fond memories.
 Our group met with the people in charge of the program. We were supposed to have an activity down at the church so I walked with one of the kids towards that direction. He asked me if I had a girlfriend. My responded with a no and said I just date LOTS women. He seemed unimpressed and then bragged to me about how he had an 18 year old girlfriend earlier that year. Interested understand on how a thirteen year old boy got a eighteen year old girlfriend, I asked him other questions about these girls he dated. He told me the different girls were "black haired, yellow haired, red haired..." He was obviously very proud of his achievements. Upon arriving at the church, we found out the building was already being occupied. We headed back and the volunteers had made friends with the many kids with us.
One talent of mine that is entertaining for kids is I can do a lot of cool tricks with my yo-yo. I decided now could be a good time to whip it out and show off a little bit.  Soon many kids crowded around. I saw one kid grab his friend and told him "With that yo-yo he can do magic." Now I faced a problem. Every kid wanted to try it now. As I gave each kid his or her turn to try out the yo-yo, I would explain how to roll it up and throw it down. As one would get done, they would explain my instructions to their sister or brother in their language so they would better comprehend the instructions. I loved how they would help one another, rather than being selfish and wanting to play with the yo-yo the whole time.  Was I that sharing at 8 years old? It was so much fun to go and play with these kids for a couple of hours. Between basketball, piggyback rides, origami and yo-yo tricks, we were able to really get know these group of kids and have some good kid fun. Man I miss those days. When service becomes fun, that is when you know you're doing it correctly. I'm glad I had the chance to go to Salt Lake and do some "Good in the Hood."