Naomi-Linc Visit 3/28/10

Last Thurday, the 25th, Viviane and I went to volunteer at “PJ Night.” It’s called Pj night because the point of this gathering was to show parents that the best time to read to their kids is right before they go to sleep. So, to inforce this, everyone was to wear pajamas, read and eat to kids. Since there was no school, we met at the school and found our way from there. The streets near the library were empty, like an abandoned city. It was hard to believe this was the same street as the uptown Madison Avenue. We easily found the library and entered a room where Deborah was surround by 5-6 kids.

The library was about three floors: 3 times the size of my local library which is only 1 floor. The bookshelfs are small, and are standing at two corners. At the middle of the floor are rounded desk with chairs. On the other side are doors entering into small vacant rooms and an elevator and bathroom. In the middle are computers with kids occupying everyone still in their uniform but not saying much.  It was our room that made all the noise that carried through the floor. After the parents read some books to the kids, we sang “The Wheels on the Bus”  and “Holky Polky.” The kids were from different schools, no older than 6 years old.

We were confused when we realized no one was in the pajamas, Viviane being the only one. Like in our other visits,  we interacted with the students. We wanted to be more like friends to them than chaperones. For 45 minutes we listened to their odd conversations about the most random things. I couldnt understand half of what they were saying feeling like I was the youngest in the group. None of them were hyper since it was about 6:30pm. It definately was different than the St. Jude after-school program. They were more organized and did their work without slacking off or trying to avoid the task. Even though they were just decorating bears for an upcoming artshow.