Everyone Is a Star

September 3rd, 2014 | Uncategorized

It is crazy how much the youth here will look up to you and be so entertained by you just because you are American. Whenever I talk their eyes are glued to me as if I am Martin Luther King Jr. about to deliver the next I have a dream speech. They honestly look up to you and it makes you live up to a certain standard.

At the end of the day I like to measure how successful I was by what I gave and not what I got. Being from America, sometimes it is all about what you have. It’s been really amazing to work with Ehoops and Shehoops and meet a group of people that are really all about giving and looking out for one another. The first basket Lauren made at Shehoops the other day both teams started clapping as if we had just performed a play on Broadway. I was confused at first until I came to realize what it was all about. For the first time a sport/activity wasn’t about winning or losing. It was simply about having fun. Don’t get me wrong I still find myself battling Natasha for 20 minutes in a game of badminton trying to beat her to 21 (sad to say I lost this battle).
They think I am like this great person and that I am there to help and teach them so much. In reality, I feel as if I am more of a student than they are. I have learned so much from the girls and boys out of the Ehoops program so far. They stress the important things in all aspects of their everyday life. Family (they talk so much about sisters, brothers, and kids), having fun in what you’re doing, and encouraging on everyone to succeed no matter who they are. One thing I have learned from my Rathefern Shehoops girls that really sticks out to me is to slow down and take the extra second of the day to enjoy the beautiful aspects of life. Sometimes being from America it is always about what is happening next and we forget about the present.
I understand they look at me like I am about to deliver the next great speech and that I am this great person. But, I look at them as if they are about to do the next great thing too because they are phenomenal people in their own way.

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