Resilience & Joy
Walk this week with Marianist PULSE (#MP2) blogger Hannah, from Barrigada, Guam. Hannah is both living resilience and learning it from the children she supports through ECHO.
We are in our fourth month of our PULSE (#MP2) experience, yet time feels as if it’s flying by. We have met so many people through the Marianists and our association with PULSE thus far. This has been really reassuring as there is a community of people who are supporting us through this journey. In initially meeting some of these people, it has often been acknowledged that I am very far from home (Guam) and am having to make a lot of adjustments accordingly. In being exposed to a completely different lifestyle, community, and culture I am constantly introduced to things that are very new and unfamiliar but still exciting nonetheless.
My volunteer placement is with an organization called Empowering Children with Hope and Opportunity (ECHO,) a program that offers counseling and support for families in fourteen Catholic Schools throughout the city. My position entails working with the program’s counselors and social worker at select schools in the program. I am primarily at Saint Benedict the Moor School in West Dayton which has our program's highest need.
In contrast to the small size of the school, the great energy, spirit, and joy in St. Benedict is something that can be experienced as soon as you walk through the doors. When working with the ECHO counselor, there are good days and there are days that are a little bit tougher as we encounter students and families that struggle with the harsh reality of poverty. It was hard to believe that the very students who greeted me with so much joy and hundreds of hugs were the same students who had very difficult home situations.
Every day is a little unpredictable when you’re working with a counselor. However, my favorite day of each week is Wednesday, when the students celebrate Mass. When you’re in a room full of kids who are singing their hearts out to their favorite church song, you would never imagine that it’s these very kids who are facing hard realities outside our school walls. The staff at our school make it a point to have our students and families know that this is a place where they are safe, loved, and supported. This message is one that is so greatly received. In part because of this, I feel so incredibly blessed to be part of the work being done in this school. I have the privilege of bearing witness to the resilience of our students and am a grateful recipient of all the love and joy they share.
Learn more about ECHO Here.
We are in our fourth month of our PULSE (#MP2) experience, yet time feels as if it’s flying by. We have met so many people through the Marianists and our association with PULSE thus far. This has been really reassuring as there is a community of people who are supporting us through this journey. In initially meeting some of these people, it has often been acknowledged that I am very far from home (Guam) and am having to make a lot of adjustments accordingly. In being exposed to a completely different lifestyle, community, and culture I am constantly introduced to things that are very new and unfamiliar but still exciting nonetheless.
My volunteer placement is with an organization called Empowering Children with Hope and Opportunity (ECHO,) a program that offers counseling and support for families in fourteen Catholic Schools throughout the city. My position entails working with the program’s counselors and social worker at select schools in the program. I am primarily at Saint Benedict the Moor School in West Dayton which has our program's highest need.
In contrast to the small size of the school, the great energy, spirit, and joy in St. Benedict is something that can be experienced as soon as you walk through the doors. When working with the ECHO counselor, there are good days and there are days that are a little bit tougher as we encounter students and families that struggle with the harsh reality of poverty. It was hard to believe that the very students who greeted me with so much joy and hundreds of hugs were the same students who had very difficult home situations.
Every day is a little unpredictable when you’re working with a counselor. However, my favorite day of each week is Wednesday, when the students celebrate Mass. When you’re in a room full of kids who are singing their hearts out to their favorite church song, you would never imagine that it’s these very kids who are facing hard realities outside our school walls. The staff at our school make it a point to have our students and families know that this is a place where they are safe, loved, and supported. This message is one that is so greatly received. In part because of this, I feel so incredibly blessed to be part of the work being done in this school. I have the privilege of bearing witness to the resilience of our students and am a grateful recipient of all the love and joy they share.Learn more about ECHO Here.
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