A conversation

Sometimes a simple conversation can spark ideas. Alex had just such a conversation last weekend when he was hanging out with Wounaan friends and family, supporting a church youth group (I wrote a little about this in the last post).

He was at a home, sitting around and talking with family and friends. The hostess' oldest son, Irving, was doing poorly in school, and in their usual frank manner, the family was discussing the situation. He had failed several classes his last report card.

His mother was threatening to take him out of school and send him to the country to live with his grandfather, helping him on the farm. If it sounds pretty drastic to you, please realize that most of the parents of Wounaan kids in school now never finished their own schooling, and THEIR parents didn't go to school at all. So schooling is not a historical value, and is seen today as a means to an end: getting a better job. Most parents from indigenous communities make huge sacrifices to see their children through school. The cultural value of family teaches the children to pay their parents back by supporting them in their old age. So the parents are willing to make the effort, seeing it as a long term investment.

Sooo... when a child is doing poorly, the investment no longer seems worth it. The most logical step is to stop spending money on what they see as a useless project, and simply take the child out of school.

So Irving, a junior in highschool is failing. His aunt, not much older than him, makes a light-hearted statement:
"You have a gift for drawing, that's for sure. But you don't have much brains." (I have seen some of his drawing and they were exceptional) Several in the room chuckled. While there was nothing unusual to this conversation in their culture, Alex felt pained watching the interaction. He knew those words had to have hurt. Alex himself was put down many times by friends and relatives in his teen years, and it took him awhile to overcome their negative predictions.

As he was on the bus, coming home, the wheels in his mind began to turn. What could he do for this young man, and so many others like him. The Wounaan people are extremely gifted artists. Their woven baskets are some of the finest, if not the finest in the world.

When Alex arrived, he told me about this encounter and we began to brainstorm. I have a couple of ideas, and Alex envisions getting together young people and helping them find ways to use their gifts; making a living and blessing the Wounaan people. These ideas are only in infancy, but Alex is excited to try and but hope back into the eyes of this young man... and others.

(above is a photo of Irving with the youth group, below is a sample of Wounaan baskets.)