Fun Times Playing Duck-Duck-Goose

I don't think I have ever had more fun playing duck-duck-goose than I did yesterday.

It was supposed to be my day to serve in one of the many community gardens of Chicago.  I had been looking forward to that, as the gardens here make me think of my own garden in Winnipeg.  Most of the vegetables there will soon be ready to harvest.  However, this gardening adventure was not to be.

After ten of us took the bus to the garden, we turned right around and came back to Faith House because of the rain.  Arriving back, our alternate assignment was ready: go to Gads Hill Center and volunteer as teaching assistants with pre-schoolers.  I was excited to be given a task I knew how to do well.

Sam (from the Sweden team) and I worked in the class with 5-year-olds.  When we arrived, they were playing at a wide variety of activities.  I was included in some sandbox adventures and I also joined a group of little girls who were playing with a nifty collection of buttons.  We sorted out the green ones, just for fun!  :)  The big dimpled smiles, runny noses, and eager hands reaching for my own were reminiscent of little smiles and hands back home.  

The preschool center is fully bilingual, and the staff and students switched back and forth between Spanish and English with ease.  The story was read in Spanish: ?Me Quieres, Mama?  I tried my hardest to understand as the teacher explained and dramatized the pages.  Then lunchtime happened in English: soy burgers, zucchini slices with dip, and mashed yams.  The food reminded me of the things I would commonly eat in Winnipeg, especially the zucchini.

More than just having fun and being reminded of some of my favorite things and people from back home, my day with 5-year-olds gave me a glimmer of new hope.  I have seen some pretty clear evidence of race division and racism already in Chicago, and it has been really hard to deal with.  It was really good for that reason to see a whole bunch of preschoolers -- White, Black, and Hispanic -- mix and play and talk in two languages with one another, without apparent regard for their surface differences.  It makes me wonder if this kind of programming on a large scale could make a difference for the future of race relations in Chicago and elsewhere.  After all, if we are capable of teaching hate and inequality, the good news is that we should be able to teach acceptance and mutuality just as well.  Five-year-olds having a blast playing duck-duck-goose together make that possibility believable.