Goodbye PimPom

During my first week of volunteering I quickly realized that I had arrived with a somewhat idealized worldview. I was aware of the poverty however, not to the extend that I experienced it. It is shocking to me to have people living the good life two blocks from those who heat their homes with burning scrap and are lucky to have one meal a day. The poverty and famine weren’t going to end or even get any better because other volunteers and myself helped out for 4 weeks. I needed to accept this fact and tweak my expectations…those I had created for myself and for those I would spend my days with, Estella and Moni. I had to think small, I may not be able to help every child at PimPom, but helping a few is certainly possible. Accepting that big change starts small is the key. This is precisely why helping out can be very hard. Confrontation with difficult situations made me feel vulnerable, scared, cry and breakdown. After spending weeks with the children, I had developed relationships with them and I was also more aware of the poverty, the famine, the drugs and the violence these children faced everyday. My role became clear as the weeks went by…make the children feel safe and loved. PimPom is not a school as we know it, it is a place for children to play, to socialise, eat a hot meal which for some is the only one they get but first and foremost it is a place where they can feel safe and loved. One thing that was not lacking between the four cement walls of PimPom was laughter, infectious laughter from the continuous use of cones as hats, of paint as food or making the blocs fall over and over again. Afterall, learning can only take place when you feel safe!