Our first project at the Haven has been to paint five bedrooms and all the bathrooms. In two days we have gotten two rooms painted. The floorboards, cabinets, and floorboards on the first room have been completely scoured. As we scrubbed on our hands and knees (yes the Cinderella song about the bubbles was brought to mind) we realized how needed these small contributions are. Every time a staff member passed us they would smile and cluck under their breath, murmuring a thank you here and there. It may not be much to scrub floors and get the stickers off the cabinets, but it is something they don’t have to do; time they can devote to other things. During a seminar on service, we discussed tenents of community development. One of these being “be an agent of change instead of a passive observer.” Being an agent of change connotes work of great magnitude. I’ve come to think of it, especially in the light of community development, that being a change agent can be simply small positive improvements that sustains until a collaborative and larger scale change might be made. So as we walk around spattered with paint (the paint sticks all too well), they have time to do other things, and the environment for these children is just that much improved. Small improvements are great things in the life of a child. I think we can live with the annoying paint spackles. :)
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