Here I am, sitting in the blanket fort we made last rainy
Saturday and haven’t taken down yet. I
am writing a post to put on our community house blog. Hannah is cleaning up from dinner, Ben is
gardening, and Laura and Kristen are talking on the phone with good
friends. All are in anticipation for our
late night Van’s Frozen Custard run which will commence shortly. We’re all tired from being at work all day
but enjoying our post-work relaxations. We
are all missing Theresa who is in the Dominican Republic for the summer’s first
workcamp and wishing she was here because it’s her Birthday.
This is a typical night at the Elgin BVS House. Not all of us are here. We just finished a long dinner with each
other full of delicious food and lots of laughter. We’re all doing our separate things now, but
we’ll soon be together to share our mutual love for frozen custard.
We are a colorful mix of working and personality
styles. We don’t always get along. Sometimes we can’t wait to be alone and have
our own space, other times we love being around each other. We gossip, we hug, we complain, we love.
It seems that very soon, four of the six housemates will be
gone. Done with their BVS year. Onto whatever is next for them. Then soon after that, we will gain TWO NEW
housemates, followed very quickly by a former housemate to leave. Then, just like that, Jessie will very
quickly go from being the newest housemate to the oldest.
All this turnover seems so crazy. Just one year ago there was a completely
different set of people living here. And
in just a few months there will be a whole new set apart from this years’. And it’s not just the house that experiences
this change. The offices and the church
see it too.
It must be difficult to get to know a set of people so well
only to have them leave months later and new ones take their place. I know that we as a house are extremely
grateful for the people in our Elgin lives have cared for us and been there for
us. Church families invite us for dinner. Work folks give us free produce from their
gardens. Our bosses invite us to have
lunch with them. We are a blessed group
of young adults.
Volunteers are special.
They go to communities in which they’ve never been and are expected to
make friends, find their niches, and engage with the locals on a personal
level. All the while we are emotional
from leaving behind our families and friends yet excited for the promise of
tomorrow. We are constantly getting criticized
for not getting a “real job” after college and are often not taken seriously
when we say that we are devoting at least a year of our lives to take care of
kids or the homeless or the emotionally unstable.
I can’t speak for all volunteers in the world, but I know
that this is not just the way BVSers feel.
We have difficult jobs and lives.
Yes, being a volunteer is a job. It’s
not easy or time wasting. It’s not silly
or frivolous, it’s a big deal. Sometimes
it doesn’t feel like we’re all that important.
Other times we feel so overwhelmed with love and respect from others
that we are truly humbled. We have
uneventful days and stressful days. All of
which we are grateful for at the end of our yearlong volunteering journey.
Frozen Custard.
Outgoing and incoming housemates.
Stressful days. Meaningful blog
posts.
These are thoughts of this volunteer. What are yours?
Peace,
-Jessie
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