Alabama Service Trip & Encouraging Kids

First-year Bonner Adrena Murphy shares her experiences of the Alternative Spring Break service trip to Mobile, Alabama, in March 2012, as well as why she is committed to encouraging and supporting kids at her current Bonner placement, Kaleidoscope Place. Adrena is studying Elementary Education and Communications.

Alabama Service Trip 

The service trip to Alabama was definitely eye-opening. I remember listening to one of the leaders say “you may not be able to see the work you’re doing but what the thirty of us can complete in a week is astronomical!” And now that I look back, we really did some amazing things down in Mobile. 

Yes, there were times when I felt that all I was good at for was painting because of my sprained wrist,  until the last day when the team and I magically turned a huge lot full of dirt and puddles into a large community garden. I’ll be honest, just the weather alone that day made me doubt that real progress could be made, but as I looked around I seemed to be the only one worried that the rain would destroy everything we’d put together. I definitely got over all the doubting when I heard of a young man still in high school but definitely missing class to help us help him and put this community garden together. From then on, then pain in my wrist was surpassed by my desire to help this young man and others like him in the neighborhood.

 I was delighted to build flower beds, fill them with dirt and mulch, step in mud puddles, dirty my new shoes, and learn; at the end of the day, it was worth it. As I used a mallet to dig the stakes into the clay-colored ground, I began to smile; I could do more than paint. For four days, I smelled of paint. For any project that involved paint, I was there to volunteer my time, but that Friday something said, “Do something else, something new.. you’re in Alabama woman!” 

I had a blast yelling “STAKES?” and “does anyone know where the caps are?” I gained personal strength and courage that day! Eight hours later the team and I stepped back to admire our work and what we had done was remarkable: eight rows of double-stacked flower beds, all filled with dirt and mulch, all containing freshly planted fruits and veggies, watered so that in a couple of months neighbors from around will be able to pick fresh produce! And I helped make that happen, sprained wrist and all.

Encouraging and Supporting Kids

Being a first year and not really having much experience in the Minneapolis community kind of put be on the wrong foot when joining my first placement through the Bonner program. Sometimes a visit on a quiet day isn’t always the best way to feel out your placement because my experiences within the first weeks really began to challenge me an individual and the program as well. These kids were struggling with basic social skills that you are usually supposed to pick up from home and it made me extremely angry that the school system in this area was purposely trying to fail these kids. It wasn’t creating an environment where kids were learning to become confident in their academics and also their personal relationships.

These kids deserved more and at the moment of test and trial, I felt it was my duty to create that positive environment and to be that mentor for them. I wanted to make sure that these kids knew their own potential and that they always remembered that they could come to me for anything and I would try my hardest to help them, whether that meant I had to teach myself a new way of doing math or learn a new style of communication that involved me closing my mouth and letting them talk about whatever they needed to.

 I was raised in a pretty unhealthy and abusive household and I remember that experience making me stronger as an individual and also becoming a part of my character, someone who was more humble and understanding. So, to be in an environment where kids are probably having it much worse than I ever did motivates me to seek out ways that my placement and I can help encourage these kids that they are safe there with us!