As a volunteer, I have many chances to work with many children having a completely different background from me. I have been volunteering for the center located in Hilltop, which is known as an area in Tacoma with high rate of poverty. These children might not be fed well at home due to economic struggles. I knew that they are from lower class families, but never had I thought there were still hungry children in America. It seemed quite alien to me. I was born in Vietnam, a developing country, but even in my hometown, I have never witnessed a real child who does not have enough foods to eat. I was surprised, and then felt truly compassionate for these little kids. I promised myself I would try my best to help the children here.
I was imagining about there would be many kids coming to the center with great passion for learning and craving for knowledge. However, reality turned me down. Many of these children have trouble with learning at school, so coming to a tutor place after school to do homework seems to be a chore for them. I had a hard time at the beginning, but then time goes by, I gradually know how to handle these kids. One day I was assigned to “one-on-one” assist a new third grade kid whose name was Paulson. My first impression of Paulson was that he was a wild child. I tried to approach him and tell him to finish his homework, but he just totally ignored me and did his own things. He would not listen to any of my words, which made me felt so disrespected. That day was also a tough day at school for me, then all of the sudden, I burst out into tears in front of him. He looked at me, closely and carefully, for a few seconds, and then started repeatedly saying sorry. Eventually I was able to hold my tears back and back to normal again. Afterwards, Paulson was willing to work with me. And it turned out that he is a very smart kid. He did his homework quickly and correctly. After a couple of times working with Paulson, he told me that day he got bullied by an older