Stories
Building Trust
It’s nine o’ clock, and the first hour of English students are arriving. Usually, they are here a few minutes before nine and are waiting their turn to come in.
The soft click…click…click of typing and soft mumbling of sounding out a word is the hum of the room. Each hour, a change in the people, disinfecting ensues along with new assignments. Different levels all in the same room learning not only from me and the programs but also from each other. Sometimes when someone asks me about a word another student answers before I get the chance, everyone working together to help each other learn and improve their skills.
Some hours are quiet and all that is heard is the hum of the A/C as they concentrate. Other hours like the conversation sections are full of fun and laughter. Idioms was on the list first for the advanced conversation class. The puzzled faces as I tested them to see if they could figure out what they mean before I told them. Interesting to find out that some of them exist in Arabic but are the exact opposite meaning!
Times are filling up as the (mostly) ladies tell their friends and fill the hours with groups of neighbors. The learning creates a comradery at the center and opens doors for other activities. The trust gained through learning transfers over to the women’s groups and the life coaching hours.
Trust is key to impacting lives and creating a community that will thrive. We want to build trust in real ways that improve and bring opportunities to those in the community while allowing us to open the hearts of those around us to hear that there is a hope and there is a future and that we believe it starts with individual finding out and walking in who they were meant to be.
— Kelsey
