The Two Whos

Cece works at an agency that supports people with disabilities.  It is a multi- faceted agency that provides many services and supports.  One  part of the agency that is in Corrales,  has 4 greenhouses.   In the fall,  they grow over 8000 poinsettia!  Through out the year they grow  organic wheat grass that gets sold to wheat grass lovers and then the majority is sold  to Keva Juice.  They also grow lots of bedding plants and flowers year round.

Recently they were gifted with an organic farm!  Many departments at the agency have taken turns going out to the farm to team build and do some weeding.  As they found out this morning, weeds abound! In the midst of the weeds are asparagus and berries, garlic, tomatoes and other veggies.  They sell this produce to local restaurants.

The management team arrived at the farm!  Some had  experience…. and some  realized they were better off behind a desk!

Cece received instruction in how to wield a hoe and then it was determined that she would do better with a wheel barrow.  She learned that once her weeds were picked up and piled and balanced perfectly in her wheelbarrow,  then she would cart them a way. Others were pulling weeds in other rows and  when she would come back down the cleaned up row,  she discovered that   more weeds would be thrown “willy nilly” into her cleaned up  row…a metaphor for life…often  we have to deal with other people’s weeds.  But , we have to focus on pulling up the weeds in  our own  lives, taking the trash out to the curb and then  being willing to let the garbage man take the trash away rather than to hold onto it…..all life lessons that need to be learned and re-learned in our lives.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

The Saturday Morning Rendezvous will be a place to stop in and meet up  on a weekend morning.  Have a cup of tea or coffee, a special breakfast,  and relax and catch up from the week’s fast pace.  The Two Whos will focus Saturday’s content on physical wellness , food and fitness of all types.  Come back and rendezvous with us!    See you next  Saturday!  Thanks for visiting.

On Wednesday, Yun got a big surprise!   The students in her class baked a cake for her birthday.  With a couple of candles lit, they were singing “Happy Birthday”, then indulged in the home made chocolate cake….  Yun was standing there, holding back her tears.

You need to know these students.  They are single mothers or fathers who  have never graduated from high school.  They have lost their jobs, are on welfare with ~$300 a month income to support the family.  As part of the deal, they must attend “school” to learn vocational skills.  In this particular program, they are attending the adult GED (high school Graduate Equivalent Diploma) where Yun teaches interpersonal communication skills.

Teaching interpersonal skills for  success in life and work to professionals is one thing,…. teaching people who are on welfare such skills is another.  Their daily concerns are how to pay the rent, how to have enough food to feed the kids, how to catch a ride to school or how to get $5 in  gas to go from point A to point B.   They could not care less about interpersonal skills, different perspectives, understanding and acceptance, and managing emotions. These are values that Yun believes to be the keys to living an empowered and productive life.  So, managing the class is challenging.  They simply do not listen!!!  They talk at will to whoever they feel like.  A practice assignment would take 5 or 10 times longer to explain.   However,  after they have built a  rapport,with Yun.  they have shared many of their incredible life challenges  that they otherwise would never have shared with anyone else.  Yun knows the deep struggles  some of them are enduring. Working with them is a humbling and honoring experience for Yun.  It is also a frustrating one at times.

On this particular day, as they are eating the cake they have no money to buy but have managed to bake, one of the students stood up and said: “Ms. Li, we may not pay attention, but we love you!”  So sincerely expressed that Yun was speechless…

How could anyone ask for more? In many people’s  view, these young adults “should” listen and practice more and do more, so they can be more successful and productive to society.   That’s just one  view.  Yun feels that what they  need most is acceptance  and compassion for who they are.  Only after that,  can they know what to do to reach their goals in their own way.  They have incredible strength sitting in the classroom while knowing there are only a few bucks left to feed the kids for the rest of the week!

“Accept and respect people no matter how different we think  they are.”  This is the  lessen Yun’s students have taught her again and again.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

On Tuesday, the non-profit Cece works for started having their large quarterly meetings at the Road Runner Food Bank.This was their  first  time there , so RRFB  gave them a tour of the facility. She learned that RRFB feeds 40,000 different individuals each week which is like feeding the town of Farmington every single week!   Cece knew a little  about the Road Runner Food Bank, but she never really understood all the good works they do to eradicate and  stamp out hunger.

Cece saw something on TV a while back about their  ”Food for Kids Program.”  It caught her attention.  Tuesday, she learned  that this backpack program serves 38 low income public schools.  Each weekend, a child takes home a backpack full of food.  This tides them over until they get back to school on Monday.

Later  that afternoon, she was speaking with one of her staff who was at the meeting and Cece said, ” I love this backpack idea.”  The young woman said, “I was one of those hungry children growing up, I could have used a backpack.”  Cece told her that she had no idea she had been a hungry child. The young woman said, “Well, as a kid, you just get used to it.”  Cece has been thinking about this for the last few days….  getting used to being hungry.  She has her own food issues and this puts perspective on them.

She has been thinking about Yun’s post about the woman Yun met who keeps bags of food in her car to give to the homeless.  We wrote about it in these posts: What is it That We Need?. Be  the Change.The lady gave Yun some bags to hand out.  Yun gave  her first bag out and it greatly impacted her.

We worry about children going hungry. Volunteering at the Food Bank, you can do some work that will greatly impact children being fed.

Given the ages of Yun’s kids,  it is really impossible for them to understand what it means to be hungry.  But, growing up  in China, Yun   witnessed the starvation of  the farmers during the winters.  They would come  into the city to seek food, but ended up  dead on the street corners.

Yun has always told Cece that her kids need to have more exposure to world hunger and humanitarian issues so they can  build an awareness and compassion that will hold them as they get older.  Cece thought that Yun and her boys might like to volunteer there…packaging food.

New Mexico ranks 5th in this country of people who wonder when they will have their next meal.  Here are a few things you can do…. or you can do with your kids… that will heighten their awareness to world hunger issues and hunger in New Mexico:

• Bring 5-10 friends to take the Road Runnder  Food Bank “Food for Thought ” tour.
• Contribute $30.00 a m onth in honor of their 30th anniversary
• Host sponsor a food drive and have each person collect 30 pounds of food.
• Bring 10 friends to volunteer 5 hours each generating 3,000 volunteer minutes
• Visit www.rrfb.org or call 505-247-2052  for more ways to help.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos