I Want to Change the World

One of my favorite authors is Judith Bentley. Mrs. Bentley is an educator and a pastor's wife. She and her husband Robert, also in the educational field, spent ten years in the former Soviet Union (now the Commonwealth of Independent States) as Christian schoolteachers. She has written several books about this wonderful time in their lives. I have read them all several times and rotated between laughing, crying and not knowing what to think. Most of all, I feel and identify with her love for children.

In her book Red September Mrs. Bentley  tells about her challenges learning to pronounce and memorize the names of her school children when she taught in an international school. This school was made up of  children not only from Russia but around the world. Her first morning she was confronted with names like Nashra Rahman, Toyin Ajewole, Nomazula Gateseni, and so forth. Despite this she remembered why she had become a teacher to begin with; however naïve it may have seemed, she wanted to change the world. Her trouble with culture shock and other minor inconveniences never diminished her love for the children.

For the past two years I have been working with public Head Start. I have come to love the people I work with and the children I serve. But there are also daily challenges. How do I relate to children that come from a different culture than I do? How do I help their parents overcome challenges I know nothing of? How do I overcome my own prejudices that at one time I would have denied I had? When I feel overwhelmed I just remind myself, I still want to change the world. Yes it may seem naïve. But I'm convinced  naïve is not always a bad thing.

I too love the children I work with. And I have the same desire Mrs. Bentley had. I love the education field because I know that teachers do change lives. However naïve it may seem, I too want to change the world.  I remind myself of this when  I'm confronted with names like Nyairreo, Jorvit and Joharri. Or when I don't know if Nery is a boy or a girl's name.

Lord, help me to see beyond Tivarius, Jamarious, and Tylajha. Help me to see a child that needs your love. I believe that by God's grace we can change the world, one small child at a time.

For the Children of the World,

Sullivan Jones