10. What’s It Like Picking Up the Boys in a Township?

One of my best memories is driving through bumpy dirt township roads with 15 boys and their stuff packed into my 1996 Jeep Cherokee. Usually the boys like to sing … well … shout with David Crowder’s song “We Win.” That is a great memory.

To get to that point … “OH the effort!” Faxes to the schools. Text messages to the teachers. Forms for the parents to sign. Specific instructions for the boys to prepare for the camp. When and where to wait for us.

Now I have learned. Just because we have confirmed multiple times with the school and teachers that the boys have received our information, it does not mean a thing. Now as I drive up I usually see a handful of boys ready. The others were not told by their teachers or the school. So I get to spend the next two hours locating boys scattered throughout the township. At first I was a bit scared, but now as I drive or walk around I hear people yell, “JR is here! Where is (boy’s name)?” I have become local!

I often shake my head as little boys aged 3 – 4 years of age jump into the Jeep and guide me around the township to search for the boys, and they know exactly how to find the boys. Then these little ones jump out and walk all the way home passing stumbling drunks, and no one thinks this is strange.

Once we find the boys, step one is complete. By the way … I always find the boys in positive activities. Now I take the boy to his house and he gathers his stuff because they are always excited about our camps. But the problem is their teacher didn’t give them the information to give their guardian or parent. So if I take them, no one knows where they are … this is usually not a problem for the people in the township … but we are encouraging responsibility, so they need to sign a permission slip. Now we need to find the guardian or parent.

The good thing is there is a reason these boys are outstanding. Their guardians or parents are usually pretty good people, they just live in a crazy environment. But we do have to go find them. Sometimes we have brought all the boys back to our house, waited a couple of hours, returned in the dark to the boys’ homes, found the parents, loaded up the boys and their things and celebrated.

Once we find the boys, packed their stuff, permission slips signed, then we drive for about 15 minutes to our house, and camp starts with everyone taking a shower, dinner and bedtime!

Good Times!

(View) an article about Street Kids learning to surf.

(Back) To the List of Questions