Life Goal - Washing Floors at a School

This week in Youth Impact (the program for youth that have left the orphanages) we have been discussing our goals and making plans on how to attain those goals. It was heartbreaking to hear some of the goals that the girls had. Several of the girls in my group have lower academic levels. They are intelligent, but somewhere along the way they were taken out of the normal classes and were taught to be manual laborers. I asked one of my girls what she wanted to be and she said a floor washer. I continued by asking her what her dream was and she looked at me kind of strange and said emphatically food. I asked her what with food and she said she wanted to prepare food. Another girl who also answered floor washer did not change her dream. When I asked her if she liked washing floors she smiled and said yes. I asked her where she wanted to wash floors and she looked at me as if no one had ever told her she could choose a location to wash floors. Finally, she answered that she would like to wash floors at a school. Others had dreams of being artists, dance instructors, and math teachers. We then took their dreams and tried to create attainable goals from them. I am having a bit of a challenge doing the entire thing in Kazakh, but they seem to be taking something from it anyway. One of the girls in the first group has become my helper. She even lectures kids when they come late or don't do their homework. She does it in a way that is patient with them and not rude. It has been a blessing to have her in my group. Thanks to so many of you that make my work over here possible. Next week we will talk about emotions.