Ben in the City

So almost a week ago Ben moved to an inner-city apartment, across the street from a mission church and right next to a school. The school is run by the mission church. He has been going to this city for about three years helping with their Thursday night kids clubs. After he came home from Thailand he felt drawn to spending more time working with the kids that he sees on Thursday nights at Kid's Club.  The school needed a maintenance man and Ben knows something about electricity, plumbing and general hard work so he took the position. It is a one year commitment.

His boss from the plumbing/electrical place offered him a one-day-a-week job, that was perfect because it will help with his budget. Voluntary Service pay is generally enough money to buy necessities, but not niceties.

Tuesday night found him at our supper table and the first  stories were told, they need to be written down because in a few weeks more stories will drown out these first days.
The rhythm of the city is different than our home's tempo. The street stays quiet until about 11AM when the youngest kids make their appearance. The street stays lively until about midnight when the very tired children finally find their homes. The sad parts about the five-year-old that doesn't seem to have a home, but apparently does, because he has his papers filled out to come to Kid's Club. The funny parts about the houses where children seem to spill from every window and door.  Ben doesn't think they live there, but simply gather there.

Over the weekend, Ben almost thought one little guy was gonna need medical care when he launched himself over the porch railing to get away from a wasp and fell into the flower bed onto the only rose bush there. Thankfully he hit his shoulder  instead of smacking his head.

Then there was the time Ben was cleaning up his sink and heard a crash from his minuscule back yard. Knowing there wasn't much to make that sort of noise he went to investigate and saw three boys running different directions. One hid behind the truck, another went over the neighbor's fence, the third hid behind the metal shed. Knowing all their names, he called them and asked what was happening. "How could you see us?" was the question that came back.  "We were trying to put up the ladder to the school roof, but the ladder fell on the shed."
Ben was not surprised that the ladder fell, it was a sturdy 30ft extension ladder and weighs quite a bit.
"We were trying to get DiAngelo's shoes, they're on the roof."
"Why are your shoes on the school roof?"
"We were throwing them after his socks."
"Why....?" Ben quit then and put up the ladder and found the shoes. As he retrieved the shoes he saw the offending socks hanging from a neighbor's 2nd floor dormer roof and two young boys already up on the third floor house roof. Apparently they had been on that roof and were throwing socks down...not up like I was picturing (Zeke pointed out that it is very hard to throw-up socks-how would he know?) and after one got stuck on the roof, they lobbed the shoes after it.

Ben told them to please ask the next time they need the ladder.

We agreed that "Idleness is the Devil's workshop".

In an effort to give the boys something profitable to do, he had them cleaning up an old Kitchen Aid mixer that was left at the house. "You can't take your eyes off them a minute, I went in the house 30 seconds to get something, when I came out one of them had found my permanent marker in my electrical bag and had 'checked if it worked' on the top of the mixer."

Not that he was surprised, just amused.

I told him that his porch walls need scrubbing, but we are wracking our brains for something that he can give them to do that can keep 12 hands busy and isn't inside his house. Maybe cook on the front porch?