Bon Air – Week Four

Today’s session with Bon Air had a rocky start. Unfortunately, the facility was under lockdown. Fortunately, however, they were allowing planned activities to continue. Unfortunately, the boys had to go through a procedure before they were released and we only spent about twenty minutes together. However, we tried to make the best out of it as a group.

The boy’s behavior seemed different tonight. Last week, we seemed to thrive as a group– conversation was flowing and things were light. But that was not the case tonight. The boys didn’t talk much unless asked a question, and those who did talk were mostly interrupting us or making jokes. Because we had so little time together, we spent all of it as a group. We talked about Halloween, our favorite holidays, and a little bit about our purpose there.

After explaining the premise of our project, one of the boys wanted to know why we were doing it. He said, “We’re helping y’all pass the class, but what are we getting out of it?” Another said, “In two weeks, y’all are going to go home and forget about us. If I were you, I would go home and forget about y’all.”  Still another, “Soon, y’all be gone and poof! You won’t see us ever again and we’ll never see you again.” We tried our best to explain that although this experience was for a class, we really did enjoy coming and spending time with them.

We asked Professor Dolson if it was possible to have another session with them because we spent so little time together this time around. Whether we have another session or not, I would like to talk to them about how much we truly cherished this experience, talking to them as individuals, and how we won’t forget these weeks quickly or easily.