What another great day! Today I laughed so hard that I cried! If this isn’t evidence enough that this already has been and will continue to be a great trip, I don’t know what is! Our group has already bonded so well; we even have some nicknames and inside jokes. (Although if you saw my Facebook or Twitter accounts this evening, you need to know that that was the hacking job of Tyler and Natalie. I am not “The Sitzer,” and you will not get to hear me roar. Unless it’s in a fit of laughter, which is highly probable.)
This morning, we drove about 45 minutes to get to the Turner center that is housed in a YMCA. We passed a lot of huge houses and this site seemed to be comprised of pretty well-off members since Natalie, Tyler, and I helped people with electronics. (The rest of the group went to another site, where we will all go tomorrow.) The directors here were very nice here also; Southern hospitality is a real thing! They offered us a platter of pastries while we sat and waited for people to come in. The first lady to come in needed help understanding her digital camera. I also helped a man set up his Kindle, which I did kind of on the fly since I had never interacted with one before. I noticed that the older generation just seems wary of exploring/experimenting with their gadgets, whereas my generation is comfortable just kind of pushing buttons to look at the available options to figure out how to use things. It was interesting trying to remove myself from my basic, intuitive knowledge of technology (even just the location of the on/off button!) and explain it to someone who views these devices as completely foreign to what they’re used to. I helped another woman with her camera, a woman with a nook, and gave a woman step-by-step instructions on how to put hyperlinks in emails. That was a little difficult without an actual computer to show her on, but it was heartening to hear that most of them would be able to call their children or grandchildren if they needed further help.
It was very, very rewarding to see people understand how to use their devices. Even though I am by no means an expert, nor were Tyler or Natalie, we were still immensely helpful. This could be a service that would be easily replicable back in Lawrence. Pretty much any college student or even high schooler/middle schooler/even elementary schooler has a better knowledge of the basics of electronics than the average Baby Boomer. I’m not trying to stereotype here, I’m just saying that based upon my observations it seems that the younger generations, having grown up with technology at our fingertips, seem more comfortable using devices than older people do. Going down to the Douglas County Senior Services building for a few hours and letting the members there know that technology help would be available at that time would be an easy and rewarding way to bring back the spirit of Alternative Breaks to Lawrence.
In the afternoon we went back to the main center and helped wash some more windows. I’m up for pretty much anything that will help someone out, but I did inwardly have some negative attitudes towards using my time to wash windows. This center was fairly new and the windows didn’t really need cleaning; it seemed that they were trying to just give us something to do. Now, maybe they truly wanted the windows cleaned and appreciated our service. But I’m just admitting my negative thoughts about such a seemingly menial task. The rest of my group seemed to feel the same, but we did what we were asked without complaining. As we efficiently finished that task, Deb set us to work sorting yarn and various donated crocheted creations for their huge upcoming fundraiser, “The Big Stitch.” We were done with this pretty quickly, but again it seemed that we were just put to work for the sake of giving us something to do. I really wish that if they truly didn’t want or need or have things prepared yet for us to help do, that they would have just told us they didn’t need us rather than giving us such tasks. Again, I’m not trying to complain here. I’m just pointing out that my feelings would never be hurt if someone told me they didn’t need my help. I would simply find something else to do for someone who truly did have something that they really needed me to help with.
-Hannah S.
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