06 August 2010

Washington Kids Meet Young African Leaders

Delegates to President Obama’s Africa forum visit Boys and Girls Club

By Lauren Monsen
Staff Writer

Washington — When several delegates to President Obama’s Forum with Young African Leaders visited a branch of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW), they had a chance to interact with ordinary Americans and saw that big changes usually start with small steps, such as mentoring at-risk children in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Meeting the club’s energetic young members and the staffers who supervise them “was inspiring,” said Palesa Shongwe, an award-winning South African filmmaker. “I’m very interested in the exchange of ideas, and excited to hear what people are doing in other parts of the world.”

Shongwe was among some 115 African entrepreneurs and civil-society leaders invited to the August 3–5 forum, which included a meeting at the White House with President Obama.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of America is a national nonprofit organization that gives youths aged 5–18 support and guidance to help them succeed in school and beyond. It has regional chapters across the United States.

Irving Nunn is the site director of BGCGW’s Hopkins branch, which the delegates visited. “The community needs resources, role models and assistance to improve people’s circumstances,” he said. Many of the children come from single-parent households and have difficult home environments, so the Boys and Girls Club creates stability and structure in their lives.

“We help teenagers write résumés and fill out college applications,” Nunn said. “And for the younger kids, we build up their confidence and help them with homework every day after school.” During the summer, when school is out, BGCGW requires children to keep up with reading, writing and arithmetic. In addition, there are field trips to expose youngsters to the world beyond their own neighborhood.

BGCGW is run by paid staffers, whose salaries are funded by grants, and by teenage volunteers. The volunteers “earn academic credit for their work, but they also forge deeper ties with their community,” Nunn said.

The club charges a modest membership fee to cover field trips, activities and meals, but no one is ever turned away because of an inability to pay, Nunn said.

MANY CHALLENGES

Forum delegates observed that the BGCGW tackles the same social problems that beset many African communities. “In South Africa, school curriculums have been changed to incorporate life-skills training,” said Shongwe. “There’s an education crisis in South Africa. A lot of kids end up unemployed — and unemployable. It’s difficult to address the problem on a big level, but I’m learning that you have to start small.”

For example, whenever behavior is an issue, BGCGW staffers and volunteers devise coping strategies. “For kids with bullying tendencies, you can redirect that energy by making them a leader or your assistant” in helping other children, said Nunn.

Nunn was frank about the obstacles he faces. “I’m here every day, from nine or 10 in the morning until nine or 10 at night, Monday through Friday,” he said. “Even that is not enough.”

Adolescents are harder to reach than younger children, he added. “Of the neighborhood teens, perhaps five will come to the Boys and Girls Club,” said Nunn. Often, they are reluctant to come “because they think the club isn’t cool.”

Diallo Alpha Abdoulaye, a delegate who serves as national coordinator of the civil-society group Réseau Afrique Jeunesse de Guinée (African Youth Network of Guinea), praised Nunn’s tireless efforts. Speaking through a French-language interpreter, he told Nunn: “What you’re doing here is really important because you’re preparing these children to be responsible adults.”

A TRANSFORMATIONAL VISIT

The club’s children performed a brief skit and sang three songs for the delegates. One of the delegates taught the children an African song, as well, and explained its meaning to them. Told that their visitors would be happy to answer questions about life in Africa, the youngsters eagerly asked which sports Africans like to play (answer: soccer) and learned that in Africa, as in much of the world, the game is most often called “football.”

As the visit concluded, Ethiopian delegate Meron Hailegiorgis, an actress and poet who performs in film, television, radio and theater, said she felt motivated to work with children in her own community. When she returns to Ethiopia, she plans to teach theater skills to local youngsters.

The Boys and Girls Club has a transformational effect, said Shongwe. “I really enjoyed coming here. The kinds of decisions they make affect people’s lives on the most basic level. When you use resources in the community to help people in need, what you create is something that ripples out and has larger, long-term consequences.”

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)