Working Women July 10, 2006

As a college intern working for CHAT this summer, I have been assigned a high school intern who is also hired by CHAT. While they do not raise their financial support individually, their salary comes from the CHAT budget as well. They are required to meet with the college interns on a regular basis, do one hour of school work a day, complete a bible study, attend life skills classes that we teach, assist with the tutoring program, and pretty much just be our sidekicks for the summer. Imani Clark is my high school intern partner. She is 15 and going to be a freshman in high school starting in the fall. While the list of responsibilities seems quite structured, our times together have been quite a challenge to complete assignments, find a strong work ethic and understand her responsibilities as a leader within the Church Hill community. While I was incredibly frustrated the first few weeks with her lack of homework completion, her little capacity of follow directions, and her immature attitude towards sacrificing her comforts to be a part of the workings of CHAT, remembering a recent book I have read helped me to understand why it was so difficult for Imani to get on board with having a job and fulfilling the responsibilities that come along with that.

In William Wilson’s book entitled When Work Disappears, he explains the terrible cycle of little to no routine, poor work ethic, laziness, boredom that arises with joblessness. Without a job, there is no motivation for most of the day, there the little to no management of time, goals are lost, schedules are forgone, and the system of routine is forgotten. If this is the case with many of the mothers or grandmothers that are raising the children of Church Hill, there is no picture of what work is like. Unlike me, Imani does not have a picture of dad getting up with the sun, eating breakfast, reading the Bible, and heading off to work only to arrive with the setting of the sun feeling tired yet accomplished and purposeful. Work sets a purpose into a person, gives structure, and helps to build up self worth. Unfortunately that picture is not given for most living in the inner city. Without an image of what work is like, every assignment that I would give Imani seemed like the largest task imaginable. Reading for an hour a day is an impossible chore if there is no structure to your day. Once I realized the standpoint from which she was coming, it has made it easier to help her learn what it means to be a working woman, what it means to set a daily schedule, and what it means to fulfill the responsibilities of working. It is sad to know the potential of so many others like Imani in the neighborhood that if given the opportunity to learn the value of work but also hopeful at the alterations Imani can make on the generations soon to come after her.