With a baguette in my left hand and a pound of butter in my right, I display what I’ve brought to 10 sleepy teenagers gathered around a conference table.
“Qu’est que ce? C’est le pain,” I say, pointing to the bread. “Qu’est que ce? C’est le buerre.”
It might seem less crazy if I were in some sort of rich-kid Saturday enrichment class, but I’m on the far south side of Chicago in Altgeld Gardens, one of the poorest communities in the city, in a room full of kids who are much more adept at the language of hip hop than they are at le Français.
But it’s just a typical Saturday for all of us. We’re part of a pioneer project called “An Eye for an Eye,” a program that’s part photography and language class, part cultural exchange. Ten kids from Altgeld learn photography and French, communicating through the Internet with 10 French kids from a low-income suburb of Paris, who meet weekly just like we do. Just a few weeks ago, we hosted them in Chicago, and in April, we’ll pack our bags for the City of Lights.
At times, it is not the easiest of volunteer gigs. My kids, accustomed to downing Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Hawaiian Punch, at first, turn their noses up at my baguette and preserves. They often look at me like I’m from outer space when I teach them new words or push them to take a chance and try something new with their cameras.
Then there are moments like a few weeks ago, when we had our first photography exhibition at a big building downtown. The grins from my kids when they saw their own photos displayed on the walls, just like the ones we’d visited at the art museum — those proud smiles brought tears to my eyes.
We have tiny breakthroughs most Saturdays. Like Lakeasha, one of my students, discovering French bread.
“So, this is what we’ll have for breakfast when we go there?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Probably,” I reply. “What do you guys think of that?”
“It’s alright,” she says with a head nod and a smile.
Before the French students came, a young man named Manquaze expressed concerns about meeting kids from another country. What if they didn’t like us? What will we talk about?
But within minutes of meeting each other, they bonded. Sure, there were jitters and communication problems, but both groups realized that kids are kids, no matter what language they speak, no matter what country they come from.
I asked Manquaze about it later. “Everything’s pretty much the same. They even listen to the same kind of music we do,” he said, smiling.
The French teens felt the same. Not a day goes by without a chat popping up on Facebook from one of them, telling me how they can’t wait for us to come visit.
And that’s why, despite the long drive and extra hours, extra planning and kid wrangling, I come to Altgeld Gardens every week. The program opens up parts of the world that were previously closed off to them. Sometimes, they realize that they like where they came from better. That’s okay with me. But sometimes, they try something new and get a taste of all that’s out there, waiting for them.
The “An Eye for an Eye” program is in need of digital cameras for student use. If you can help, please contact Megan at 773-634-9616.
Photo 1 by Brandy Magassa, photo 2 by Hollis McNulty, photo 3 by Brandy Magassa.