There were 3 young kids with the ladies, two of which belonged to the oldest woman. The youngest child was as determined to keep away from his mom as his mom was to keep him with her. We didn't have any toys and I hadn't come prepared with stuff to keep the kids entertained. I should have known better. The kids' behavior was making the mom ill at ease and she said she wasn't sure she could participate because of the kids.
They asked a few questions, particularly about who they had to teach the information to. We explained that they could teach a friend or neighbor. They were comfortable with that info.
They all signed the consent forms. Samantha had prepared an initial calendar for them about when we'd meet which we passed out. They agreed to meet for their interview and skills assessment on Friday.
Friday was a really hectic day and it took me awhile to settle down. We were prepared for kids. I had brought a wooden train set from home - usually keeps my Sunday School kids occupied for a long time. We had also bought some toys for our computer lab that just happened to be delivered the night before. We were ready - but no kids. The moms had decided to take turns watching the kids while the others were being interviewed.
I had prepared several questions to guide the interviews, but knew it would take awhile before they'd answer in more than just one or two words. I wanted some basic questions since I wanted to try to understand their Spanish with only a little translating. That part went better than I expected and they seemed pleased that I could understand at least a little. One woman talks too quietly and fast for me though, so that whole interview had to be with Samantha interpreting.
The three women have been in ESL classes at the computer lab and all have taken at least 2 basic computer classes. One lady is on the 4th level of Rosetta Stone. The two younger women spoke to me at times in English. Their time in public housing ranged from 2 months to 9 years. Number of kids ranged from 2-5. Only 1 woman had a teen. The others had oldest kids in the 10-12 year old range. I had been told by Samantha that all the women are very protective of their children - to the point of checking with Samantha to make sure they're really at the lab.
I first asked them to tell me about themselves. There were some amazing stories. All had been in the US for a number of years - all coming when they were teenagers. Two had been in school for 9 years in Mexico. One had finished 6 years. One went to high school for a year in the US, but then dropped out because she needed to watch her sister's 5 kids while she went to work. One woman made the trek from Mexico to Phoenix through the desert. She was 13 and 5 months pregnant. She only went to school for a few months after she came to the US because her baby's daddy wouldn't let her go.
Two of the women talked about getting their GED. They both said they needed to know more English first.
The next question was about their computer experience. None of them had computers in their homes and none of them appeared to have friends or relatives with computers. All of them said the only computer experience they had was there at the computer lab. The youngest woman has a cell phone with internet access. All of them have at least one child who has taken classes at our computer lab. Their kids' computer experience seemed to be restricted to the computer lab and school.
I asked about their dreams for their kids. All of them want their kids to do well. One specifically mentioned that she wanted her kid to be a professional. We discussed colleges and scholarships. One woman said she wanted her children to be good people and love God. What better goal for our kids could there be?
Finally we discussed internet safety. They mentioned some of the top concerns - chat rooms, talking with people they don't know, pornography and other inappropriate content. All of the women knew that we had filters on our internet connection in the lab. One woman asked if schools had the same thing. I explained that they were required to. I asked the women if they knew what their kids did with computers. One said her child plays games, another said her child is very curious so looks up things on the internet. I asked if they knew what their kids did at school on the computer. They didn't know. One woman mentioned that her child was not doing her homework. I asked if she could access her child's schoolwork reports on the internet and she said, "no." I asked if they had something like that, would she? She said, "of course." I loved that. I think sometimes school districts think that just because their parents don't have home access, that they won't use internet tools - but parents who care will take the time.
They all took the basic assessments and did great. When asked to send Samantha an email, one woman responded to an email of Samantha's. Samantha told her she was cheating (jokingly). I said she was just being smart. Samantha used English terms for computer parts. She said that since they probably don't know the Spanish word, that it's just as easy for them to learn the English words. I thought that was a good idea.
Next week, we'll meet again on Friday to have a group discussion about internet safety.
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