Greater Good

When I think about my future occupation, I always in some way imagine it will be trying to help others, whether it be working as a school teacher, or for an NGO, or the Foreign Service. Wherever God decides I would serve him best, I remind myself, is what I will do.

I was discussing what my ultimate working dream would be with my aunt the other night, and I revealed to her something that I have been thinking about for a long time, but that I had never really shared with anyone. I shared with her an idea I had for a school specifically aimed towards educating teen moms. Most of the time, when faced with pregnancy and the ultimate responsibility of raising and caring for a child when you're a child yourself, teen girls are forced to leave school to work as single moms, or depend on welfare for the entire period of raising their child. Unfortunately, it continues a cycle of poverty and a dependancy on our system. Very few of these girls are fortunate enough to have the support of family, or someone to look after their child so they can finish school. Many face the scrutiny of Child Welfare, and are in danger of losing their children because they haven't the slightest idea what they are doing. What I hope to achieve with my strange idea is a home and place of education for pregnant teens and new moms, where they could receive the best parenting support and teaching, learn to bond with their new bundle of responsibility, and get to continue high school all under one roof. I know its a strange sort of idea for a 21 year old university student with a minimalist dating record, to want to save the misunderstood, misdirected teenage girls of society, but for some reason I am really drawn to this idea. Nothing like this exists in Canada today, a residential program aimed at ensuring the most sucessful outcome for mother and child. Because one makes a bad decision does not mean you should be labelled and made to pay for that decision the rest of your life by joining the stereotypes of the welfare single mom. I just have to look at my aunt to see that with the right support and encouragement, you can take on the world, no matter your situation. She started out pregnant at 15, a mom by 16, and could very well have spent her life living from support check to food bank assistance, struggling with poverty and various behavioural issues that arise in children in these circumstances. However, with help, she managed to finish school, get through college and, though not without some struggle, become the CIO of Red Cross Canada, the mother of a successful 34 year old Jennifer, who herself is the mother to 5 wonderful kids.
With former foster parents for a Mom and Dad, I have seen my share of kids and babies taken from their homes, homes that lacked parenting skills, usually any drive to better themselves and were run in abuse. I have seen the worst that can happen, and want to formulate a way to keep it from happening, if even for only a few families. I have no real idea how I can bring this idea about, as I have yet to complete my own degree, and its certainly not in How to Open your Own School for Disadvantaged Young Mothers 101. This would require much funding, research, more funding, teachers, parenting coaches, many different things that I have no access to, but maybe one day I will. Maybe Oprah will decide that this school is the next one she'll open, here in Canada! Hehehe. At any rate, it's something I find myself contemplating while I watch graduation loom ever near.