Today we got our first real look at Atlanta. The city itself is really beautiful, especially from the roof of the parking garage where we parked our giant 15 passenger van. We started our day on the 18th floor, where Lutheran Services of Georgia is located. We learned a lot about how we would be spending our week and received a ton of information about refugees.
Then we went to the Clarkston community center where we got a tour of the building. The most interesting part was that this community used to be completely segregated.The history compared to the present of Clarkston is so different, and so incredible. Clarkston community center was once the white segregated high school of Clarkston town, opposing the black school across the train tracks. What was once a place of race separation, is now a place where many different races and cultures come together to thrive. It's a beautiful transition and a powerful story. At one point, the walls of the community center were holding in all white high school students and now over 52 languages are being spoken within the walls. After the tour of the building we went down to the field and walked through the community garden. We helped in the community garden by laying mulch and then we dug a trench. Fillip was the gardener at the community center, who was from France, was so thankful and impressed at how fast we got the work done. Fillip is the one that organizes all the vegetables that will be used and sold at the monthly market. Once we had finished this task, the students for the Family Literacy Program showed up and we got to spend the next couple of hours with them. Some of us talked with high school students about college and our experience while the rest of us headed outside to play with the elementary students.
Now it was time to head back to the Redeemer House for dinner and to wrap-up the night. We made our own pizza's and sat around eating and sharing stories from the day. Wrapping up the day and hearing everyone's stories about their experience from the day was great.
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