Eric and Lauren's ASB Exp 3-14-10

Hi everyone!! Greetings from the Palmetto State!

So far, everyone is great and we've had a lot of fun. Today, we went to the Nurturing Center and cleaned classrooms. TNC is a organization that was created by a group of six women over twenty years ago to help at risk families (including foster children) deal with abuse, neglect, and to help inform parents of parenting skills. Also, we found out that the meal that is provided by TNC is often the only real meal of the day for some families. Services are free for families and are funded by DSS, Medicaid reimbursements, and private donations. One of the most interesting parts of the day occurred when we saw a painting we assumed was done by one of the children. It was a dark black color with an eye and tears. The poem description under the painting mentioned that this women (the mother/artist) was abused by her baby's father and mentioned all of the pain that she put through. That was a pivotal moment for many of us thus far on the trip. It was real in the regard that it put in perspective how emotionally damaged the parents are, versus all we realized before was the effects on children. They were stuck developmentally in a simple childike social stage. Afterwards, we checked out the capitol city of Columbia, SC. There we saw the remnants of the civil war and where the capitol building was struck by Sherman in the Civil War as well as seeing a Confederate flag in front of the building, which struck us as very odd.... We learned streets are named after Confederate officers. The culture of the South is something we did not anticipate seeing. But they are still very much translated into today. When we got home we watched the movie Food Inc., which explores the origins of the thousands of food products that we see in the grocery store every day. It was incredibly eye opening to see all of the 'dirty politics' involved in the business of food. We all felt that it was unfortunate how farmers are treated by the huge corporations that own almost every brand name on the shelves of the supermarket. Because fast food companies are so heavily subsidized, the only food that people in poverty can really afford is stuff like McDonalds. A family in the film had no choice but to feed their kids fast food constantly because the cost of the father's diabetes medicine drained too much out of their bank account to buy fresh vegetables. It probably wasn't a good idea to watch that movie before dinner, but the events of the day left everyone incredibly humbled. It was a great first day on ASB, and set the scene for what looks like is going to be an incredible week.

Until tomorrow!

Lauren, Eric, and ASB South Carolina 2010