Grateful to be Part of Dominican Family
This article is the second in a series of six featuring Dominican Volunteers USA living with communities of Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. Katrina Martwick lives with the Penn Community, Atlanta, GA.
by Katrina (Kt) Martwick
Kt Martwick with students at the International Community School.
So far this year as a Dominican Volunteer USA (DVUSA) I have learned a great many things. I wake every morning and begin on my trek to school where I spend the day serving the children. By the time I get home at night, I’m exhausted yet energized by all the events in my day. I have learned that teaching is sometimes a very thankless job in some senses, but a very rewarding job in others. I am working as a kindergarten assistant teacher at the International Community School in Decatur, GA, and have seen some of my students go from crying all day long to singing and dancing and speaking whole sentences along with the rest of their classmates. I have had the wonderful opportunity to deliver food to a family of one of my students from Eritrea. It was a great blessing to see the environment that my student lives in outside of the safe walls of the school. Although her family is poor and needs our school to bring food monthly, they are a family of great love and beauty.
I never knew how much a 5-year-old had to teach until I began my year here. A challenging part of working with kindergartners is their great ability to speak whatever comes to their little minds. I have had many heart-breaking discussions with a student on why she will not invite any students with dark skin to her birthday party. I feel very blessed to have had a dialogue with her about it and learn where and why she has these feelings. It was very rewarding to see her understand that there is no difference between white and black when it comes to the soul.
Living in community with Dominican Sisters has been nothing but a riot every day. They accepted me and all of my beliefs with open arms and have been challenging me to grow in my ideas about faith, justice, and compassion. As a young woman who recently lost her mother, the Sisters have shown me how to grow through my grief and have allowed me to cry on their shoulders countless times. They have lifted me up in a way that only women who have also lost their mothers can and have given me the courage to continue on with my life in a way I know I would not have been able to had I never met them.
My year as a DVUSA has opened my eyes and heart to many challenging yet wonderful opportunities. People thank me every day for “giving up a year of my life” to volunteer. I just laugh to myself and say, “You’re welcome,” because if they only knew the truth, they would know that I’ve gained so much more than I’ve “given up.” I am forever grateful to be part of the Dominican Family.