When the heads in the air trying to win the crown, it may there be the case ...
In my very first beginnings as an educator, I worked weekends and vacations on one of many groups of teenagers I work for the Foyer.
Sometimes we went for a walk here and there on the mountain for example. I worked (as now) with youth placed for various reasons, under the Protection of Children. Some times were unaccompanied minors, who illegally left their country of origin to live in France or go to the UK, Italy, Spain, etc.. One day came a young Nigerian. We will call Tommy. The police and air borders that we had brought. Undocumented, Tommy had said to be minor. The minor in question was a colossus of a meter ninety pretending to be sixteen years but who seemed twenty. Regardless, it was placed, we would welcome it as another.
Tommy arrives with the set at night, accompanied by the PAF. He spoke English most of Nigeria a dialect of his home. With the young it was literally a culture shock. It seems he had survived a bloody civil war and according to him his parents had died in the conflict. But he did not address this topic. Tommy mixed Christianity and animism. He saw a spirit in everything, talking to trees, which at first we surprised to see us uneasy. It was still nice and respectful. Just "weird" to some minds that did not bother to consider the cultural gap that separated us from him.
the morning of his first day at home, we had long planned a walk in the mountains, I say "walk" and not "walking". The picnic was in order, we went for a walk, breathe fresh air, spend the day then go home. We were in May and there was some snow on the surrounding peaks. Tommy, our little trip took a little more interest since the great Niger had never seen snow.
So here we are left with a fellow athlete and six or seven youths for a ride to the mountain. Tommy had come home with unique clothing as a yellow T-shirt, jeans, flip-flops. Arrived at their destination the day promised to be beautiful. The teens were pretty cool, it was beautiful, the scenery was superb. The snow had melted.
Small walk along the trail so to cows. Tommy was before. He was on another planet. No snow-capped or green meadows in the region of origin We were sometimes short breaks but Tommy was always a little aloof. He walked in front ... The road was turning, then two and a third Tommy had disappeared.
It has took two minutes to account for its absence. It releases the pitch (he was tall, he was perhaps ahead!). We call it, we seek nothing. Missing our Nigerian. And not really in a good spot. He might be illegal, perhaps he sought to flee but still, at that point he put his life in danger, especially as the afternoon was well advanced.
We are therefore looking for a good half-hour before we resolve to call police.
And then ... off on the side of a mountain, a yellow dot. This is Tommy, he is at least two kilometers, we see hardly. Obviously he climbs the slope and seems attracted by the snow. There were a few snowfields on the peaks that had weathered the first heat. We would have had to
expected, Tommy had seen snow on the peaks several kilometers and a furious and irresistible urge to go put his feet in the powder had invaded. He climbed and climbed again. The slope was steep and vision of this great black thongs in plotting its course to touch the Grail was completely surreal.
My colleague, a hiker and mountain home party at a run to catch him. Tommy touched the snow well, not quite as he hoped but he succeeded. No powder, just a sheet of hard ice and dirty.
On his return he was barefoot. His flip flops did not survive the ascent. His feet were literally bleeding the plant notched on all sides by blades as knives. He suffered but he succeeded. It was like that Tommy, this great Nigerian, who arrived in the bilge of a ship for days or hidden under a truck. Nothing could stop him, and certainly not a few miles from rocky slopes to be able to touch the snow. He was a dreamer, a head in the air.
In my very first beginnings as an educator, I worked weekends and vacations on one of many groups of teenagers I work for the Foyer.
Sometimes we went for a walk here and there on the mountain for example. I worked (as now) with youth placed for various reasons, under the Protection of Children. Some times were unaccompanied minors, who illegally left their country of origin to live in France or go to the UK, Italy, Spain, etc.. One day came a young Nigerian. We will call Tommy. The police and air borders that we had brought. Undocumented, Tommy had said to be minor. The minor in question was a colossus of a meter ninety pretending to be sixteen years but who seemed twenty. Regardless, it was placed, we would welcome it as another.
Tommy arrives with the set at night, accompanied by the PAF. He spoke English most of Nigeria a dialect of his home. With the young it was literally a culture shock. It seems he had survived a bloody civil war and according to him his parents had died in the conflict. But he did not address this topic. Tommy mixed Christianity and animism. He saw a spirit in everything, talking to trees, which at first we surprised to see us uneasy. It was still nice and respectful. Just "weird" to some minds that did not bother to consider the cultural gap that separated us from him.
the morning of his first day at home, we had long planned a walk in the mountains, I say "walk" and not "walking". The picnic was in order, we went for a walk, breathe fresh air, spend the day then go home. We were in May and there was some snow on the surrounding peaks. Tommy, our little trip took a little more interest since the great Niger had never seen snow.
So here we are left with a fellow athlete and six or seven youths for a ride to the mountain. Tommy had come home with unique clothing as a yellow T-shirt, jeans, flip-flops. Arrived at their destination the day promised to be beautiful. The teens were pretty cool, it was beautiful, the scenery was superb. The snow had melted.
Small walk along the trail so to cows. Tommy was before. He was on another planet. No snow-capped or green meadows in the region of origin We were sometimes short breaks but Tommy was always a little aloof. He walked in front ... The road was turning, then two and a third Tommy had disappeared.
It has took two minutes to account for its absence. It releases the pitch (he was tall, he was perhaps ahead!). We call it, we seek nothing. Missing our Nigerian. And not really in a good spot. He might be illegal, perhaps he sought to flee but still, at that point he put his life in danger, especially as the afternoon was well advanced.
We are therefore looking for a good half-hour before we resolve to call police.
And then ... off on the side of a mountain, a yellow dot. This is Tommy, he is at least two kilometers, we see hardly. Obviously he climbs the slope and seems attracted by the snow. There were a few snowfields on the peaks that had weathered the first heat. We would have had to
expected, Tommy had seen snow on the peaks several kilometers and a furious and irresistible urge to go put his feet in the powder had invaded. He climbed and climbed again. The slope was steep and vision of this great black thongs in plotting its course to touch the Grail was completely surreal.
My colleague, a hiker and mountain home party at a run to catch him. Tommy touched the snow well, not quite as he hoped but he succeeded. No powder, just a sheet of hard ice and dirty.
On his return he was barefoot. His flip flops did not survive the ascent. His feet were literally bleeding the plant notched on all sides by blades as knives. He suffered but he succeeded. It was like that Tommy, this great Nigerian, who arrived in the bilge of a ship for days or hidden under a truck. Nothing could stop him, and certainly not a few miles from rocky slopes to be able to touch the snow. He was a dreamer, a head in the air.
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