It’s pretty obvious that our residents at the Dale House don’t really live the “normal” life. They don’t go to “regular” public schools, they don’t drive, they can’t have cell phones until they have a certain amount of money, they have 15 brothers and sisters, they have 10 “mothers” and “fathers”, etc. etc. etc.
Another thing that is not “normal” for our residents is dressing up. Many of them don’t even know what “dress up” means and have never even had to think about this before coming to the Dale House and being forced to dress up to look for jobs.
I don’t know about you, but I love getting dressed up. It might be a girl thing, but I think that looking good helps people feel good about themselves. That is one reason this year’s Dale House Spring Banquet was so fun! I could really tell the residents were proud of how they looked and excited to be invited to a “social function!”
The DHP Spring Banquet is the closest thing we have to prom.
People got fancy…
…We had flowers for the girls, boutonnieres for the boys…
My Primary, S, helped to make the boutonnieres!! They were gorgeous and I was amazed at her talent! Someone needs to hire this girl for floral design!!
…and then we danced!!
I got to teach my recently emancipated primary, G, how to dance! It was such a precious moment! He came straight from work smelling like horses (he works at a stable) but he wanted to be a part of this evening!! We did a little bit of shagging and a little box step! (Thanks Sunny Yu!) He then used what I taught him (with a little coaching from the side!) to dance with his girlfriend!
This, by far, has been one of my favorite nights at the DHP. It was just so beautiful to watch the kids be kids. To be themselves. To feel like they are someone.
Those are the moments I will miss. When I am not a staff person and they are not a resident, but we are just friends, dancing on the dance floor, laughing, doing “normal” things, together.
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