JOURNAL PERSPECTIVE OF A RESCUER

December 4, 1938
    Another sleepless night.  Another night on a train.  Once again I am sitting up in bed writing late into the night.  Its hard seeing all these kids on the train without any parents to tend to the them.  For right now I am a parent to some of them.  I wish these kids were able to have at least one parent with them.  However it is not my job to wish. It is my job to make sure these kids are as happy as they can be even though its hard for some of them.  I have always wondered what it was like not be in touch with my family for a very long time.  Well I guess I kind of know but  that was only for camps and it lasted for only 2 to 3 days.  Also I knew once the camp was over I would see my parents again.  Here on this train these kids don’t know if there parents will be there to pick them up and take them home, they don’t know if their parents are okay along with the rest of their families.  I hate seeing these kids look me in the face and ask, “Are my mom and dad going to be on another train meeting us where we need to be?” All I have the guts to say is, I simply don’t know.  The disappointed looks on their faces pains me to watch but I know I can’t really tell them what is happening to their parents, that would just be cruel.  While I sit and play with kids I some times day dream about what is going to happen to them once they get off the train.  I only come to when a child in my group taps my arm and says my name.  This is just one of the things that I stress about before I go to sleep every night.  Another is figuring out how to keep these kids occupied during the day.  As the week goes on more and more art supplies is being used and I am having a very hard time making sure their minds are not thinking about their parents and families but only on the project I give them.  However almost all the projects I have only last for about 30 to 45 min and then all or most of the kids are either bored or finished with the art project.  At that point I know I must move on and give them something else to do.  I really hope we are almost to the end of our journey because I am not that creative and I’m running out of ideas.