Photograph by Robert Scheer
Dorothy Dorsay, director of Green Circle, tells a story about differences to schoolchildren.
By Cecily Barnes
They begin telling the story of a bird who is different from the other birds. This bird sometimes gets ridiculed or teased, Green Circle volunteers explain. And sometimes, what happens to this bird happens to people, too. Have any of you felt like this bird? they ask.
"The children have the opportunity to listen to each other and to talk about times when they've been left out because of their ethnicity or religion, size, shape, physical disability or gender," explains Saratogan Dorothy Dorsay, director of Green Circle, a nonprofit program that educates children on self-esteem issues.
A resident of Saratoga for the last 26 years, Dorsay trains Green Circle volunteers and tours the county's elementary schools, teaching kids about diversity and circles of caring.
"What do you do when you get in trouble?" Dorsay asked a fifth-grade class at Santa Clara's Scott Lane Elementary School.
A sea of arms shot up.
"I go to my bedroom and slam the door," one student said.
"I go to McDonalds and buy some food," another said.
Dorsay helped the kids understand what they were saying. While everyone feels sad and angry, she explained, people have many different ways of dealing with these feelings.
Dorsay became involved with Green Circle, sponsored by the National Council of Christians and Jews (NCCJ), in 1981, its first year in Santa Clara County. Dorsay is Green Circle's only paid employee, responsible for administration, training and class visits. The rest of the workers are volunteers and thrilled about what they're doing.
"I work full time and take vacation time on Tuesdays to do this," explained Saratogan Jane Bernard, a seven-year Green Circle volunteer. "Saratoga is less homogeneous than I would like. I thought about how I could do something without causing a lot of anger."
Green Circle strives to teach kids not only respect for diversity, but self- esteem. How do the kids respond?
"They come up to hug us because they like the story or they like the chance to hear one another," Dorsay explains. "Some kids really like the songs we sing and the chance to hear that other people feel the way they do."
While Green Circle volunteers have visited Saratoga's elementary schools in the past, they are not scheduled to return in the near future.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, January 22, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.