Japhet Creek

Japhet

by Vittoria La Matta,

AC 9th year

We walk into the backyard; the smell of roasting coffee fills the air. I enter a new world; out of the one with noise, stress, and pollution, and into one with sheltering trees, surrounding greenery, the happy clucking of the chickens, and the warm breeze. It was calming and peaceful. I fell in love with it instantly. I loved everything about it. The front gate, with intertwining vines. The porch, with the swing that cracked. The wobbly floorboards, flecked with dust. The homey feeling of the cozy house. The big windows, that captured and radiated light. The books and the fire place. The details that would be missed if not looked at carefully. The tile kitchen with an earthy smell.

 It needed work, but you could see the beauty under the dirt, dust, and chipped away paint. It shone under the layers of paint showing what was once new.  I was eager to see it at its full potential and for it to be ours. It was to be a place to escape the crazy world, and enjoy the company of nature in the middle of the city. We all put love and work into it, scrubbing the paint off, cleaning it inside and out, making plans for the future. I got my hands dirty and cleaned out the dead plants in the porch, got rid of unnecessary things, while trying not to get eaten alive by mosquitos. The hard work paid off. We saw it grow; it flourished under our care. It was a house with barely anything, but  we turned it into a place where we could go, learn, and grow. It became homey, clean, and a thing I looked forward to.

My favorite part was going to the creek and exploring. We would eat lunch under the bridge, then go explore. We climbed over trees, saw the coolest animals, and felt at peace with the rushing water, and the birds calling out to each other. We learned about springs and tested the water there. We all had a vision of what this was going to become, and slowly working together, we started seeing it. It will take time for our work on paper to become a real image, but I am happy that we planted the seeds for generations to come.

Japhet Creek Memories

My favorite memories at Japhet were at the creek.  

We get off the bus, hunger gnawing at our stomachs. As adolescents, we are always hungry, and complaining is a bad habit we all possess.

“Its soooo cold!” One student complained.

“Yes, I am so hungry, I want my food!”

We started off our day by spraying bug spray all over our bodies. For some reason, mosquitos really liked to hang out at Japhet, and eat adolescents alive. We were given a game plan on what we had to do, and we were told if we finished farming early we would get to go into the creek. That was our motivation. So, we got started and tried to be as efficient as possible. We weeded the gardens and planted new plants. Then we watered it and marveled at our work. If adolescents have a goal to work towards and motivation, we work together really well. So, we walked to the creek, the sun warming our backs, the smell of greenery and coffee swirling around us. We were pretty loud and disrupted a lot of birds. We climbed down the usual trail to the creek and hopped down to the creek bed. The springs feeding the creek rushed with cold water. The creek was filled with tiny fish and so many plants. It was its own ecosystem, sustaining plants and animals, teaching adolescents. I put my boots on and waded through the creek. I felt the cold water through my rain boots. Our group split in half, one going upstream, the other downstream. I went upstream because I did not have a good experience with downstream the last time. My boots filled with water. I got stuck in the mud, and we found a snake. The water downstream did not move as much and was a lot deeper, alot less clear. There was a lot of collected trash downstream as well. I thought upstream was going to be the same. We started up, and after a couple minutes we found a dead end. Trees had fallen due to Harvey making it impossible to go through. I was disappointed. So far, upstream had been very peaceful. We had even found a crawfish. Some people turned back. They had given up. I would not give up; I was determined to get to the other side. I looked around and there were fallen trees, huge rocks, and soil that had eroded because it had nothing to hold on to.

“Hold this,” Sarah told me, handing me her stuff. She had an idea. I watched as she climbed up the bank, onto a rock, went around the trees, and disappeared.  I told the person behind me to hold my stuff, and followed Sarah's voice. I climbed up, grabbing on to roots, trying to avoid thorns and got to the top. Now I needed to get back down to the other side.

“It is not that hard,” Sarah assured me. “It's lovely down here.” So I climbed down through the leaves and greenery, scraping myself a few times. I jumped down on a rock almost slipping. Some of the rocks had moss or algae making them slippery. We told the others how to get on the other side, and soon enough they all joined us. The trees formed a canopy over us, giving us shade. The birds chirped singing to each other. The water rushed faster here, and it was a lot cleaner. We continued our adventure looking at fish, trees, spiders, bugs, and some droppings.

 We were quiet trying not to scare anything off. We jumped from rock to rock when the creek got too deep. When we reached the end we were all flushed and sweating. It was a lot of fun. There we sat down and drew some of the things we saw in the creek and analyzed them. In the creek it felt as if I were on an adventure somewhere else. It did not feel like I was in Houston, in the middle of refineries and freeways. The trees filtered the air, making it crisp and clean. The animals covered the sounds of cars. Going to the creek was a treat for us. We learned about springs, we tested the water, and it gave us shelter and fun.

 I am so glad I got to experience this and see the big plans for the future. I am okay with not being there to see it complete because I am happy we got to make the plans for many years to come. One day in the future, everyone will see a nice looking house, garden, and well-tended animals. They will see all the hard work, dedication, and love everyone put into Japhet.