Into the Streets – Week 1/ En las Calles – Semana 1

A little over a month ago, my friends and I started a tradition of making PBJ Sandwiches on homemade bread and bringing them to the homeless of Springfield. The last time we went was our 4^th week, and I have learned such a great deal in just these 4 weeks that I decided to share my journal entries with you all. I think a lot of times there are barriers between different social classes and it prevents us from truly loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. In breaking some of these barriers, I have been able to learn so much. I hope that what you will read will open your eyes and I encourage you all to reach out to those who may look or live differently than yourself and give not only your money or resources, but rather your time and love.

 Week 1:

“If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.” – Deuteronomy 15:7-8

This past week, my friend Miguel, who has really gotten into the art of bread making, presented the idea to me of making fresh loaves of bread to use to make sandwiches that we can bring to the homeless of the area. He talked about it with 3 other guys, and so this Friday the 5 of us got together to make PBJ sandwiches on freshly baked bread. After bagging them up, we loaded into my friend’s jeep and drove down to Kearny Street because my friend heard there was a homeless shelter around there. After driving up and down Kearny and not seeing a whole lot, we stopped at a Walgreens for directions. Across the parking lot, I saw two guys walking down the street with backpacks who appeared to be homeless. I suggested we go talk to them, so my friend flagged them down and we told them we had PBJ sandwiches if they were interested. Their faces lit up as they took the sandwiches. One of the guys said this was awesome because he wasn’t going to have any money until 8 PM tonight and he was very hungry. He said, “this will fill the hole inside me for a while”. These words really touched my heart. We continued to talk about where they had come from – one was from California and the other from Tennessee and both had travelled all over the country. After talking for a while longer, they left and went to find a shelter to stay at.

We decided to head to Commercial Street and see what happened. This was definitely the place to go to find the homeless. We walked to different groups of people hanging out around the Missouri Hotel and handed out sandwiches to them all. They all were really excited to eat them and just to talk with us. One lady said she grew up in Springfield so she knew the area really well. She looked really put together and like she could be anyone of my friend’s mom. She was very loving to all the others there and definitely was the peace maker. It made me wonder more of her story and how she got to where she was.

Lying next to her was an older man who was sleeping. She said he had just passed out from drinking so much. He finally aroused awake and told us how he just got out of the hospital yesterday because his blood alcohol was at 3.0. It made me think about how everyone struggles with something different in life and turns to different things to “fill” them. For this man, it was alcohol. It is easy for someone on the outside who has never had this struggle to judge and especially to think, well I shouldn’t help the homeless because they will just spend it on alcohol or drugs or cigarettes. The reality is that not all will do this, and even those who do, just need as much help. Maybe it is not that they need our money, but rather they need our love. Mother Teresa says, “Many people die every day for a piece of bread, but many more are dying for a little love. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”

One thing that stood out to me, however, was that when two people started to fight, the lady who looked well put together yelled at them to stop cursing. She mentioned that “these people from the Church don’t want to hear that.” Although my friends and I are Christian, we not once brought up our faith or God. I thought it was an interesting assumption she made and was thinking how they must get a lot of people from various churches who come and try to spread God’s word with them. While I think this is awesome, I also think that sometimes it is more important to just to spread God by our actions more than our words. We must meet people where they are and build a genuine relationship with them before they are able to gain respect for us and be receptive to the good news of Christ that we might want to share with them.

After some more great conversations and once all of our sandwiches were gone, we went back to my friend’s house and discussed the evening. We talked about what we heard and the direction we wanted to go with this group in the future. We talked about how it would be neat to open this to others who were interested, but we also wanted to be able to keep the small group feel to it so that it was not just a huge wave of people coming in. We decided that maybe we can find other areas where the homeless go and once we do that, open the idea up to more people.

One man asked if we had an extra pair of shoes and another a winter coat that we could bring. We talked about what else we could do to help and I suggested that we simply talk to them in our conversations about what their needs are. I’ve been reading a lot about the best ways to make change in the world or to help others, and a common theme has been that you have to meet people where they are at and listen to them for the solution to their problems. Often we come in with ideas of what we want to do to change things, but often these are not the best solutions. For example, we went in with these PBJ sandwiches thinking it was the best idea, but one of the guys had a peanut allergy, and we weren’t able to give him anything. But through talking with them, seeing what their lives are like, and letting them tell us what they are most in need of, I bet we will be able to do much more good.

Mother Teresa says, “To understand the poor, we must know poverty. Otherwise, we speak a different language.” I’m excited for this new group that we’ve started – we hope to spend more time in conversation with the people we meet and really make genuine relationships with them. I think I will learn a lot from them and from this experience.

 

Hace un mes, mis amigos y yo empezamos una tradición de hacer PBJ sándwiches y llevarlos a los sin hogar en Springfield. La última vez que fuimos, fue nuestro 4 semana, y he aprendido tanto en solo 4 semanas, que decidí compartir a mis experiencias con ustedes. Creo que muchas veces hay barreras entre clases sociales diferentes y nos impide amar completamente nuestros hermanos y hermanas en Cristo. En romper estas barreras, he aprendido mucho. Espero que lo que leas abrirá a tus ojos y espero que no solo das tu dinero o recursos a los en la pobreza, sino tu tiempo y amor.

“Si hay un hombre pobre en medio de ti, a uno de sus hermanos, en cualquiera de los pueblos de la tierra de Dios, no endurecerás tu corazón, ni cerrarás tu mano a tu hermano pobre, sino que abrirá libremente tu mano a él, y con generosidad le prestarás lo que basta en todo lo que le falta ” – Deut. 15:7-8

La semana pasada, mi amigo Miguel presentó la idea de hacer pan fresco y usarlo para hacer sándwiches que podemos llevar a los sin hogar en el área. 5 de nosotros hicieron PBJ sándwiches y manejamos a Kearny Street, donde escuchamos que había un refugio para los sin hogar. Después de manejar por allá y no encontrar a nadie, paramos en Walgreens para direcciones. Vi 2 hombres al otro lado de la calle que parecieron de ser sin hogar. Mi amigo les dijo que tuvimos sándwiches si querían uno. Uno de los hombres nos dijeron que tuviera mucho hambre y dijo “este va a llenar el hueco adentro por un ratito”. Este me tocó el corazón. Seguimos hablando y ellos nos contó un poco de sus historias. Uno estaba de California y el otro Tennessee – ambos habían viajado por todo el país. Finalmente siguieron al refugio.

Decidimos seguir al Commercial Street y ver que pasa. Este definitivamente fue el lugar para encontrar a alguien sin hogar. Caminamos a varios grupos de personas cerca del Missouri Hotel y dimos sándwiches a todos. Todos estaban muy felices hablar con nosotros. Una mujer nos dijo que se creció en Springfield y conocía bien el área. Parecía que pudiera ser una de las madres de mis amigos. Ella estaba muy cariñosa y definitivamente estaba la de paz. Me hizo preguntarme sobre su historia y como llega allí.

A su lado estaba un hombre durmiendo. Nos dijo ella que él acaba de desmayarse de tomar tanto. Finalmente se despertó y nos dijo que acaba de salir el hospital ayer porque su alcohol de sangre estaba 3.0. Me hizo pensar de cómo todos tienen diferentes sufrimientos en esta vida y que usamos diferentes cosas para llenarlos. Por este hombre, fue alcohol. Es fácil para alguien pensar, pues, no debo ayudar a los sin hogares porque van a usarlo para el alcohol o drogas. La realidad es que no todos lo hace este, y los que hacerlo, necesitan bastante ayuda. Tal vez no necesitan nuestro dinero, sin nuestro amor. Madre Teresa dice, “Muchos se mueren cada día por un pedazo de pan, pero mucho mas se mueren por un poco amor. Hay un hambre de amor, como hay un hambre de Dios.”

Una cosa que noté es que cuando dos personas empezaron a pelear, ella dijo parar porque “estas personas de la iglesia no quieren escuchar este.” Aunque mis amigos y yo somos cristianos, nunca dijimos nada de Dios o nuestra fe. Es interesante como hizo esta asunción y imagino que muchas personas vienen de iglesias tratando de compartir la palabra de Dios. Aunque pienso que este impresionante, también, a veces creo que es más importante difundir a Dios entre nuestros acciones más que palabras. Tenemos que conocer a los demás donde están y crecer una relación genuina con ellos antes de que puedan tener respeto para nosotros y ser receptivo a las noticias buenas de Dios.

Después de más conversaciones, regresamos a la casa de mi amigo y hablamos de todo. De lo que escuchamos y la dirección que queremos ir con el grupo. Queremos abrirlo a más personas, pero también queremos que no esté tan grande que sale la toca personal. Decidimos que podemos encontrar a otros lugares con personas sin hogar y luego abrirlo a los de más.

Un hombre nos preguntó si tuvimos algunos zapatos y otro un abrigo. Hablamos de que podemos hacer para ayudar y dije que debemos hablar más con ellos en conversaciones de sus necesidades. He estado leyendo mucho de las maneras mejores de ayudar a los de más, y un tema común es que tienes que escuchar a los de más para la solución de sus problemas. Muchas veces venimos con ideas de que tenemos que hacer para llevar cambio, pero muchas veces no es la solución mejor. Por ejemplo, fuimos con PBJ pensando que fue la idea mejor, pero había un hombre con una alergia de maní, y no podíamos darlo nada. Con hablar con él y permitirles decirnos que necesitan, imagino que podemos hacer mucho más.

Madre Teresa dice, “Para entender los pobres, tenemos que saber la pobreza. Si no, hablamos otra idioma.” Estoy emocionada para este grupo nuevo y crecer en relaciones genuinos con ellos. Creo que voy a aprender mucho de esta experiencia.

To Understand the Poor, We Must Know Poverty

Last month, I had the opportunity to stay at the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. Heifer International works to provide animals to people living in poverty – these animals not only provide food, or milk, but also a reliable income, as agricultural products such as milk, eggs and honey can be traded or sold. We did a number of group activities, each with a lesson that about the mindset that is necessary to confront global poverty (http://www.heifer.org/about-heifer/index.html). We then toured 7 different makeshift “villages”, learning about what life is like in various parts of the world and hearing the real life stories of people that the organization has helped. That night, we experienced the Global Challenge, in which we picked a number that told us our fate of what village we would be living in for the night. We were each given a certain amount of provisions or access to things, such as water or firewood, which we had to decide how to divide or trade among the villages.

The Zambia village

I want to share with you all a little about my experience and some lessons I learned. I typed up a 10 page document about the whole weekend, but I thought I would just share with you my experience in the Global Village. If you are interested in reading more about the experience and learning about what life is like in other countries, I would be more than happy to send you the longer version!

My experience in the Global Village: 

My fate was to spend the night in the urban slums. Because all the villages decided to cook and divide our food provisions equally, the night started out well. We had a great time sitting around and bonding together. As the night grew darker, the other slum dwellers and I made our way back to our village. We all decided to sleep in the “luxury” slum, which had a sheet of plywood on the ground, so we wouldn’t be lying directly on the dirt. Earlier that day we were informed how our makeshift slums that were surrounded by the woods and fresh air would be a huge luxury compared to what they are like in reality. I brought in the village with me only a journal and pen, wanting to really throw myself into the experience. Before I knew it, however, I was borrowing someone’s bug spray to keep my legs from being annihilated anymore by mosquitoes.

As I lay on the hard board, I prayed to rest my mind in hopes that I would drift to sleep. Unfortunately, this was to no avail. There was a fire ant infestation on the farm, and their constant bites kept me up all night. Even greater than the ants, though, were the millions of thoughts running through my head. While this is ONE night for me that I am struggling to get through, this is the REALITY of every night for 1 in 7 people in the world RIGHT NOW. I tried to last the entire night without using any extra provisions, but of course, at one point I became very cold. Some of the other girls had brought sleeping bags, and as I debated if I should rough it out or climb into my friend’s sleeping bag, my desire for comfort overcame me sure enough I crawled in with her. To put things in perspective, during the day temperatures probably reached 100 F, so night could not have been all that cold. This made me think about what it would be like to sleep during the dead of winter without a blanket. My mind can really not wrap itself around this idea. Another thing I realized is how much a simple provision such as a blanket could make on someone’s life. Something so simple as a blanket could be a huge “game changer” in someone’s life.

Another thing I experienced during the night is what intense fear is like. At one point during the night, my friend Nydia and I heard someone outside our slum. I did not remember anyone leaving, and told Nydia that I thought someone was outside. They proceeded to enter our little slum dwelling. Nydia looked at me with the face of fear and said, “No se mueve.” Or, “Don’t move”. I decided to follow her instructions, hoping that whoever it was would walk out and leave us alone. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I did not know what else to do, so I began to pray as hard as I could. I was literally paralyzed in fear and I just kept praying over and over for our protection. Thirty minutes had probably passed, and as I only heard the slight movement of the girls, I felt a bit of peace come over me. I began to pray not only for myself and the girls in our slum, but rather for the millions of people in the world who are making the same prayers, living in fear of their safety every single night. Finally Nydia faked a cough attack to wake up the rest of the girls and we realized that luckily it was only one of the other girls who had left earlier in the night and was returning. But that experience allowed me to see what huge power fear can have. It showed me how some people could have such a strong faith in such harsh conditions, as when you are in situations like that, all you really have to turn to is God. On the flip side, I know not everyone does turn to God in those situations, which is even a harder reality. I thought a lot about God in my own life and how if I really would put my trust in Him, I should not let this thing called fear overtake me.

I ended up sleeping probably 30 minutes max the entire night, and it by far was one of the longest nights of my life – I thought the sun would never rise. But it gave me an experience that really shaped my view on poverty. It put me into the mindset of what it is like to experience poverty. But the sad thing is that it was only ONE night. The next day, I was pretty worn out and tired, falling asleep on the ride home, then getting to cuddle up in my bed and sleep a nice 8 hours without interruption. After some much needed sleep, I was able to go about my daily life and routines again. But what if I had to do that day after day after day? What if I didn’t have a friend’s bug spray to borrow or a warm blanket to keep me warm? What if I had to wake up and go labor in the sun to make a few dollars to buy food or try to get up and search for employment?

It is so easy in life to live in our little bubble with all the luxuries we could imagine and our biggest problem of the day is trying to choose what brand of yogurt to buy (not to say we don’t have our own real struggles as well…)  I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled to various countries and seen a lot of different ways of life in person, and I know this has really opened my eyes and given me a lot of empathy for others. Yet, seeing poverty from the outside and living poverty are two completely different things. Mother Teresa says, “To understand the poor, we must know poverty. Otherwise, we speak another language.”

Key Points for Change:

• Development. Not just providing fish, but teaching communities to fish. Developing lasting infrastructures are important for change.
• Faith-based. Although people with all beliefs can work for change, but I believe even more important than providing food or education is providing God’s love. What the poor need more than our money and resources is our time and genuine love. “Physical diseases can be cured by medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. Many people die each day for a piece of bread, but many more are dying for a little love. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.” – Mother Teresa
• Holistic. It is important to work with not only the community, but also engage with other organizations with the same mission. How much stronger will we be if we all help each other.
• Personal change. It is easy to point fingers as to who is to blame for the world’s problems or what needs to be done. But I believe big change starts in the hearts of each individual. “The conflicts in our society are but symptoms of an inner torment. If we are to restore our society, we must begin on the inside.” “Peace and war begin at home. If we truly want peace in the world, let us begin by loving one another in our own families.” – Mother Teresa
• Get to know someone living in poverty. Often we look down on the poor. We must see them with dignity as our brother and sister. Invite someone who is homeless to eat lunch with you – you will learn a lot from them!
• Get to know poverty yourself. Fast for a day and reflect on how it feels. Sleep on the ground without any blankets. “To understand the poor, we must know poverty. Otherwise, we speak another language.” – Mother Teresa
• Let solutions come from the people themselves. “Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say, we have done this ourselves.” – Lao Tzu. Don’t enter a community as a “helper” but rather as a “partner.”

“When people are healthy, strong, and well-nourished, they have the energy, creativity, security, and courage to solve problems, create great worlds of art and music, contribute to scientific advances, and live their daily lives with dignity and joy, ultimately advancing civilization to new heights.” – Feeding Minds

See what others are doing in the fight against hunger: http://www.heifer.org/whencowsfly/

Educate yourself:

• http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts.aspx
• http://www.stophungernow.org/hunger-facts
• http://www.nokidhungry.org/problem/overview

Get involved:

• Society of St. Andrew: http://www.endhunger.org/
• Convoy of Hope: http://www.convoyofhope.org/
• Ozarks Food Harvest: http://www.ozarksfoodharvest.org/
• Crosslines: http://www.ccozarks.org/?i=16085&mid=1000&id=401367
• Victory Mission: http://www.victorymission.com/
• Bread for the World: http://www.bread.org/