Faith Dickens's Blog
Reflection on being "homeless" / 11.18.08, 12:10 PM
This past weekend our mission year area cities (Philly, Camden and Wilmington) came together to participate in an urban solitude experience to learn about homelessness and try it out for a day. This is the reflection I wrote Saturday night after my day on the streets of Philadelphia…
Wow. What a day. I am exhausted and my heart is so full of joy. Who knew I would feel this way after a day of being homeless? I didn’t know what to expect with this whole thing. I was nervous about how I would find food, how I would start conversations, but God sure amazes me. After some instructions and activities on Friday night we spent the night in a church building with no lights or heat. We were woken up at 6 am on Saturday and after we were given a map we were dropped off in various spots around Philadelphia with no phone, money or food.
Linda, Rebekah and I decided we would take some time to sit alone and think and pray about the day. I sat in front of the fountain and looked up to see the huge gold cross on the top of the Cathedral across the street. I prayed that God would teach me something today, that he would show me where to go and who to talk with. It wasn’t five minutes before I looked over and saw someone wave at me. I walked over and sat on the next bench and met Jeffrey. He asked me what I was doing thinking so hard. I explained what I was doing for the day and he was instantly worried that I wouldn’t have food to eat. He showed me where a big group of homeless people were waiting in line and said some food was coming. Jeffrey walked me over and got in line with me. I could tell he was homeless but he didn’t say much about it. We got in line together and got our first meal of the day, turkey and dressing. I sat and ate with Jeffrey and he told me a little about his life. I soon met John sitting next to me. He told me about how he had worked the polls for the election on Tuesday and after working for 12 hours, didn’t get paid. A few minutes later a van pulled up with some people bringing coffee, donuts, and bag lunches. The guys called them the regulars because they were people that faithfully showed up with food every Saturday, no matter what. They were really generous and gave us tons of food. I got several bags to take with me. Jeffrey soon said goodbye and headed to a bookstore for the day. I sat with John for a while as he told me about his family, his life and what it was like to be homeless. Soon we wandered over to the benches nearby to wait for the next food drop off.
Rebekah, Linda and I got back together and met Fred, who had lived out there for 21 years. Fred has received housing now, one room on the other side of town but he doesn’t have any money so he comes down to the park each day to try to eat and spend time with people. He knew all about the area, whether it was the people or the city itself. He told us that the people out here living in the park were his family and he had grown up out there. Fred, John and their friends soon welcomed us into their group like we were family. It started getting cold outside and soon began raining. One of the guys who had just found an umbrella came over and gave it to us. When a group came to drop off blankets and coats, the men made sure that we were wrapped up in blankets so we wouldn’t get cold and wet. We sat in the park for hours as we watched the parade of people dropping off food. I was worried that I wouldn’t eat today and by the end of the day I had been given eight different meals. Each time a new car would pull up to drop off food, the homeless people would form a line, and each time, they made sure we were at the front of the line.
Throughout the day as we sat and enjoyed meal after meal with Fred, Kenny, Angel and a big group of homeless men I started to realize that all of my life I’ve had the mindset that I could give things to people in need. I could give them food or shelter or money and care for their needs. However, during this day I didn’t give these guys anything, I simply sat and shared meals with them. I didn’t even say much I just sat and listened to their amazing stories. What made the day so great was that we weren’t interrupted by ringing cell phones or constantly looking at our watches because we had somewhere to be. We were simply able to be together with no time limitations.
At the end of the day, these guys were friends, not projects. Fred took it upon himself to tell us everything he knows about being homeless. We were really honest about what it was we were doing out there for the day and the guys really appreciated it. They enjoyed the chance to be our teachers for the day and I can’t believe how much I learned. Fred wants to continue to show us things about the city and we are going to try to meet up with him again this week.
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