Paige in Detroit

Memoirs

2009-08-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

Now I sit here, late afternoon, under the overpass. It is the home of those who live on the margins of society. Literally. It wreaks of body fluids and is littered with shoes, paint cans, buckets, and empty glass bottles, discarded by those who found the bottom. The walls are covered in graffiti. A beautiful reminder of the hurt and angst running rampant through this city: "RIP Uncle Brad." "Death." Or other unreadable letters, decipherable by only their authors. I want to forget this stench, but I know I won't. I want to avert my eyes from that little orange pill bottle, twenty feet away, but I can't. I want to pretend like this was all part of the past, but Mareese doesn't have to live here, but it's not... And he does. The only thing new about this place are the brand new porn 'zines stacked by the fence. They curse any hope that enters here, and tell me I'm not wanted. The smell wafts through the air, curling around and around in circles.

It has nowhere to go... just like everything else.

Homecoming

2009-07-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's true. I am home. And if you're reading this wondering why I haven't made an attempt to see you, it is because I this trip is unexpected and temporary. I returned home for a few days to spend some time with my mom and help her along with some things. Depending on how long I stay, I am going to try to make it to some doctor appointments (PCP, Oncology, Urology) and see what her treatment plan will be. It has been good just being able to encourage her and be with her and my dad. It's difficult to leave the mission in Detroit, but as one pastor reminded me recently: God first, family second, mission third. I guess I'm getting a taste of what that really means.

Let's see... updates on Detroit...

Camp is going well. Tomorrow, the other interns will start the fourth week of camp. The end is in sight!! We had a rough third week, with a lot of bumps and unexpected twists and turns. The church where we were holding day camp (Blessed Sacrament) was unavailable for Monday and Tuesday, so we had to move back to the first church we used (Tried Stone). We then had to move back to Blessed Sacrament for Wednesday and Thursday. The kids were crazy without a set schedule, and on some days we attempted to do educational time outside, which was a mess. There were several fights, and copious amounts of children have been kicked out of camp for doing so. The meal schedules have also made life hectic. We usually provide the kids with three meals. In the morning, they receive a breakfast bar with juice if we have it. We are bussed to a local school for a free hot lunch program. Lunches are donated to us as well, so we can save those to bag up and send the children home with dinner.

What else... Our entire house has been sick at least once. The black lung (okay, it was just a cold) made it full circle, and all of us have been tired and lacking for the past week. I have been sick for a little over two weeks now, and I am so exhausted! It's difficult yelling at kids to get out of holes without a voice ;) I have received care packages full of cough drops, ibuprofen, and tea bags though, so I think I'll make it.

One of my favorite things we did recently was our discussion with ShaCha, the woman who leads our race discussion. We watched a speech of a white man named Tim Wise, speaking on white privilege. He talked a lot about how we can see poor blacks as being underprivileged, without seeing middle class whites as being overprivileged. He also gave insane statistics dealing with institutionalized racism and the injustice of such a thing.

My five white housemates and I watched this video with some of ShaCha's black friends, and discussed what stood out to us, whether it was related to our age, race, social status, or religion. It was so awesome to see why some of the things Tim Wise said hit home to them, and why it affected us as well. We had a question and answer section at the end of the video, and we could write anonymous questions on note cards and discuss things that way. It was an overall amazing experience. I have never had that kind of opportunity before!

The following are some statistics and important points Tim Wise revealed in his talk:

In the 1990's, over 800,000 black people died because of inequeal health care.

In a 1962 poll, white people were stopped on the street to ask if there is equality between blacks and whites. Seventy two percent said yes.

Black men are 3x more likely to be stopped by the police for suspected drug possession.
White men are 4x more likely to actually have drugs when they are stopped.

Terrorism is blamed on nineteen Arabs, causing many Arabs to be profiled and set apart. The one hundred twenty four white terrorists in history do not impact the face of the white community.

I will leave you with these things to think about.

Peace.

Update

2009-07-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

So, sorry to everyone who has been checking this blog... with no new updates! My team and I are super busy all day, and usually do not have the chance to access computers very often. Right now, it is a quiet Saturday night. My five housemates and I are at a coffee shop in the suburbs. Our friend, Blair, just performed some muzak and poetry, and we came out to support him. I'll try to catch all you lovely people up on the past three weeks of my life.

First of all, the team met at our new home on Sunday, June 21st. Our house is located in the hub of the neighborhood, on the corner of two fairly busy streets. We are two blocks away from our director's house, two blocks from the CDC office, for whom are are working, across the street from a park, next door to our landlord, and about ten blocks away from the church where we hold daycamp (or is it daycare?!) Just recently, our house was the hotspot for drug activity, and the building next door staged as a laundromat but secretly was used in drug deals and the like. Our landlord, a Christian guy living out his faith in the neighborhood, bought a house next door to ours, to be close to the action and love on people. With time, our house became available, and he bought it as well. As for the laundromat, CDC bought it out, and turned it into a fresh produce store.

There are six of us living in the top half of a three bedroom, one bathroom duplex. It's very interesting. We have daycamp from roughly 7:30-3:30 daily, and at night we have various things planned. Our evenings consist of house worship night, studying the Word, studying a book we're reading, studying various articles on race/reconciliation, eating with pastors and other impactful people in the community, and personal devotion times. On the weekends, we are relatively free to relax and/or spend the time falling in love with the city. We receive $20 per person for a weekly groceries, and $25 as a weekly stipend. The grocery money does not usually carry us to the next week, so we usually spend our stipend on food as well!

Food provision in the neighborhood is a pretty big issue. There are no chain grocery stores in the entire city of Detroit, so we rely on small corner stores and other privately owned grocers to supply food. They gouge patrons pretty horribly, and the prices are comparable to a grocery store near a vacationing hotspot. We do not have transportation, so we have to borrow a car from someone to go grocery shopping every week.

We are now three weeks into the journey, and two weeks into daycamp. Daycamp is a tiring, tiring job. I, personally, am working with first graders. It is a crazy group of twenty-ish 5-7 year olds, and they usually cannot be contained. Many kids are not receiving structure or love at home, so it is a difficult task to break down barriers and love on them. The kids are provided with Bible time, Math time, Reading time, Recreation time, and Craft time. They seem to really enjoy themselves, but they have issues listening to authority, especially white young women. They almost always relate to men better.

We hold camp at various churches, and depending on the week, we may or may not have volunteer groups come in from the suburbs to help out. It is extremely helpful to have extra hands there. Unfortunately, my phone was stolen from one of the churches where we hold daycamp. Hopefully I will replace that soon.

Right now, the biggest things I am learning is humility. It is extremely humbling to ask for a car, or ask for a ride somewhere, or even to ask to borrow a phone now. For some time, we didn't have gas on in our house, so we had to ask to wash clothes or take a shower at someone else's house.

We also are faced with the fact that Jesus is already moving in this city. We are NOT some great missionaries. We are not the ones bringing the good news. It is imperitive that we realize how much we have to learn about race, religion, and this community. We must humble ourselves and accept our roles as observers. We will learn. We will be changed.

I'm going to leave it at that for now. We are all tired, and ready to go home and head to bed. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

-Paige

Just Getting Started...

2009-05-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

Hey Friends!

Even though it's a few weeks before departure for the Motor City Summer internship, I figured I could go ahead and start blogging anyway. I wanted to let everyone know where I am in the days leading up to this whole thing.

Mostly, I am just filled with plain excitement. Excitement to serve the Lord, to meet new people, to get out of Cincinnati for a little bit, to be on my own. That excitement is mixed, at times, with apprehension, confusion, frustration, and fear, but overall I am confident and pumped to go do this.

Fundraising is going really well. In fact, I have enough to go on the trip! I am trying to raise the extra $1,500 allotted to be paid at the end of the summer, so I can pay for rent here in Cincinnati. Since I found out about the trip so late, I have been scrambling (with no luck so far) to find a lovely lady to sublet. I'm not worried about the money though. It will work out.

I'm struggling with being in Cincinnati while I'm physically in Cincinnati. There have been many times I've wanted to be finished with school. I've wanted to have graduated by now. I have yearned just to be in Detroit already. I know I need to concentrate on my schoolwork and be grounded while I finish up these next few weeks.

I think that's it for now. I'll update this as time goes on.

Peace.