PLA… or something like it. Maybe.

Well, I attempted to do some Participatory Learning Activities with some of the kids in the neighborhood.  There were supposed to be six, but only three showed up and one of them was six.  So, needless to say, I wasn’t able to get much accomplished.  

We chowed down on some pepperoni and some sausage pizza and then tried to get some stuff done.  I managed to get some really great stuff, surprisingly. I may try to do this again, but if possible I want to have more participants and more in a certain age range.  I am not so sure I will be able to do that though, but perhaps.

The Victims:

 

I asked them to draw a map of their street and the things that were important to them.

I was going to try to make a pie chart of what kind of foods they ate.  We started naming pizza, chicken, french fries, carry out.  It devolved into a list of things “we do”, but the original idea was to have them tell me how much of what they ate… oh well.

The last thing I wanted them to do is called pairwise ranking. I had them list problems and “bad things” that go on in the neighborhood.  Then I made a chart and had them each rank them from 1 to 6.  Unfortunately I did it backwards, so the problem with the lowest total was defined as the biggest problem.  The biggest thing that came out of this was their knowledge of such things at such a young age.

I’m not sure the six year old knows what raping is, but that is what they defined as the biggest problem in the neighborhood.  So, crime is obvious to them and part of their lives at ages 6, 10, and 11. I thought I would share this with you.

We had a lot of fun once I was able to keep them calm enough to get stuff done.  They all taught me their secret handshake and said “peace out.”  I hope to be able to do this with focus groups of neighborhood residents.

i see a darkness… and a light.

 

Today has been very interesting, filled with ups and downs.  It’s hard to believe my time here is halfway over.  I spent the morning making recommended changes to the survey that I am going to start next week and went and visited the DC housing authority.

The day became interesting when Michael, the local neighbor who occasionally comes over was outside playing with the granddaughter of the woman who lives next door.  I sat and talked with Joyce (my neighbor) while the two kids played. I got to play the djembe with the little girl and we hung out for a little with the boy down the street named Treyshawn, who I often see scootering back and forth aimlessly.  He was distributing “his newspaper” to every house on his side of the block.  It was old computer paper that he had drawn all over with pictures and scribbles and letters.  He told Kaylin (the little girl) and me about the robots, the credit cards, and the zoo; all current events of course. 

Treyshawn had to go and see his grandma, who hollered for him, and I do mean holler. Mothers/grandmothers here yell a lot at their children, even when they’re not always mad.  This is normal in black culture because people are just louder, which is just different than what is usual for me.  I’m a quiet person unless surrounded by my friends or family, so this has taken some getting used to.  I think that I’ve become louder and bolder in conversation than I used to be simply by living in this neighborhood.  Although, for my other neighbors that are white, most are very quiet and keep to themselves.  There’s a lot of fear and misunderstanding between people here. It’s a sad thing when parents are afraid to let their children play in their own streets and enjoy the summer and the outdoors that God created.  There aren’t many kids in the neighborhood where I live and I don’t suspect that will change for a while because most people moving in do not have/want children.

When Kaylin went inside I met a man who hangs out at a renter house two doors down named Joelle.  He wasn’t homeless, but told me that he had been once or twice.  He loved music and we talked about jazz and how much he liked Elvis and all sorts of music.  He grew up in DC and spent all of his 51 years here.  He spent some of them in a mental hospital, which he told me was because his parents tried to poison him.  It became apparent to me in talking with him that he was not all there.

He informed me that Bush was Satanic, selling our country to China. He named countless evangelists and television preachers and told me that they were all of the devil, bringing about “the end times.”  He told me he could see spirits throughout DC.  There were all sorts of people and things, but he knew and grew up with some of them he told me. He told me he knew the Lord Jesus. Only God himself knows if he does, but I know that Joelle is troubled.  He’s given up hope on the world and he’s waiting for Jesus to come back and take him.  Seeing people in pain, hurting, homelessness, hopelessness, drugs is sobering and draining. You only need to venture a few blocks from beautiful downtown to encounter this darkness.

There is fear, and hate, and love and misunderstanding in this city.  In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.”  America is still very much a country plagued with racial problems and we fool ourselves if we think that it is not a relevant, important, or current issue.

As I was thinking and walking earlier in the day I was reminded of a song by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy…  

“Well you know I have a love, for everyone I know
And you know I have a drive, for life I won’t let go
But sometimes this opposition, comes rising up in me
This terrible imposition, comes blacking through my mind

And then I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
Do you know how much I love you
Cause I’m hoping some day soon
You’ll save me from this darkness”

I have seen a darkness in this place.  It’s all around. I’ve also seen a light in the form of Christ’s love, through the work of local churches and organizations and people battling daily.  I know that we all can’t all volunteer or spend our time working with the hurting people, but the souls that I’ve seen here are the same aching souls I’ve seen all around and in every city in America.  They need Love in it’s most perfect form: Jesus. Find ways to care.  So many people tell me they’re ‘too busy to volunteer.’ And that may be true! …but maybe we should make time.

I am not a pessimist, but a reality check is sobering and reminds me often that we are a sinful and broken people.  I pray that Christ comes quickly or continues to give His people the grace to endure and persevere.  I hope reading this this doesn’t sadden you too greatly, but this was my day and I thought I would share it.

So that you do not think I am filled with sadness at all times, I am having a wonderful time and my internship has been such a great experience so far. My host is wonderful and this city is so fun to wander and meander through, finding hole-in-the-wall places or to simply admire.

Sobered but full of the hope found in His Gospel,
Chris

while i’ve got a chance to breathe.

Hello all.  I sent out a mass e-mail about a week ago.  If you didn’t get it or know someone who would want it, just tell me and I’d be happy to add you to the list.  I’ll probably send out another update sometime soon, but for now…

Last night I got to see Modest Mouse and R.E.M. for free!  My host had some free tickets. Patrick and I hauled our butts out to Columbia, MD to get to the show.  We caught the tail end of M.M., but we missed the National who opened.  R.E.M. put on a great show.  ’Twas fun.

Things are slowly starting to gain speed.  My first chance to get to know someone who lives in the neighborhood is happening in a little less than half an hour.  Her name is Phyllis and she lives a block from me.  She’s lived here for twenty years! I’m just excited to get the chance to meet someone who’s been here for such a long time.  Pray that through her I am able to make many connections within the neighborhood and that I would be able to bless her in return somehow.

Please pray for the area surrounding where I live.  Nothing has happened in my neighborhood, and for some reason that has been true in the past, but there have been a lot of homicides, robberies, and muggings in the past three weeks.  In the neighborhood north of mine, 5 people have been killed in the last two weeks.  The neighborhood is on lock down at night by the local DC police and you have to go through a police barricade to get in, and only if you live there at night.  In the NE and SE part of DC, 8 people were shot (fortunately none died… it was in the W. Post) last night alone.  This city is a breeding ground for violence in the summer… it will only get worse as the schools get out and it gets hotter.  Mom or grandpa, don’t worry… If I go out at night now, I don’t go alone and I stay on well-lit streets.  All I can do is pray that God protects me.  The rest is in His hands. Pray for my safety and for the safety of people that live in the surrounding neighborhoods.  

I’m going to be interviewing a lady who works for a CDC (community development corporation) in the neighborhood and I am hoping to get he chance to meet neighborhood residents from the church.  Through that I hope to start building a web of people to gather information from and get to know.  Eventually I want to do some PLA (participatory learning activites) with a group of them… one all-women, one all-men, and another that would be mixed.  I want to try to do a focus group with them also.  So pray that the Lord would open those doors.  

Another opportunity to do research and also just a chance sto be blessed is through a boy named Michael (that’s his self-portrait below.)  Michael lives with his grandmother and comes to the house often.  His father and mother are both out of the picture, so he lacks a good influence and in lots of ways, someone to just love on him.  Joe, Andrew, and Andrea are trying to invest into him.  He usually comes over, eats food, hangs out for a little and leaves.  Last weekend he was over here for about three hours.  Patrick and I taught him some guitar, Patrick and he read a story, and I taught him how to make a letter with burned edges (this excited him greatly, considering every boy is a pyromaniac).  I made him write a letter to his grandma and gave him an envelope and stamp.  He steals sometimes from the house and lies often, so we’re trying to find a balance between grace and tough love, since he lacks an authority figure. 

I need wisdom to know how close to be to Michael since I’ll be leaving in August.  I don’t want him to be too attached and then me just be another broken relationship in his life.  I also want to do some PLA with he and his friends (bribe them with pizza and drinks probably… who could resist that at 11?) to determine how kids see the neighborhood (community mapping), maybe get them to do a matrix or preference ranking with problems in the neighborhood, and then just hang out with them. Pray that the door would open for me to be able to do that.  

 

I’m also hoping to get my neighborhood survey underway in the near future.  I’m meeting with local area commision leaders to do a focus group and talk about the neighborhood, Lord willing, within two weeks.  I still need the approval of the church to carry out the survey and it is essentially imperative that I gain the approval of local residents in some way when I try to carry out the survey.  I’m hoping that door will be opened through Phyllis.  Pray!

That’s all for now.  I’m off to meet Phyllis and later tonight I have practice with Joe’s band.  I get to play at one of their shows and their giving me a thirty minute set, which is super nice of them and will be a good chance to play in front of people. After practice I have to head to a neighborhood group meeting with some people from local churches that live in the neighborhood.

The fam is coming to visit me this weekend and I’m really excited to see all of them.  We should have a good weekend exploring the city and catching up.  In the midst of that I was asked to do the offertory this weekend at Grace.  I’m playing “What A Friend We Have in Jesus” on banjo and singing.  Pray that it remains worship for me and not something that I end up stressing about.  That would be the last thing I want.  I’m glad to play, and I love being able to offer my gifts back to God.

That’s all for now. Much love and know that I miss all of you.