I know I never update this and I'm going to start because even though I'm back from New York (and have been for 3 months) I'm still learning from this summer.
I had the opportunity to write an editorial for my schools newspaper and I wrote about being homeless...so, here it is.
and I'm in the process of writing another one titled "Revolution" which I'll post soon.
Chelsea Broughton
“Homeless in New York City”
Imagine sleeping on a cold concrete floor, without a blanket. Awakened at 6 a.m., you’re kicked out of the shelter for the day. You discover that the sweatshirt you hid away the night before was stolen. Walking the streets of New York in the rain without an umbrella, your only meal for the day is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and forget about brushing your teeth or showering. That became reality for me and several other college students this summer.
This past summer I spent five weeks in New York City on a mission trip with Campus Crusade for Christ, and was part of the inner city track. Each week, teams of students worked at different ministry sites around the city ranging from preparing meals in soup kitchens, to conducting Bible studies and sharing testimonies, to spending time with the homeless. Little did I know I would experience being homeless first hand.
It was a Wednesday night only a week after arriving in New York. We were all gathered for a prayer meeting when the staff said those seven dreaded words; “You are now entering the poverty simulation.” They told us we had 15 minutes to run to our rooms and get three items. After grabbing a blanket, bottle of water, and a bag of pretzels I joined the other eighteen students and left our comfortable Manhattan apartments and headed to a warehouse in Queens. We had no money, no cell phone, no form of identification, and no idea what was in store for us or how long it would actually last.
So there we were nineteen college students, who barely knew each other, homeless in New York City. We spent that first sleepless night on the cold concrete ground of the warehouse huddled together to keep warm. The staff warned us that our belongings could be stolen at any point as if we were in a real homeless shelter, so everyone was clutched onto their items. Throughout the night there were disturbing noises, flashing of lights, and sounds of people crying. It was the longest night of my life, and finally at 6 a.m. we were kicked out onto the streets where we slept until we had to leave for our ministry sites.
That morning I slept on the subway while we made our way to Coney Island where we would be serving the working poor and homeless of the city. That’s when I realized the significance of the simulation: to gain compassion for them and understand how it feels to be homeless. That is exactly what happened. That first day, I looked at the people we were serving in a whole different way: Knowing how they felt after only one night of being “homeless.”
After a long day of working and walking through the rain, we got back on the subway where I truly felt homeless for a second time. Sitting there wet, hungry, and carrying a blanket I noticed the looks people were giving me. They looked at us as if we were homeless and some people even moved seats to avoid us. Little did they know, in real life, I am just like them, an educated middle-class college student.
At the time we did not know, but Saturday was the last day we would be homeless. That day was the best day of the entire experience. Two other girls and I sat in the rain in Bryant Park with my blanket over our heads begging for money. It was the only way we would be able to eat that day. With everyone avoiding eye contact, I then understood how it felt to be ignored when all we needed was a few dollars to eat. After the simulation was over the staff treated us to dinner at a nice restaurant. From then I could have went on living the way I did before, but instead I chose to live my life in a different way.
Growing up in a middle class family, I was never exposed to this kind of life, but that has changed. What did I learn from this experience? I learned to break my stereotypes of the working poor and homeless and instead of looking down on them, see and love them as people. Having gone through this experience has changed my life forever. Now that I can identify with being homeless, I feel a strong calling to working in the inner city. I recently read that 80 percent of the world has 20 percent of the “stuff,” and 20 percent of the world is hoarding 80 percent of the “stuff.” Think about that next time you walk past a homeless person and you avoid them completely.
