Compassion & Justice

Things are a little off for me today. For one thing, my nails are painted, which if you know me, means that you probably can't remember a time in my life ever that my nails were painted metallic green and blue. But, they were painted this weekend by Melanie*, a young woman that I met at a shelter in downtown Toronto as we had a girl's night, painting each others nails, and watching chick flicks. 

Part of me is shaken, as I've been reflecting on my experience sitting with Connor, a young man that we met on the street who had overdosed twice last week. As he recounted the few moments in the week that he could remember, he looked up at us, eyebrows deeply creased, and asked, "What's wrong with everyone?" Our staff guide for the night explained that we were visitors, and that we'd had a really long day, not bringing any more light to the obvious shellshock that most of the youth had on their faces. "They're pretty tired," he said, "Connor, tell 'em how much sleep you got last night."  Pow. We had nothing to say. Suddenly, our few hours of restless sleep on a church floor didn't seem to matter. 

I'm also honoured to have the opportunity to be in the presence of so many incredible people in shelters, vans, and drop-ins. Sitting down with Barb, a crack addict and prostitute, and listening to her story of addiction and recovery in progress left a deep imprint on the youth I was with. Or talking with Mary, a woman suffering from mental illness, who in moments of lucidity, was able to ask the questions that everyone has deep inside. But I can't begin to imagine the suffering she has experienced. Or talking with Andy, who at 18 wants to leave the lifestyle of the "street youth who is always high", and get his life together. The staff and volunteers who operated these services are also incredible. Fostering community, holistic in their ministry to the poor and broken, they work tirelessly to serve their friends on the street with dignity, respect and love. It only takes a moment or two to realize their passion for the work that they are doing. And the youth and co-leaders on this trip from YFC served with great attitudes and maturity, and were deeply affected by their experiences. 

Each Project Serve trip I've taken has challenged me, rocked me, and opened my eyes to better understand God's Kingdom here on earth. One of our key verses this weekend was Isaiah 58:6-12. Consider this:

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
   Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
      lighten the burden of those who work for you.
   Let the oppressed go free,
      and remove the chains that bind people.
 ⁷ Share your food with the hungry,
      and give shelter to the homeless.
   Give clothes to those who need them,
      and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
 ⁸ “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
      and your wounds will quickly heal.
   Your godliness will lead you forward,
      and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
 ⁹ Then when you call, the Lord will answer.
      ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.
   “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
      Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
 ¹⁰ Feed the hungry,
      and help those in trouble.
   Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
      and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
 ¹¹ The Lord will guide you continually,
      giving you water when you are dry
      and restoring your strength.
   You will be like a well-watered garden,
      like an ever-flowing spring.
 ¹² Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
      Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls
      and a restorer of homes.


For more information on the organizations I partnered with, check out The Salvation Army and St. John The Compassionate Mission.


*I've changed the names of those we met to protect their privacy.



 

Freedom Writers

Our youth have recently been working on a number of graffiti pieces for an auction that will be taking place in the downtown (check it out here). I thought this would be a great opportunity to show you some of the talent that we have in our centre. And, there will be much more to come!

This was done by one of our young men who has been with us for a few years now. He'd never done anything like this, and really put a lot of thought into what he wanted it to say.

Just a demo piece I did to show some technique.

This guy was really shocked that he was at The Door and was allowed to spray paint. He said to one of our guys while they were painting, "I never thought I'd be doing this here with you". We're trying to encourage our youth that graffiti is a viable form of art, that doesn't need to be vandalism.

The young woman who did this is hard of hearing. She paintedthe sign language for love on the right hand side. She has just started college this year to become an interpreter.

A demo piece done by Aaron.

The young guy who did this piece also did the very last one. He loves BMX and skate culture, so this is a natural art expression for him.

This was a collaborative piece, that Aaron worked on with a couple of our guys.

Again, done by the guy who did the "Hello My Name Is" piece. At first, I thought he was a little out there in using the can so close, but I have to admit that the dripping paint is my favorite part.

Icebergs, Buddha, and Temperature

I read somewhere recently that nearly 75% of blogs start with the phrase "I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long". Huh, ours is no different. You'll notice that the blog has been quiet, we haven't tweeted in a couple of weeks (but maybe that's because when the kids find out we have Twitter they look at us and roll their eyes, "Re-ally??"). We've been focusing on getting our week to week stuff up and running these past couple of weeks. Last week we resumed "Soul Food", our weekly dinner and discussion group. We had 6 youth out, which was good for our first week, and it ensured them a good feed of tacos (which have quickly become a Soul Food favorite).

This year, we're really excited about our discussion material. Maybe a bit more so than usual, because this particular stuff seems to stick. We have begun using the Habitudes material to guide our discussions. In a nutshell, it uses images to talk about self-leadership characteristics. We've used bits and pieces of this material in our Project Serve training, and it is one of the few things that the youth remember and talk about. Last week we looked at the image of an iceberg, and talked about the fact that 90% of an iceberg sits below the water. Where we can't see it. Then we bridged into a discussion about our outer characteristics and our inner characteristics. Which are more important? Which do we spend more time and resources on? And so, in the coming weeks, we will be sharing the story of the golden Buddha, examining whether we just reflect the culture around us (like a thermometer) or whether we influence it (like a thermostat), and ten other images. It's also exciting because it is faith-based material that also has a value-based companion, so there is potential to use some of this material in our partnerships with the schools too. The youth are engaged when we talk about these images, and the images seem to stick.

So that's a bit of what we've been up to. Hopefully I don't start my next post with, "I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long..." At least you know I have a good excuse!