Friday morning I was supposed to go with two other students to visit the woman we had seen the two days before. Apparently she is not a morning person, though, and without providing excess details, she chose not to have us come over because we could only come in the morning. At first, this was really disappointing; we had looked forward to seeing her and had some plans about assessments and goal setting that we wanted to do with her. But, at the same time, it felt right to let her make that decision on her own and for us to honor her choice. So often one of the things we deal with in social work is learning how to not do things for people or tell people what we think they should do. This was a good exercise in learning what that is all about. Instead, a few of us went to get coffee at a place down the street. Multiple benefits to this - smaller group process time and good coffee : ).
When we got back to the hostel, everyone piled back into the van to head down to the LVI program where we have had a few students this week. While we waited for them to finish, we got to wander around the area for a bit and visit a sweet thrift store. We also saw this statue:
I am not sure if the picture does justice to the awkwardness, but please, when my time has come, do not create a statue of me wearing an odd sweater with an awkward child next to me. Make a donation or something.
After a while, Pastor Bruce went to the LVI program to talk sex, HIV/AIDS, and whatever else with the students in the program. The rest of our group crowded into a pretty small room for that part and it was really good. Having been a gang banger, abuser, drug addict, and more at one time, Pastor Bruce has a great way of being able to relate to people and to say "I was there once, but look where I am now." It is so amazing how he can remember his own days in that life like it was yesterday and is still so connected to that part of his life that he is able to withold judgment from people who are not there yet. He talked for a while about all kinds of things and it was empowering, encouraging, educational, and entertaining for everyone.
When he was done, we went to the first floor of the building, where women work year-round hand-sewing each bead and sequence onto the Mardi Gras costumes for parades. One of the girls in the program is interested in fashion, so she has been working on the costumes and learning how to use a sewing machine. The costumes were sweet on hangers, but we got one step further yesterday...but we'll get to that later.
After things got wrapped up at LVI, it was time for outreach, aka:condom distribution time. Now, many of you who have been reading my blogs all along know that the church I work with when I am here has an HIV/AIDS program and that part of the program includes passing out free condoms in neighborhoods and popular commercial areas in the city. If you haven't read some of my October blogs about that, please do so. At any rate, a bunch of people from our group went down to the French Quarter to pass them out with Pastor Bruce. We filled bags and went out with a partner. When we got there, my partner looked at me with deer in headlights eyes and said "I don't think I can do this." I assured him it wasn't so bad once you got started and that we would work it out together and off we went. It didn't take long for people in the group to warm up to it, and I had some really interesting observations. It was the first time I had done this in a commercial/touristy area and the reactions were different to say the least. I remember when I had done it the first few times in October that I was really surprised at how receptive to it people were. Not only were people unashamed to take them, but they filled their pockets, had 20 minute conversations about their plans for them, called their friends to come get some, and more. It was awkward for me, but not for them. But in the French Quarter, where tourists from all over are there, the reaction was different. Many people still took them and were glad to - locals and young men in particular. However, it is inadvisable to walk up to upper-middle class, middle-aged white women and ask if the want a free condom. They don't. Now, this is not a statement to get people fired up, and not a value judgement about any age or race of people. It just was such a surprise to me - a total swing of the pendulum in the opposite direction. At one point, my buddy and I walked up to a pair of women, said we were passing out free condoms and would they like any, and the reaction was this: totally ignored. Like, TOTALLY. It was strange. A lot of people gave us dirty looks, said no thanks, and kept walking, but these women just pretended we were invisible. I don't know what I think about that or what theories I have on what it means and where it comes from, but just an observation. I think really it just is a cultural, generational thing about what is taboo to discuss and what isn't. While I respect people's boundaries to a point, people not talking about HIV/AIDS and thinking it won't or can't affect them is part of how the city got to be the second highest infected in the country.
When we had run out of condoms, Pastor Bruce basically couldn't control his happiness. He was beaming as he told us how surprised he was at how we "blitz bum-rushed" Bourbon Street and how he was expecting the group to be really shy, stand on a corner, give out a few, and go home. He estimated at first that we gave out 600-700 condoms, but as the evening progressed, he had grossly overexaggerated it to thousands. Haha. It was great to see him so excited. He joked about following alone with the van on Monday when we do it again.
After we finished that, we met up with the rest of our group at the church, where Pastor Bruce shared more of his story - growing up, the church's history, the storm, and what they are dealing with as results of all of those things. It is amazing to me how every time I am here he seems to open up more and more. He and Deborah deal with so much, but press on, and their lives and stories are real testaments to God's power, and their acknowledgement of God's movement in their lives to change themselves, others, and their communities, speaks volumes to people. I don't think I have ever posted a picture of Deborah, so here is one of Bruce and Deborah that evening.
After that, we blitz bum-rushed a Mexican place in town where we devoured giant burritos and gallons of sweet tea. Post-dinner I was exhausted, so that is when I came back here and wrote the previous blog entry.
Again, I know these are always super long and I know that this trip they haven't been quite as deep or exciting, but thank you for reading.
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