Our Shari Prestemon Social Justice Interns have graciously agreed to share some of their journal entries so that you can hear about the experience they’re having at Back Bay Mission! You can read a journal entry by Diarra Molock below.
Today Bethany and I spent the day helping one of our co-workers, Mr. Everett. We learned plenty about the program that he works with, GCHI (Gulf Coast Housing Initiative).
If there is one thing that I underestimated before coming to intern for Back Bay Mission, it is how much paper work goes into all of the programs available. Every program available has certain requirements one must meet in order to be eligible. I always assumed that assisting low income and homeless people would be easier than assisting people of higher socio-economic status. It made sense to me at the time that the more people have the more responsibilities one has to take on and the less people have the less there is to worry about. I have come to find that it is impossible to say whether it is more stressful to have money and be fairly well off, or to be poor or homeless. I have come to understand the population we work with much differently now.
It is hard to say what is best for someone. Of course, Back Bay Mission tries to give people a helping hand so that people may get back up on their feet, but there are quite a few people I have met who are satisfied with being homeless. One of the things that our boss Mr. Kenny Washington like to say is, “Who’s to say that having a big fancy house and a nice car is the way to go?”
I have stopped viewing homelessness as a bad situation that people have to get out of. Being homeless is also a lifestyle that some people have chosen to live. This not to say that all people who are homeless have made a choice to be homeless or that organizations like Back Bay Mission shouldn’t continue to do the work that they do but I have come to understand homelessness differently now. Some of the people I’ve met have been well off and either lost everything or decided to give everything away. Some people fell into bad situations that they had no control over. Some people have become homeless and prefer to stay homeless. Everyone is a case by case scenario. I have come to understand the people who walk through our doors on a more personal level, which is important because everyone has their own story.
