Volunteers: perceptions and learning
Changing perceptions
Volunteers and students invariably experience a change of perception about our Old Town neighbors. When one of our volunteers, a seminarian, and I sat down and attempted to describe the process of this "conversion", four levels or stages came to mind:
1) We arrive with the notion that the people in Old Town are bad, dirty and violent. We feel threatened and uncomfortable going out in the neighborhood.
2) We begin to overcome our fear, but we are distracted by the living conditions and the environment. Additionally, people are labeled as unfortunate drunks or struggling mentally ill persons. Our thoughts center on trying to fix things, get the room cleaned up and get people straightened out.
3) We begin to think about the fact that the person we visit is actually welcoming us. We become aware this , person has made a small room into a home and accepts it as best he or she can at this point in time. There is a certain pride that comes with being able to offer hospitality in a space -- in whatever condition -- that one calls home. We now learn about the "other side of compassion" which compels us to quiet our needs to serve and to give to our friends and to be open to their giving and service to us.
4) Finally, we change our focus from exteriors and physical aspects of persons to dwell on the feelings and the heart and soul of the person. The person is no longer an unfortunate drunk but our friend, "Stan"... Our friend Stan is one among the many that are marginalized by our society. Do we dare to let him and others evangelize us? If so, and if we are patient, we will be pulled through the depths of truth. We will experience pain, rage, wonder, confusion, hunger, wisdom, hilarity, forgiveness, despair, sin and joy.
In the end we will discover a pool of peace where God so obviously and mercifully resides. It may just be a glimmer or a few drops, but it's there. It is when this happens -- when we see the truth -- we are filled with God's passion. A love flows out of us that we know is beyond our capacity to give, and we experience the the ecstasy of knowing that we are being used by God!
-- Mary Sue Richen, Pastoral Coordinator
Lenses of learning
Dirty, dingy places - lonely, alienated people - dangerous encounters. "Can I really cope with and survive this threatening, new immersion experience?" This is the first lens many of our nursing students and volunteers look through as they get set to enter an unfamiliar place in their world. This lens provides a very narrow view of the downtown residential world and its citizens. Misinformation, cultural prejudice, and considerable concern for "my personal safety" are the forces at work here.
Recently a nursing student, frightened by the prospect of visiting our inner city places and people, did her best to escape the five-week requirement in community mental health offered here at the Macdonald Center. Her efforts, firmly resisted by all administrators and even the president of her school, failed. Grudgingly, she attended seminars and made visits to the residential hotels. She later acknowledged that her very real fears and active resistance to the learning experience halted her usual clear thinking and personal involvement.
Our Macdonald Center education program strives to treat nearsighted myopia and cultural discomfort with an excellent orientation program and a good deal of personal help. Understandable fears and lack of information are faced and addressed. Thus, our staff and nursing instructors provide the second lens to correct notions about life and health in the inner city. In a very real sense they facilitate the discovery process about urban life, poverty and health. The student mentioned above demanded and received lots of extra attention and care from the staff. This helped her to survive the experience.
Teachers provide the third lens for our volunteers and students. Their teachers are the people they visit in the hotels and on the streets. Yes, volunteers learn information. Better, they learn about life: how poor, isolated people struggle, think and live. Our student told us it took about two weeks to get over the hump of being afraid and resistant. As that happened, a new vision about her world opened up. She said she was no longer afraid to meet and work with people with mental illnesses. She became a better listener, more able to give of herself and make an impact on others. She related that she actually saw and felt the progress she made in a short time. Best of all, she found that her "teachers" liked her, invited her to return for visits, and asked her not to forget them. They taught one very frightened student lessons about life and helped her become an effective nurse.
These teachers, our beloved Old Town neighbors, have provided many students and volunteers with a deeper understanding and appreciation of their own abilities and a sharper vision of life and health in the inner city.
-- Richard Berg CSC, Executive Director
