New Beginning

This past week I was working with a group of high school students on a house that had been firebombed in February. The homeowner, Ken, had thought he had made a good investment for his daughter and himself when he bought that home, only to have it burn up on him. There are limitations to the work that we can do, mostly due to budget constraints. So for Ken we were told that we would be able to insulate his house, put up drywall, paint, and add some kitchen cabinets that were donated. The problem was that the entire house needed to be redone because it had been stripped after the fire. When groups arrived to work, the home was nothing more than a shell.

However, Ken had faith that his house would be reborn. Our first group put in all of the insulation, the drywall, and two exterior doors. Things were looking pretty good and, when we got our second group in at the beginning of the week, we were excited to get to work. As our group pulled up to the house, a different story was beginning to unfold. The doors were gone. As well as a bunch of tools and the kitchen sink. As Ken put it, "they took everything, including the kitchen sink." 

This is the hard part of this job, knowing that sometimes, no matter what your intentions, there will be someone who does not care, who chooses not to see the good in the neighborhood. (That same week, with that same group, a few young guys walked by and told the group that white people weren't welcome and their help wasn't needed.) It was tough watching Ken and his daughter pull up to the house, knowing that once again he was getting knocked down. Ken was noticeably upset by the situation but after a few moments by himself in prayer he was back to his old self, helping out and joking with the group.

A little later in the day Ken was able to find another door and that's when the good news started rolling in. JSCDC decided that Ken's house would be a perfect example house because it was a complete rebuild. That means that funds that were previously unavailable for the regular jobs were now open. Ken would be receiving an entirely redone home. 

That's the beautiful part of this job, knowing that, no matter what, God will care, God will see the good in the neighborhood and choose to do something about it. I'll be working on Ken's house more this coming week, trying to finish more of what we started, and I know Ken is grateful for a new beginning.

The Destruction of Ignorance

I had spent a lot of time struggling with my calling. Not in the sense that I didn’t want to be called by God, but in the sense that I wasn’t sure if I could reconcile the two very distinct lifestyles that I have grown up in. On one hand, my life has been surrounded by wealth, prosperity, and a kind and loving environment. On the other hand, my heart has grown to love those who are surrounded by poverty, despair, oppression, and a suffocating and subjugating environment. I had a difficult time seeing where I fit. I have always been inclined to follow my heart, because I believe that that is where God speaks to me the most clearly. So I grew to be agitated by the decisions and prosperity of the people and area I grew up with. Part of me knew that if I were to pursue a particular track in ministry it would lead me to be a leader to people that I increasingly could not identify with. However, my experiences in my education and in the work that I have pursued over the past couple of years has reconnected me with reality and restored my patience. The conflict still exists, but the feelings of frustration and anger are far less intimately connected with a particular income bracket and are now directed at specific situations and circumstances.
For example, the volunteers that come to us at Motown Mission are all unique but they all share a similar sense of the unknown. Many groups have had people drop out at the last minute out of fear of the city. The ones that do arrive do so for many reasons, but the struggle for me has been to recognize that each person who comes, comes bravely. I have learned to recognize that each individual has had different life experiences and many of those experiences have not been so blessed as mine. So I have grown to see my role in ministry as one that rights the wrongs of a life of privilege. So many people live in blissful ignorance of the struggles that surround them. For me that focus has been primarily on the struggles of the poor and oppressed, but I have learned, from my fiance, that that ignorance can extend to a great number of things, including the environment and rest of God’s creation.
At Motown Mission we focus on the “slow motion Katrina” that is the economic disaster that plagues the city of Detroit. Within that we try to show our volunteers that the people they are serving did not choose this. The city did not collectively decide to become one of the poorest in the nation. What many of the neighborhoods have collectively decided is to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. In my eyes the city is like any other oppressed group of people driven to the brink. It is taking what no one will give it. There are neighborhoods in the city that have decided that they are fed up with the current system that exists, because that system treats them like they don’t exist. So neighborhoods take charge. No grocer will move into the city to provide fresh fruits and vegetables, so the people grow their own. No bank will lend to give them money to buy a vacant house on their street, so the block maintains the yard to keep the crime down. So few people want to help out with the task of, literally, cleaning up the streets that the job becomes impossible to handle, so when people do come out to clean up, local businesses offer discounts and a helping hand. There is so little money available that people can't afford goods or services, so some local business owners will barter the skills that are available.
It is because of all of that that I have loved working for Motown Mission. This job has given me the opportunity, every week, to help right the great wrong of privilege. This job has given me the chance to open peoples eyes, to see the world a little differently, to walk away a little less afraid, and a little more angry for all the right reasons.

Motown

For the past seven weeks I have been working for a non-profit organization called Motown Mission. I am the Project Coordinator, someone who arranges all of the work sites that our volunteers will be sent to, as well as work with Joy-Southfield Community Development Corp, assisting volunteers on site with construction and redevelopment. A much smaller part of my job has been to live in the community in which I’m working, so I’ve been living in a small four bedroom, one bath house in West Detroit, on Warren, with six other interns. Some of my house mates have jokingly called the area we live in Deartroit because of the close proximity to Dearborn. Our neighborhood is a mix of the Middle Eastern flavor of Dearborn and the often harsh realities of suburban Detroit.

My schedule has been crazy this summer, one that I had not anticipated by any measure. Every morning has been an “early” wake up call around 6 am. Closely followed by driving across the city of Detroit to Metropolitan United Methodist Church to prepare breakfast for our campers. After breakfast and devotionals I inform the groups of where they will be working that day. From there it is a drive back across the city to JSCDC to work with our volunteers on any of the construction jobs that JSCDC has planned for them. After working with the groups on the job site from 9 am until 3-4 pm, I have a break until dinner, when I drive back to Metropolitan eat, help out with the evening worship and whatever other activity is planned for the campers for the evening. Then it’s back home in West Detroit for a little relaxing before bed.

I’m entering into the last week of my job here at Motown Mission and I realized that there are somethings that should be said about the work that my coworkers and I have been doing. So I have rebooted this blog to share some of the lessons I’ve learned and experiences that I have had.