Father Joe's Village Voyage

Hello everyone!

We reluctantly left our friends at N. County Interfaith Community Council early in the morning. Several people came out to say good bye and everyone wants us to come back soon. It was a challenge finding I-15 to get to San Diego, but eventually we found our way through the traffic and arrived just in time.

What an amazing day we had at Father Joe's Villages in San Diego! The place is huge and simply amazing; it is a city within a city and is home to many homeless people. We parked our RV in front of one of the buildings, immersed in a sea of humanity, an experience that was totally incredible. We went to sleep and woke up to the sound of many different voices and conversations, many of them talking about the RV, Hearts Of Fire and why we were there. Many people wanted to know about our project and wished they had known sooner so they could participate.

Once again, Deb Ogburn did a fabulous job leading the art workshops - we had two, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. We had a wonderful time with the adults and children who participated. Ruth, the Excecutive Director, was simply incredible and attended to our every need. She even found soy milk for my coffee! We didn't get much sleep the night before, so the coffee was a necessity. As usual, the participants created some fascinating drawings and engaged in a great discussion about what the drawings meant to them. Since Deb is an art therapist, she uses the art to really make a difference for each person and helps them develop insights from their work. We are constantly amazed by what people say about their work and their lives (See Photo)

A woman and mother of four children told us about her trip to a local suburb to take advantage of a modeling job offered to two of her daughters. As we have heard from many people, she and her family have difficulty getting to appointments, interviews, etc. using public transportation because of the limited availability. The modeling appointment was at 7PM and they stopped at a grocery store to pick up the pictures they needed for the appointment. As is also the case with many families, they had ho child care, so the whole family pretty much goes everywhere together. By the time the appointment was over, it was too late to catch the bus back. They had only $40, so it was eat or try to take a taxi. The kids were hungry so they ate then walked along the train tracks in the dark to find a commuter rail station, eventually getting home around 11PM. While participating in the art work shop, her husband got a call inviting him to start a job tomorrow, his first in over a year.

A couple of adults in the workshop explained what it was like to be homeless and how they are treated by non-homeless people. I can't paraphase it well enought to do it justice, but we captured it all on film. I can't wait until we have it ready for everyone to see; it is incredible. We plan to have a first cut of the video by the end of the year.

At the end of the workshop, Deb lead a "community" discussion about the experience of being with everyone in the workshop and about the artwork taken as a whole. A participant said she was surprised by how similar everyone was to her and how much she was like everyone else. Another person said she felt like anything was possible for her; she creates that for herself every day no matter what. Actually, we have heard very similar comments from many of the participants in the project.

Our music recording sessions were also amazing. When we arrived, no one had signed up for the session; by noon time we had a waiting list. Once we decided to set up the recording studio, musicians just appeared off the street. We recorded five or six people over the next several hours and Crystal did it all herself as I filmed the art workshops. Some people played more than one song and everyone was great. They were very appreciative and wished we could record more music. They all knew many more homeless musicians and wanted to bring them to a session. When we were packing up, the maintenance woman who was helping us said that more and more musicans were playing on the street each night outside shelter and she was mystified by this because it hadn't happened before we announced our arrival.

Although it may be redundant at this point, being part of the community at Father Joe's Village was a unique and amazing experience for all of us. I really have no words to describe my experiences this week; it is unlike anything I have imagined. I will have go write much more to try and impart the experience to others; I think this is important for me to do.

We dropped Crystal off at the airport for a 6AM flight to Providence; she was sad to leave and we were sad too. After returning to the RV for a couple more hours sleep, we packed up and headed for Toussaint Academy - a high school for homeless teenagers. The school is operated by Father Joe's Villages and emphasizes art and science. We are really excited about working with the people there!