Peace Love & Hygiene Vol. 97- This night was dedicated. This night was dedicated to the children who have lost a parent, as well as the parent who has lost or has a missing child. This night is dedicated to their scarred families.
Tonight, I didn’t see the faces of homeless people. I saw daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and grandfathers. I saw children of God. I saw smiling eyes. I saw determination and grit. It felt good to be back in Detroit.
To be fair, it felt good when I was driving in on 8 Mile and down old Grand River. It felt good to grab a falafel hummus wrap and a latte from The Congregation.. It felt good that they remembered my name there and to address my order to Tawanda. I gave the barista my card and told him to give it to the owner. All that was dandy. When I saw that it was only five of us girls out tonight, I got nervous. And as soon as the van pulled away, I told Traci so.
“I don’t like it. I don’t like it, and for the record- I don’t like it.”
We saw an old man at an intersection beneath a bridge. We were able to pass him food and a hygiene bag through the window as we drove by. We took care of a woman and another man who came out from an abandoned building.
It was at this point that I told our fearless medical leader that I had reservations. Traci and I would power through until sunset. Then we were riding back west like 2 cowboys coming home to a pig roast. She made a mental note of it.
As we drove toward wherever it was Katie led me, Traci and I discussed having a dude who could ride along with us. Traci said she was going to go to work on it. I said,
“You know, we have to pray on it. Dear Jesus, please send us some big dude energy. We really need it as soon as possible. Thank you. Amen.”
One…
Two…
Three…
F-
“Look, Kayla! It’s Andy!”
I kid you not. I’m as serious as a judge. It was that weird.
Andy heard (?) that we were going to be out so he stopped in an area where he figured we would go. He randomly decided to come out for outreach that night. We went together to the next few patients. One of them was a young woman who we had seen homeless for a long time. She was in an affordable housing community now. The city air was bathwater warm and hot shower humid.
Our last stop of the night had us taking care of a group of seniors and a couple of their older kids who travelled around together. We took extra special care of the old man everyone called Grandad. It was wonderful to see them. It always is.
On the way out of Detroit we saw the girl who we had helped earlier still at her intersection. I asked her if she had ID. She said that she didn’t. If she could just get ID again it would change her world. Something so small, yet so significant when you need it.
Every face was tied to someone who missed them and was very worried about them. I loved them like they were somebody’s baby. Or some baby mama. We tried to make it a little better. We don’t pity. We love. My species is so weird, but I love them all anyway.
Because that’s how we do it in Detroit.
Amen.
(It’s after 12:30. I have to be up early for a hygiene packing event at People’s Church. The yard sale is still going on. More stuff coming soon. I’ll edit this better later. Good night.)
