Peace, Love & Hygiene: Vol 122
This weeks theme is rollercoasters. The ride began Monday evening, and I didn’t get off from it until about 3 o’clock this afternoon. That’s the way life is sometimes, I’ve learned.
I’ll skip ahead to the fun part, street outreach! We saw a lot of people last night. The first person was an old man who was laying on the ground under a tree. He was only wearing a pair of ragged shorts. He didn’t speak English very well.
“You have more blankets for you?” he asked when I brought him something to lay on.
“Yes. These are for you.”
Okay, this, I take. This you take.” He returned the backpack with the hygiene kit.
“Salvation Army comes. You take.”
He had sparkly eyes and a white beard. His bloated stomach was all tan from the sun.
Next stop, Darla! I spent some time holding her in my lap while she smothered me with kisses. I let the puppy, Baby, drink an entire bottle of water from my cupped hand.
I was informed by the other team that Darla’s Daddy is in a domestic violence situation. The man who we saw with him hurts him badly. I hadn’t seen that other guy before. Maybe around, or something? This week I spent extra time with Darla’s Daddy. I had one tent donated this week. I made sure he had it so that he and the pups would stay dry when it stormed later that night. I gave him a sleeping bag and a blanket. His were destroyed in the last rainstorm. I had my usual bag of food for the dogs. Baby is a teething pit bull. I need to pick her up a couple of bones and toys, so she doesn’t eat poor Darla. They are sharing a tie. Next week, I’ll give him an extra dog tie I have. I can’t stop praying for him.
It’s harder to find people right now. Over the last couple of weeks since we’ve gone out, a lot of people have been displaced. Forts destroyed; tents tossed; people put in jail. It’s like we have to start all over again too so that we can find and help them.
We found my Widow. She is staying in a tent in an alley behind an abandoned shop. As we approached her tent, we announced ourselves. She wanted to see me, specifically. When I got to the tent door she pulled pack one side. The first thing I saw was her crying.
“Kayla! He attacked me again! He’s stalking me. This is the third time this week he’s attacked me.”
Her legs were all scraped up with road rash. I reached out my arms to her and yelled out to the medic team to come right away. She explained that she doesn’t usually get into cars. As soon as she recognized who it was in the car, she tried to get away from him, but he grabbed her and tried to drag her into the car anyway. A homeless friend saw what was happening. He grabbed Widow and got her away from the car, but the attacker ran over her friend with his car. She told me she only had 2% left on her phone but she called 911 anyway, regardless of her warrant. Now her phone is dead, and she can’t find out what hospital he is in or if he is even still alive. We took down his name and the medic team went to work trying to find him. They treated her wounds on her arms and legs. Traci helped her pick out some clean clothes for her, and for her boyfriend who is still working a construction job every day. Nick packed up meals of pb&j sandwiches and water.
We roll on…
Quick stop to see ShowTime. Then we saw my Little Preacher. Oh! She is hilarious! She began with a rant about The Holy Spirit. The Spirit is in us, and when we are with the Spirit we are with God. Everything is through the Spirit.
Then she looked over at our Medic Leader and said, “Why you cut off your hair? Why you do that? I could have made me a weave!”
I tried putting a hygiene purse in her hands. She looked up at me and through a toothless smile said, “I don’t need a purse! Do I look like some kind of a Mama?”
I opened the purse up and she started going through it. She pulled out some soaps and lotions and told me, “I’m into natural skincare. Dermatology is my thing.”
We saw a random dude outside of a party store. He recognized the ambulance and waved us down. He told me that the pepper-spray we passed out has saved a lot of his friends lives. Thank you.
There were still a lot more people out that we were able to feed. It was great. A lot of smiles. A lot of Praise God’s.
Our last patient had an abscess the size of a kiwi fruit on her bicep. Her biceps are smaller than my wrist. I let her hold my hand as she wailed in pain until she asked them to stop. And they did when she asked. It was a big nasty one, but you can die from untreated abscesses.
And dead people can’t recover and come home.
Our last person we saw for the night was my brilliant Ms. GG. What a high note to end on! We were out of food and clothing, but I offered her a hygiene kit and some water.
“Oooo! Candy! I love you ladies! Praise God!”
We made a lot of smiles. We shared the unconditional love of Jesus.
For Darla’s Daddy, and for my Widow, please pray for their safety.
Because that’s how we do it in Detroit.
Amen.
