Rachel Kirkpatrick
Mission Year?
My name is Rachel Kirkpatrick and I recently graduated from high school. I am an enthusiastic Canadian who frequently says ‘eh’ and has lived in an igloo. I love listening to, playing, and watching (live) music. I also like to run, and play volleyball.
I am doing mission year because a) I don’t feel the need to go to post-secondary right away and because b) I love hanging out with broken people (because I am a broken person).
When I initially heard about Mission Year, my immediate answer was “no, absolutely not”. In my mind, it made no sense to commit to a program where I had to answer to someone above me when I could be going to school, studying what I wanted to be studying, and answering to myself. Of course God has a way of messing things up, and that he did. Somehow in the midst of my worrying about future plans, God sent me to Mission Year. I’m not really sure what I am getting myself into, but I get the feeling that it doesn’t matter, and that I will be doing what I am supposed to be doing. At the expense of sounding cheesy I will admit that it is like the beatles song that says “where you are is where you’re meant to be”.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the future and have been getting very excited as I am realizing that I determine my future and that I can be whoever I want to be, and do whatever I want to do. I will start with Mission Year.
Jeremiah 29:11 says “ I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Sweet!
Rachel.
P.S. I lied about the igloo thing. I have never lived, nor have I ever even been in an igloo.
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Rachel Kirkpatrick's Blog
Prop / Nov 22, 11:55 PM
October 10th was probably one of (if not, the) most confusing, uncomfortable, muddled and difficult days of my life. When I initially read about PROP (Pauper’s Right of Passage) on the Mission Year website a few months ago, I thought that being homeless for a day seemed like an awesome way to better understand homelessness. If nothing else, it seemed like a good thing to experience. As I neared this day, I found myself having more reservations and just struggling with the idea of pretending to be homeless vs. actually experiencing it. I talked with multiple people before Prop and it seemed like I was not the only one struggling with these concepts. I reluctantly experienced PROP on that cold Saturday and found myself surprised at nearly everything that happened that day. When we received a handout listing ideas of how to spend the day I automatically ruled out panhandling and planned on finding actual ‘homeless people’ to learn from. I also decided that because I wasn’t going to panhandle, I wasn’t going to eat lunch as a way of relating with ‘the hungry’. My partner, Corrinn, had many similar reversations which was helpful in processing this confusing day.
Initially, our goal was to find three different homeless people to spend the day with and to learn from. Strangely enough, we didn’t end up doing anything we had planned. As the day progressed, we decided to be good sports and try panhandling. Observing people’s reactions to us was really interesting from our perspective and we were surprised to make as much money as we did. We panhandled for about 45 min and made eight dollars. We noticed that people who were in large groups would ignore us, but those who were on their own generally responded. Sometimes it was rude ‘no, I don’t have any change’ but other times it was a (somewhat) genuine ‘sorry’ or even a head shake. Boys were our primary givers, and girls were more likely to ignore us. It was interesting to note people’s reaction to things as small as our posture. There were a few times that I curled up into a ball and tried to sleep, and when that happened, (for whatever reason) people seemed more intrigued by the situation. It seemed as though people felt like they had power over us. As if we didn’t notice them deliberately walk across the street to avoid us, or we didn’t witness them look at us then look straight ahead. Just because we were homeless didn’t make us blind, or too stupid to observe situations. When your butt is numb from the cold concrete, you see people in an entirely different light than you thought you ever could. It’s incredibly fascinating from a sociological point of view.
Seeing as we had made money, (and were both freezing as we had on only sweatshirts and it was 4degreesC out) we decided to share some of it with another Mission Year group, and chose to eat lunch from the dollar menu at McDonalds. We went to McDonalds and although we felt like by staying in there for a bit we were copping out on the ‘experience of PROP’, we also learned how valuable a warm place like McDonalds can be (if the staff doesn’t kick you out). It took a lot for us to force ourselves back into the cold as we really didn’t have anywhere else to go. We decided that with the left over money we made we would use it as a tool to start a conversation with someone on the streets. We ended up giving the money away and inviting people to come for pizza with us at 5 o’clock at ‘the bean’ (a famous Chicagoan landmark, google it), but found ourselves out of luck when it came to a conversation as everyone we met seemed to be on their way somewhere (and we didn’t want to force conversations out of people… that in itself can be dehumanizing). Everything Corrinn and I wanted to do, we didn’t end up doing, and everything we thought we wouldn’t do, we did do.
Although I only caught a small glimpse of what it is like to be homeless, I feel as though my entire perspective on the situation has changed. I learned that homelessness is a very complex issue and there is no cookie cutter solution to ‘the problem’. I can see how easy it would become to start lying to people to get money or how easy it would be to just plain go insane. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be seen and treated as the scum of the earth on a daily basis. I’m not exactly sure how my reaction to homeless people has or will change in the future. I do think, however, that I will just make sure that if somebody says something to me or asks for money I will respond in a genuine way. That could mean simply answering their question honestly, or giving them money, or offering some other sort of help. Prop pretty much just messed me up in my thinking as I realize the complexity of a situation such as homelessness.
If I were ever to do something like PROP again, I would want to shadow a homeless friend I have already made, and would want to join them in their life. I think it would be me more beneficial to join them in their life than to try and ‘become their life’ by mimicking homelssness. That would be far more revolutionary.
Comment [1]
- 1
