I did a very low key, casual presentation with my mother and my neighbor since I live at home. It consisted of a powerpoint that followed the way the class was structured, because I thought that this structure worked well for me in learning the material and it makes sense.  My presentation felt a lot like a seminar or a lecture; I did not engage my audience beyond Q&A and discussions which featured reflections about what my audience had learned.

Looking back, the most difficult aspect of this project was finding a balance between presenting too much information but still providing a broad understanding of the topic. I do not think I could have cut out parts of my outline, but perhaps could have presented it differently as opposed to talking so much. I think I should have used a petcha-kucha, or at least had a time limit on each slide (at the same time however, I had unforeseen technical problems with my phone as I was recording my presentation; I kept running out of memory on my phone and constantly had my presentation interrupted because I had to transfer pieces of it onto my computer). Ironically, my audience took these interruptions and treated them as intermissions in which they reflected amongst themselves about what I had just talked about.

Even though my presentation was like a lecture, I still consider it a success because I was able to remold my audience’s views on homelessness. At the start of my presentation, I asked my audience what they thought was the number one cause of homelessness in the US. My neighbor said substance abuse and mental illness and my mother agreed, with the added stipulation that substance abuse and mental illness are two individual causes that can prevent someone from finding work or can cause someone to lose their job. During the fortunate/unfortunate pauses in my presentation, my audience said that they were aware of the information I was providing but had never connected it with homelessness.  I repeatedly emphasized that the cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing and high rents. In addition, I asked my audience at the start what they thought of homeless people in general. To my saddened surprise (but in an ironic way, it was a good surprise), my audience viewed homeless people as dangerous or potentially violent. After the discussion about what life is like for the homeless as well as describing the negative discourses revolving around homelessness, they came to understand that the stereotypical ideas that they have held are social constructs they were conditioned to believe. Thus, I believe my project, in spite of the flaws, was successful because it actual caused learning to take place and I was able to change how they view homelessness.

I know my neighbor in particular is likely to forward this information to her own circle of friends because of how talkative and extroverted she is. She’s very passionate about current affairs and social justice, and I chose her as a member of my audience because I know she has a history of disseminating information she picks up from newspaper articles, to other friends, etc, to her own social network. In this sense, I hope the knowledge I presented will be passed around. I personally believe this is the most important part of teaching. If moved enough, people will pay knowledge forward.

Looking back, my first progress report was much more optimistic than this. After observing different aspects of my organization, I have seen how the organization itself works and how informally it handles problems and treats its volunteers. There are more rules and restrictions placed upon the clients as opposed to the volunteers, many of whom are clients themselves. The volunteers who are also clients do not have to wait in my organization’s line nor do they have to immediately accept whatever is given to them in their box. Grace*, the coordinator of the food bank area, does her best to ensure that the volunteers who receive food boxes receive the items they want. While my organization does do its best to cater to the needs of the clients, there still is a disconnect between those who are volunteers and those who are clients. I interacted more with fellow volunteers than the clients themselves. There is a stronger sense of community amongst the volunteers than with the people we are trying to help.

This organization does not address structural problems at all, structural problems that could help the organization itself work better. There are no volunteers who teach the clients about the economy or how to lobby Congress for economic change. There are no volunteers who are informed about policy making decisions or are willing to spend Friday nights protesting on a street corner for positive changes to be toward EBT cards and Food Stamps.  Instead, my organization’s aim is for clients to have a series of food boxes that add up to roughly $300 a month, and the pastor encourages clients to spend the money they are supposedly saving on their bills as opposed to anything else. My organization maintains the status quo. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it does not help its clients in the long run. Instead, it perpetuates the problem like someone trying to scoop out water from a sinking ship. The organization will change if there is a sudden increase in the amount of clients but it will not change in order to actually work at solving, at the very least, local structural problems.

When the food the clients receive is either expired, junk, or not what they particularly enjoy, it does not ameliorate the situation, but instead creates a relationship between my organization and its clients that basically says “Well I’m sorry you’re in this situation, but here’s this food box that has some items that add up qualitatively to roughly seventy-five dollars.” My organization sometimes sacrifices quality in order to achieve efficiency and to always have a surplus of items. These are pragmatic reasons, but they only help the organization, not the clients. Clients cannot go to the store to pick out their own eggs. They have to rely on the judgment and the cleanliness of the person who is putting together egg cartons or egg bags. These iffy, at times problematic standards create a discourse which forces a client to accept these sacrifices and compromises because the alternative is having nothing or at least not enough.

I believe that clients should not have to accept lower standards in order to survive, and I think there is more that could be done in order to ensure that dignity and quality is always at the forefront of the organization’s goals. I think my organization is open minded about it, but I think there should be more organization amongst the volunteers.

This project opened my eyes on several different levels. I thought the most interesting part of this presentation was the degree of creativity needed to overcome problems and how they could solve problems without “red tape” in the way. Creativity is something that’s needed for the problems in the United States because bureaucracy and comprises between politicians makes change very gradual and not immediate enough for the social issues that need addressing now. I thought it was interesting how problem after problem was addressed and handled immediately because as Tammy said, these problems involve real people and real lives that can be visibly seen. I think there’s an unfortunate disconnect in the US between seeing this connection and policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels.  At the same time, there’s no bureaucracy in Cambodia and this can have negative effects as well, such as too much transparency, bribery, and lack of organization.

For me it was inspiring to see fellow young people making visible change in the world regarding these topics. I myself have been interested in getting into an interest group or a nongovernmental organization that would address these problems in either the US or in a developing country.

In the last chapter of his book The Book of the Poor Kenan Heise discusses the UN’s efforts to help end world poverty and other important issues affecting people around the world. The UN uses institutions and globalized cooperation between developed states and developing states  in order to tackle these problems. These issues are effected by fluctuating global conflicts such as the Syrian crisis, which created thousands of refugees. This project is led by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in the UN Secretariat. These “millennium development goals,” as they are called, include the following: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve universal primary education, to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduce child mortality, to improve maternal health, to combat HIV/Aids, malaria, and other diseases, to ensure environmental sustainability, and to facilitate global partnership for the purpose of globalized development. Each year the UN publishes reports on the progress of these goals as the 2015 “deadline” approaches.

From the 2013 report, the biggest successes/improvements were decreasing the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, increasing access to clean drinking water, decreasing the mortality rate from disease, a decrease in those living in slum areas with poor sanitation, an increase in trade with developing countries, and a decline in hunger for these areas. Improvement has been slow in regards to environmental problems, child mortality and maternal deaths, sanitation, the amount of aid money going to poor countries, gender-based inequalities, access to education, and knowledge about HIV/AIDS transmission.

For those who want to look at the full text, here’s the link:

mdg-report-2013-english

After several weeks of learning about the state of the US in its struggle with hunger, poverty, and homelessness, I was pretty disappointed and disconcerted by the reality of the struggle and just how bad it is. I will fully admit I left class each day feeling really depressed, angry, and uncertain about how to fix the problem. It is such a complex, gargantuan issue with many branches, and it does seem difficult to tackle it. Nonetheless, it’s important to know these facts, the stereotypes, the stories about the impoverished and the homeless. It’s really opened my eyes and I have a much deeper respect for human endurance.

After Thursday’s class, I felt for the first time since January a little more optimistic about the problems. Working with my internship has been moving and hearing about my fellow students’ internships made me feel more relieved to know that there are people out there who are doing something to alleviate the problem. Obviously none of these organizations are perfect; obviously none of them are tackling the structural problems. My internship’s organization probably could weigh in its opinion on public policy and handling these issues, but their goal isn’t to fix structural problems and I imagine that my peers are noticing that as well with their internships. These organizations are trying to save people and to fill in the gaps that structure creates.  In spite of this, it made me feel much more optimistic to know that there is a portion of society who does have compassion, kindness, and generosity to do this kind of work. It’s not easy, and I admire them for doing it.

Volunteering through my internship has been my first experience with a service organization that helps the impoverished or under privileged (my past volunteer experiences have been at a local library and at a local museum). I have worked on Saturdays during which time the organization opens its food bank and thrift shop. I have not worked with the food bank unlike my fellow student volunteers but instead the thrift shop. In this section, I have worked both with the clients and behind the scenes.

While volunteering in the clothing section, I also was able to observe the food bank since  the organization’s services relatively share the same area. According to the main coordinator of the center’s operation, who says a prayer prior to the organization’s opening each morning, a family or individual can come to the food bank once a week (Monday, Wednesday, or Saturday) to receive approximately $75.00 worth of food which can total up to roughly $300.00 worth of food a month. His hope is that this will encourage the clients to use the money that they will be saving to be put towards their bills and other expenses. The visible food that I saw in the boxes given to clients was fruit, vegetables, cake, ice cream, candy, crackers, processed meals, and cereals. These were food items that had clearly been donated from local grocery stores. I was surprised to see what clients were getting in the boxes. I think my surprise comes from how the reality differed from my preconceived notions about food banks in general. This organization provides more than just the stereotypical donation of canned foods, soup, and other nonperishable goods, which is the kind of food donations that I myself am familiar with having given in the past through food drives during the holiday seasons.

I observed a degree of power displacement between the clients and the volunteers in the thrift shop because it has a system that regulates how many items are moving with the clients. The thrift shop gives clients the opportunity to pick out items that they themselves want, much like a regular store, but there are limits on the amount of items that people can take each week. Each client possesses a colored card that allows them to take items from the shop. For example, a client (whether a family or an individual) can take up to three books and one dress (which is the equivalent of three shirts) (I have not fully memorized this system).  I generally found that clients worked within these limits with no problem; sometimes, however, people wanted to take more than the system’s limits formally allow. What happens, however, depends upon who’s running the thrift shop at the time. The other volunteers I worked with in the front were much more assertive than I am when dealing with the clients and were more forthright with telling the clients that they had gone over their limit of items. Some clients easily conceded and put back items, some clients were less willing to give up items or to quickly choose what to put back. This made me uncomfortable, and I admit that I did not follow the organization’s system and let people go over their limit sometimes. It was especially difficult when children wanted more toys than they were allowed, and in one instance a child started crying (in this case we let that child keep all of the toys they had wanted). I understand that this system is in place for a very practical reason–there are a limited number of items for people to take and the items have to last to meet the need in case donations run short.

Overall, this organization is much more informal than some of my peers’ organizations seem to be–there’s no orientation for volunteers, few expectations upon clients, and an emphasis on privacy for the clients. Yet, in spite of this informal nature, this organization functions efficiently and people are helped on a weekly basis.