I Try

So today's activity was chosen by my boss, Joel. Despite his crazy eccentricities, like sporting motorcycle helmet head 24-7 and creating hilarious, insane situations out of thin air, he is one of the most excellent human beings I know. Never in my life have I met a person who is more dedicated to his job. The students we deal with in our school are sometimes a handful; many of them have been in and out of jail or juvie, we have teen moms, homeless students, students with mental health issues, you name it, we have it. No one pushes and advocates for these students more than Joel. The man has a heart the size of a planet, and it's evident in the activity he choose for me today.

He asked that I enlist the help of one of our students who lives at the Rescue Mission of El Paso to recommend a homeless young lady from the shelter who I could spend the afternoon with, maybe take her out to eat. My student, Jamie, thought of a girl at the RM right away, named Shana who wants to be a teacher, and who seemed to need a pick me up. A few months ago, there was a stabbing at the Rescue Mission; an older man stabbed a younger man in the neck with a pencil and killed him. Apparently the fight ensued because the older man was interested in this same young lady, Shana, and she was having random conversation with the younger man, and the incident occured. Since the young guy died, life has been rough for Shana, and she had been facing some verbal abuse from the other residents at the Mission, who blamed her for the death. She has since transferred to another mission, but still feels lonely. This was why Jamie chose her.

Naturally, I didn't tell Jamie that Joel had given me this task. I told her I wanted to help someone out at the mission, and that's when she recommended Shana. Jamie and I had talked about this at the begining of April, and Shana had agreed, so today we gave her a call around noon to remind her today would be the day we would meet. I talked to her on the phone and she said the mission has a strict curfew and she needed to be back by 6. She seemed pleasant on the phone, but a little bit tired. She agreed to go out to eat.

When I arrived at the mission to pick Shana up, nothing went as expected. When the director brought Shana up to the lobby of the mission, it was evident that Shana is suffering from anorexia, and very ill. It looked like her hips were in pain as she walked, and although she had a tired look in her eyes, she was smiling slightly. I felt incredibly insensitive for asking her out to eat, but I had no clue of her condition when I had asked. I remember thinking in my head...why didn't Jamie mention this? We sat in the garden of the mission and talked for a few minutes. She let me know that she had tried leaving a message for me at the school that she wasn't feeling well, but she must have called after I left. She didn't directly say that she was anorexic, but she did say that she has just recently started walking again and eating better. We made conversation, and I learned that she is Master's student, like me, and a recent El Paso transplant. Her father is also here in El Paso, so she has a small support system, but knows very few people. I didn't ask any questions, and we made plans in a few weeks to start taking short walks together to help build up her strength.

Meeting Shana today was an eye-opening experience. While many people in shelters do have issues seeking employment or have lack of education, this is not always the case. I never thought about personal issues being something that would cause a person to end up in a shelter. I always thought that people in shelters were those who had been raised in poverty, and then fell on hard times as adults, and did not pursue their education out of need to work, or care for their family. It had not occured to me that anyone, even someone like myself, can end up in a situation like that if emotional issues take hold and derail them.

Shana seemed pleased and taken aback that I would show an interest in getting to know her. She seemed very shy, but excited at making a new friend. We only spent about 45 minutes talking, and I'm not sure if that time made her feel comfortable enough to call me in the future, but I know I definitely left with a new perspective.