We have survived our first day in New York. No one got lost and everyone is sound asleep in our wonderful cots. This city is as beautiful as it appears in movies and HIMYM. This is my first time in NYC and I'm already in love. In love with with all the languages spoken around us, the giant slices of pizzas, the lights, and buildings. However, I'm crazy in love with many of the things I've seen on the streets. I can move pass the excitement and see what's going on underneath the surface. Some things we probably won't see in films and our favorite shows. It is a privilege to be here and experience this with a great group of individuals. The MoMA and times square were spatacular, but now it's time to remember why we're here.
It can be easy to get distracted by the lights, the cars, and buildings. I caught myself thinking about what can the city do for me, rather than what can I do for the city and its people. There's an obvious problem of poverty in the city and it affects all people. I now can see that poverty does not discriminate against one's race, color, and gender. It affects all kinds of people.
For the first three days since our arrival, I asked myself over and over again, how does this city work? As we walked to our destinations for the day we saw people going to work, children heading to school, and elders crossing streets with a cart in front of them. It seemed to me that there wasn't more to life in the city than this. Work, study, and grow old. There's got to be something more than this. I wouldn't find out the answer to my own question until later in the week.
On Tuesday night, we prepared dinner for people who were homeless. I was extremely nervous for an unknown reason and till this day, I can't figure out what it was. I have talked to people on the streets and even given rides to strangers, however, that night was different. As people showed up I knew more of us would be drawn to some more than others, so I waited to see who I would have to honor to sit with. I noticed that two older gentlemen were the interverts of the group so I knew if anyone could make them talk it would be me.
It took me a solid 10 minutes to built trust with them and they opened up to me more. As I stated at the beginning I kept asking myself, how does this city work? They answered my question without me mentioning it. We talked about how fast people seem to walk and go about their day. One of them explain to me that people work to pay rent and that often means one has to work two jobs to pay for housing. People walk fast because their second job awaits.
The city works in a way that people are trying to survive another day. Their biggest bill is paying rent. People in NYC have to work multiple jobs to survive and put a roof over their head. Leaving little room for anything else than working. Compared to the Midwest it doesn't make sense to me. Here there's more to someone's life than work. You participate in society by attending festivals, gatherings, taking your kids out to Pumkin patches, the mall, etc. Thinking about all the things people can do in Iowa and not in NYC I realized my own privilege and blindness. Because my family and I have to opportunity to do all those things does not mean other families do as well. Either in Iowa or NYC, poverty is still poverty and the location does not mean it'll be experienced differently. Poverty is easier to see in NYC, however just because we don't see it as much in Iowa doesn't mean it doesn't exist how it does in New York.
Throughout the week we served both employed and unemployed, homeless and not so homeless. There's a bigger problem to poverty than just being unemployed, the housing issue affects everything. If they can't afford housing it will affect how one can hold onto their job, one's health, and human worth. We need affordable housing for all people. There's a lot of talk about raising the minimum wage and if we can accomplish that it would be great, but we need to go further than that and fix the problem of homelessness with affordable housing first.
New York allowed me to see the problem from a different lense. It gave me the opportunity to leave my own perceptions behind and dig deeper to be part of the solution.
Posted by Kenia
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