And we're in!

The prayer turret at 'The Circle'

The Circle is finally finished!  Well, almost – there are still some things like an amazing mould growing room in the basement to be sorted and a working front door to be achieved.  But we are in.  It has been very touching to see the enthusiasm of the neighbours.  One day we came home to find a beautiful plant on the porch, no card, just the plant.  The house had been effectively derelict for a couple of years and had become a magnet for a local gang.  Some of the rooms had been so well ‘tagged’ you could barely see the walls and we spent hours scrubbing graffiti off the marble in the hall.  Who knew marble was quite so porous?!  

Bienvenedas bunting - welcoming women to 'The Circle'

It has meant a lot to the local community to have the building bought and renovated.  Some of them confided in Licha that the houses opposite had all started to fix their porches and buy plants for the garden.  Already they are feeling so much better about the area. 

Helpers celebrating the move in....

We had a gathering of Helpers here last weekend to see the place in its post-renovation splendour.  It was fun showing them round and imagining the life that will go on in these walls.  It brought it home too, how much of a shared project this is.  Many people had already contributed furniture, pictures, equipment, prayer and enthusiasm.   As attention turns to the programmes, classes and support ‘The Circle’ will offer, this just continues.  We met this week with a doctor who is also an acupuncturist and keen to offer group sessions at low prices, there is a nutritionist offering teach nutrition and cookery, psychotherapy students coming to do their internships  and a number of young bilingual women ready to offer their time.  Every week, someone else seems to come on board. 

So although there are still rooms to be furnished, the parking lot to be laid, the garden to be landscaped and the program to be finalised - it really feels like things are taking shape.  It has been a lesson in trusting in Providence, if ever there was one!  

Work and Play

Licha & Veronica potting plants for The Circle

The past couple of weeks have been busy.  I’ve been volunteering at Taller de José, a community resource centre offering accompaniment to people in need by connecting them to services and enabling them to access those services.  The staff, interns and volunteers work as compañeras, accompanying clients to court, medical appointments, social and legal services, referring them to partner agencies, translating documents, helping to fill in applications and assisting with reading letters or documents.  The majority of clients are Hispanic and my lack of Spanish means that I’ve been limited to reception - along with smiles and gestures, I can just about manage “hello, please wait there, your compañera will be with you...!”   Most of my time has been spent on data input of the clients’ questionnaires (essential for evaluation, development and funding applications).  This involves attempting to decipher comments made in Spanish which can be challenging particularly when the client’s written Spanish displays spelling even worse than mine... It took me a long time to realise that ‘ven’ was bien and ‘ke’ was que...

Cleaning one of the 75 windows...

Meanwhile the end is finally in sight of the renovations at The Circle.  This week the Big Clean commenced.  Cleaning the new windows (sticky labels, plaster and all) is no mean feat in a building with 75 generously sized windows...  We’ve had the help of a few volunteers though and people keep popping in to what is going on, which is a good excuse for a rest and another tour to begin!

Silver beach lighthouse, St. Joseph, Michigan

There have been opportunities for play in amongst this though.  This weekend was particularly good fun as Moe, her mum, Marty, and I took a trip to St. Joseph in Michigan, a charming little beach town on the Lake.   We took in a local craft fair, walks on the beach (a beach wedding provided excellent people watching), al fresco dining, a beautiful sunset and after the sunburn of Saturday, a day sharing round extra clothes and shivering on Sunday – I still can’t get used to the huge swings in temperature from one day to the next!   In a variety of attire then, we meandered back via the Indiana Dunes so I could feel justified in claiming my 13^th visited State.   

Resurrected in Chicago

After a very long break and a couple of requests, I thought I’d try to resurrect my blog while I’m in America.  I’m a week into my three month stay with the Helpers here in Chicago and am enjoying reacquainting myself with the city, meeting new people and spending time with one of my closest friends – Maureen Ewing (who supplied the Chicago photo)!

This is my 5^th visit to Chicago and promises to be rather different to the others.  For a start, I’m in the south of the city in an Hispanic neighbourhood where I’m hearing lots about the need for Immigration Reform and the bill which is before the Senate.  There are 11 million ‘undocumented workers’ in the US and it seems a significant number of them are in this neighbourhood!  This article gives a brief but helpful overview of the situation and the bill:

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/24/immigration-reform-grover-norquist-support

The Helpers I’m living with largely have their ministries amongst these people.  Debbie is a nurse practitioner and Rayo a youth worker in a local parish.  Many of the young people she works with, although born here, suffer from the reality that their parents are 'undocumented'  For example, to apply for college places and scholarships, young people have to give their parents' Social Security numbers. Their parents do not have numbers, so they can’t apply...  Without the ability to participate fully in society, significant numbers of young people are instead drawn to gangs - and the violence, crime and fear that membership entails.   This in turn impacts on the families, local communities and the city as a whole.          

Meanwhile Licha is hard at work overseeing the renovation of a building which will house ‘The Circle’ - a centre which will provide space and support for women in the area.  The programme includes:  parenting skills, women’s health, family health, nutrition, communication skills, arts and crafts.  Counseling will also be on offer, there’s an exercise room and perhaps most importantly, the open invitation to ‘get away from it all’ for an hour or so…

When ‘The Circle’ is ready to open, I’ll be moving there with Licha, so I’ll get to be around right at the beginning of this exciting project!