Upon our arrival, from the Washington Parks and People organization we learned the history of this park, which was named for the African American singing legend but became unfortunately a bit run-down and what I'm assuming the vast majority of the TFAS kids would not consider an ideal spot for a nice walk as it took on the role of the local drug trafficking venue. But the past few years the community along with a whole host of volunteers has really taken it upon themselves to remake it into a lovely, enjoyable place for the community.
Following the background info spiel, we all showed up and took on our respective tasks to spruce up a section of the park, as some hopped into giant yellow waterproof boots armed with a claw to grab trash out of the river, others hauled four-by-fours. My suitemates and I joined the ranks of weedwacking down by the riverside. A hot, labor-intensive job with seemingly no end in sight. Our group uncovered a stash of hypodermic needles in the ground as we attempted to rid the riverbanks of the weeds from their roots, but it really did seem like the park as a whole was a lot better than it could have been.
I was actually kind of having fun for a while, taking a crack at irritating plants and ripping them out of the ground. But as we were all dripping from sweat after not even 20 minutes had crawled by, we stared down the riverbank and all attempted to process the next few hours into our brains. We were not talking the "Why do we have to do this?!" kind of complaining. But the "Gosh it's hot. These weeds suck, I just want a five minute break. My shoulder hurts," etc. kind of complaining. After we took a little water and snack break, one of the guys rightfully trying to get the most out of the volunteers came over to the three of us and asked if we wanted to water the sod. Sounded like something that had an end goal, something with an incentive rather than endless weed chopping! So we set up a pulley system, as Alison hopped into the river, filled up the bucket on a rope, and Rezina pulled the bucket up a couple stories. I emptied that bucket into my own, carted it up the hill and watered each strip of new sod in between each of the rows for what was to become a lovely little amphitheater. Repeat x 30. Needless to say, I was quite thankful for the little bit of muscle leftover from tennis.
Unsure of what project would fill the last chunk of our time, we headed to the Washington Parks and People office for a bathroom break. Only in between us and the bathroom, a good chunk of the community was just having a gathering! Haircuts on the sidewalk, dads and kids throwing a ball around, kids jumping and screaming in one of those blow-up plastic castle things. I felt like kind of an intruder on their special community time, and I didn't want to seem like the high and mighty outsider who just comes in for a few hours, gets her hands a little dirty, feels good for doing volunteer work, and leaves. But as people spotted our bright blue TFAS shirts, tons of people we walked past simply wanted to talk to us! Some asked about our program, others praised us for being in college. But most said simply "thank you," and "God bless you," and the most loving things that I was really not expecting at all. One man pulled us aside and practically force-fed us watermelon! They had a whole barbecue spread out, and from him we learned that this was a group from a Baptist church not too far away, and it sounded like they come every Saturday to have free food and haircuts for the community and try and teach people about how God's love has made a difference in their lives. He asked a little bit about us, and then he put his arms around us and prayed for us! He encouraged us to get more food, but I truly felt we were undeserving because they were the ones truly doing the good work.
Another young man also stopped us to talk, and he told turned his life around from what he himself confessed was of selfishness, greed, and unconscionable deeds spoke of trust, love, God's love, and God as your conscience. One comment that struck me was when he said something like, "Just a couple years ago, I would have never thought to feed others. I would have gotten my food and told you to get your own too," and he attributed his transformation to someone speaking the word to him. He was so inspired and so passionate, and it was just amazing to me to see this community try to pick itself up and spread love. I was just in awe, and I'm definitely thankful for the full experience of that bathroom break! As our whole group was leaving the site, the whole community called us to circle up and join hands with them, and they sent us off in prayer, for which I felt truly undeserving. We were merely changing landscape; they were changing lives. However you define and think of the force that inspires you and calls you to love other people and love this world shouldn't matter - what is needed in this world is simply more love and understanding.
Mental debriefing was quite necessary. Then after a couple hours of lunching, semi-relaxing, and errands, one of my suitemates and I then set out to canvass M Street, Georgetown's main shopping and entertainment district. Shopping is definitely not usually my thing, but I'm always open for going exploring with a friend and hoping to find some good deals in the process. Dashing in and out of whatever businesses intrigued us (mostly ones that had clothing sales, souvenirs, or snacks to relieve us from the heat), we wandered for a good three hours and realized only when we got home that there was still a good chunk of it that was beyond where we turned around to come back home! A wide variety of cute little cafes to nice restaurants of who knows how many different types of cuisine, stores that range from sweet little secondhand clothes to price ranges way beyond conception for my bank account, knick knacks and gadgets, the list goes on and on. Apparently on weekend nights, M St. is the place to be in Washington, DC if you're looking to get out on the town - you can usually find what you're looking for, but be prepared for there to be a lot of people looking for whatever they're looking for too!
Our treat: the famed Georgetown Cupcake!
Things I've learned from DC so far:
- Cockroaches are easier to smash than you'd expect.
- The heat accompanied by humidity is frightening (along with the frizz they induce), but if it doesn't turn into a random little ten-minute afternoon shower, there's at least always a hint of an amazingly refreshing cool breeze.
- Carleton's intro macroeconomics is a heck of a lot harder than econ 257 here (so far at least...).
- SE DC is a perhaps paradoxical place with more rundown neighborhoods but at least one church every block.
- I don't get homesick but I miss people and get lonely sometimes.
- It's quite enjoyable to dance and sing to Disney tunes in the campus grocery store at 9pm on a Friday night and come away with a receipt for mango sorbet and morsels totaling $14.14.
- The majority of people I've run into here are at least passionate about something, which is cool even if I don't particularly agree with their convictions or personalities.
- The ability to listen is even more of a necessity when you're strong in your convictions because humanity will never learn if people continue to just speak their minds with no regard for others.
Net gains from today:
- A couple new items of clothing and jewelry in my closet from fun sales on M Street.
- Sleepy eyes.
- Re-energized and renewed commitment to love people.
Part of our section of the park once we were done working.
The neighborhood turned out on a Saturday morning!
Spontaneous prayer circles were popping up all over the place.
The incredible people who showed us all so much love and kindness.
Our group joined the prayer circle.
Hopefully the rest of the volunteers realized how much the little bit of work we did meant and how every little bit we and the community can do can help those small children in the center stay kids as long as they can. A hard life forces kids to grow up pretty fast, so it was really cool to see these kids being able to just be kids. The man speaking rightly said that this is "the beginning of new beginnings."
