 November/December 2000 (XXXVIII 5) |
participated in the international workcamp in Philadelphia from August 6 to August 22. It was organized by Judy Van Hoy and Hakim Hudson, the workcamp staff for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. We had eight participants, from Spain, France, India, Finland, Scotland, and China (me).
During the workcamp, we helped some of the families in Philadelphia fix their houses. On the first day, I helped to clean out the basement of Mrs. James’ home in West Philadelphia so that her great-grandchildren could play down there. For the next several days, I worked with Habitat for Humanity, helping to move furniture, paint a porch, build a backyard fence, and even level the ground in the backyard. The next week, at the Bells' house in Germantown, I helped remove first an old carpet and then the tiles below that, finally unearthing a beautiful wood floor. In the last few days we built a backyard patio at the Friends Workcamp Center, beginning with leveling the ground and laying the bricks, through to the final step, planting flowers and bushes. I even was able to use a hand-held electric brick cutter for the first time. What an experience! I never felt so powerful before!
The workcamp center is located in West Philadelphia. Once we arrived there, we found that we were living in a place that contradicted some of our previous images of America. The America that we see on TV has green grass, sidewalks, and beautiful little houses. The America that we see on TV also has people firing guns in the middle of the day and hatred between different races of people. However, West Philadelphia, an African-American neighborhood, did not have any of this. Most houses were broken-down, but the streets were quiet. We lived for two weeks in West Philadelphia and saw that the people are friendly, to their neighbors and to strangers. This first-hand experience gave us a more complex, more real, picture of America.
In sum, I learned and felt so much in the two weeks of living and working in Philadelphia. It not only gave me the chance to learn how to paint houses and fix windows but also taught me the meaning behind this work, and helped build friendships and understanding among all of the participants and the people with whom we worked.
Wuna Reilly
Washington, DC
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM