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Fadya Mikhael

Jennifer Kates

Comm-2200-056

Profile Essay

2/25/17

Homelessness, I honestly thought of the worst when that word came up. My whole life

society taught me that homeless people are lazy, addicts, or just bums. It finally came to a point

where that biased mindset had to change. That is what exactly

happened this past week. Being asked to do a project where we had

to interview homeless people and see their story was bittersweet.

Me being an introvert, and scared to try new things, I saw this as a

challenge, walking into something, not knowing what to expect and

what the outcome will be. I completely had to come out of my

comfort zone. I had to call many locations of homeless shelters but

Nashville Rescue Mission was the only place that called me back

and told me that I can come in and help out. My appointment was

set for 2/23/17.

Driving on a beautiful, warm, sunny

day into the parking lot of the building, I noticed so many things. I

noticed the building there were a lot of colorful swings, slides, and

benches. There was one building labeled “Nashville rescue mission,”

and one was labeled “Jim and Jan hope center,” which was kind of

confusing for me. I walked into the wrong building at first. The friend

that I brought with me told me that we are in the wrong building and

said she might know where the right one is. As we walked to the right

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building, I start to notice a lot of people walking in also. They looked “decent” they did not look

“homeless” to me. I assumed they were either volunteers or employees.

When we got in, I noticed there were dorm like rooms, with 2 pairs of bunk beds and a

desk. There were about 8 women working in the kitchen. The room had many bible verses on the

wall, and a huge wooden cross that something written on it that said, “It was not the nails that

held Christ to the cross but it was his love for you and me.” beside that huge wooden cross, there

were many other little ones beside them. Then that is when I realized this is a Christian based

organization.

Nancy, the lady that showed us around told us her own personal testimony with the

program. She let us know that before she worked at Nashville Rescue Mission, she was homeless

herself. Eventually she went into the program, and has been clean for 4 years. After hearing that,

it made us realize that this program must really work.

As the women started walking in one by one; I was really confused, these women did not

look homeless whatsoever. I asked Nancy if all these women are homeless. She responded

saying “these women were homeless, but they are in the program we have, and they are trying to

graduate from the program so they can get jobs.”

That finally made a lot more sense to me. These

women were actually sober and beginning to be

on the right track. I noticed a lot of kids walk in

with their parents. Some of the kids looked clean

and dressed nice; some of the other kids had dirt

on their face, and dirty clothes. Later the room

started filling up and our job was to just hand out

drinks to them. This woman for some reason

stood out to me; she was Caucasian, tall, had on a

pink hoodie, tied up brown hair, gray sweatpants,

and clean sneakers.

I walked through the crowded, loud room, and

went up to her. I introduced myself, then I asked

her name. “Hey what’s up my name is Emily” she replied. I asked if she was okay with being

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interviewed and possibly videotaped. She completely agreed,

and was surprisingly okay with everything. I proceeded to

tell her more about what this project is about. I notified her

that I would also be recording, which she was okay with.

Emily began to tell about her life, she is originally from

Kingston TN. Emily then she began to open up a bit about

her childhood. “growing up, I had an amazing life, two

loving parents, and one younger sister. It was an average

American home, we all got along and loved each other very

much.” She seemed as if she was holding something back, she looked a bit upset. “Everything

changed once I turned 14, I started getting bored, and that is when all the addiction started.” “So

how did that effect your life?” I asked her. “Well I wanted to be alone, I always pushed out my

parents from my life, and was really rude to my sister. Now I regret it all, because I lost my

parents at the age of twenty two, now I am thirty six and wish I could apologize to them, but at

least I am fixing my relationship with my sister now.”

“I was homeless for only 1 month, now I

am in this program.” This was shocking,

usually homeless people are homeless longer

than that. “People were actually really friendly

and more compassionate towards Me.” she

said after asking her about how she is treated.

Emily said after she graduates the program, she

hopes to go to college and get a job at

Goodwill. “My 8 year old son is my

motivation.” It was a bit shocking to discover

she had a son.

Then we discussed a bit about the

program Nashville Rescue Mission offers.

Emily assured me that she felt completely safe and at home in the program, and they were

treating them like they were family. “This program has been amazing, the employees seem to

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care about how everyone will be when they graduate from it, and program coordinators are

keeping me on the right track of being sober, which I have been sober for 4 years.” I asked her if

she had an idea where she would have been without this program. “I think I would still be on the

street if this program did not exist, I feel like I would be lost.”

To finish off my interview with her, I asked her if she would like to let me know

anything. This part is what truly touched me. Emily said, “You can get through anything,

regardless of the situation, if you believe in Jesus, and believe that anything is possible through

him, then you can do anything.” I felt as if she might have been holding back some tears. “Being

an addict was not easy, to lose family was not easy, not being able to see your own son was not

easy, but I believe in god, myself, and miracles. That is what is going to make anything

possible.” After her telling me this I felt goosebumps

on my arm. I thanked her and we said goodbye to

each other. It is possible we might see each other

somewhere again, maybe college, or maybe even

goodwill.

I went in for my second visit to Nashville

Rescue Mission. Everyone that worked there were the

exact same. The only thing different was the weather

that day, it was raining and cold. Last time I served

drinks, but this time they had me serve food in the

line. I went in expecting to see Emily from last visit. I

asked the lady at the front desk if she knew if Emily would come today. The lady said “ohh…

Emily isn’t doing so well right now, she is no longer in the program.” After her telling me this I

got concerned for Emily. After serving for nearly 20 minutes I recognized this woman from last

time.

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Her name is Jennifer she had short black hair, wears glasses, seems as if she’s in her early

50’s, and she had a lip piercing. So I started out by asking how long she was homeless, her

family life then, and her family life now. She started out by saying, “I am from Nashville, born

and raised. Growing up my family life was great, everyone loved each other and got a long, and

we were a huge family.” I stopped and asked her how many people were there in her family. “I

had 4 real siblings, and 4 half siblings, even though it was a great family, sometimes it got hard

to get some attention from your parents.” She kind of paused a little to think. “My relationship

with my family was amazing, but when the drug addiction started…yea… that’s when

everything went bad…the stopped trusting me, talking to me, or even wanting to see my face.”

“A relationship is what put me in that situation, 20 years of a toxic, abusive, and dark

relationship. If it was not for him I would probably have been in a better place in my life.” He

abused her so much that she went to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain. She talked about if she

left it would have made her life easier.

Then we discussed a bit her present and future. I asked her what she plans to do after she

gets out of this program. “I really would like to go to college and I want to build my relationship

with my daughter.” I asked what college she would like to attend, and how old is her daughter.

“Maybe Nashville state, or Tennessee state

and my daughter is twenty three.” She replied.

She wants to gain the trust of her family

members again, and be able to go to family

events without feeling like the “elephant in

the room.”

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I asked if she has any advice for anyone that might

potentially be in her situation. Jennifer replied by saying,

“Yea I have a couple of things to say, If you’re ever in a

bad relationship get out as soon as possible, there is

always more fish in the sea, you don’t have to stay. I also

want to say never give up, there is a god and there is

hope.” She took a second to think after that and started

with another thought. “God can do anything, and I

personally wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him, I

would still be an addict. But with him I have been clean

since February 2016, and if I could do it, anyone could.”

This overall experience makes me want to be more open

minded about a lot of other subjects that I am against. If it

was not for me going there and seeing it for myself, I would have still had that negative mindset

towards homelessness and the homeless community. Getting out of my comfort zone is

something that I have been trying to work on for a while, so this definitely was a big deal.

Homelessness should not be perceived in such a negative light; we should give the homeless

community a chance because they are people just like us. Everyone has different situations that

may not be their fault or just a mistake. Just like Emily, she was really young and naïve and

Jennifer was in and toxic and abusive relationship. Even though many believe homelessness is

incurable, the rate of homelessness can be lowered if society gave them a second chance.

Programs like Nashville Rescue Mission are what give hope to these people and sometimes give

them a reason to live.