Week 7: Anticipation

I find myself on an emotional high while writing this week’s post, coming of another fun-packed weekend and having just learned of some friends plans to visit toward the end of my stint in Richmond. Along with anticipating their visit, I have many other things to look forward before leaving Richmond. It seems like every week goes by faster, and of this I have mixed emotions. Part of me wants to make the most of this time and continue to experience as much as I can, but another part of me is satisfied with what I have accomplished so far and eager to get home to see friends and family before moving on to Ecuador!

My friends Timmy and Kari were initially scheduled to visit this upcoming Friday the 27th, but car troubles forced us to come up with an alternate plan. I am very happy with the alternative, as they will be flying out on the weekend before I leave and then road-tripping back with me to Minneapolis. Having some company will sure make those car rides go by a lot faster, and they will still be able to see Richmond and visit Boaz & Ruth. Their plans have helped me solidify my final date at Boaz & Ruth as Monday, August 20, and my date of arrival in the Twin Cities as Thursday, August 23.

After seven weeks at Boaz & Ruth, I am finally gaining a clearer vision of what purpose my work will serve the organization. I had several more conversations with Martha, the CEO, about the need for teaching apprentices on the importance of understanding the financial operations of the businesses they work in. I believe these conversations have led me to being less intimidated by and critical of Martha. Since I had so little interaction with her in the first few weeks at Boaz & Ruth, I had to rely on others to form an opinion of her. Even though everybody had mostly positive things to say, I tended to focus on the few negative aspects. Now I realize this reasoning was due to my own need to place the shortcoming of Boaz & Ruth on somebody’s shoulders, and Martha was the obvious choice as the Founder and President. I must admit her constant cheerleading and loving style has made an impact on me and put a lot of criticisms to rest in my mind.

Still, I am somewhat frustrated that these conversations could not have happened a few weeks ago. The entire communication process surrounding my role has seemed counter-productive. At times, I have done a certain project in a way that seemed logical to me, only to find that some of the work was unnecessary and unwanted. Some of these observations have led me to proposing to add some structure to the internship program, which Martha has agreed to. An invaluable component of a B&R internship is the autonomy and self-discovery, and the growth and learning this fosters. Adding structure would only mean bolstering the communication lines to interns and having sample job descriptions to give to prospective interns. Ironically, I have struggled with not having a supervisor this summer, whom could have provided me answers to questions much faster and allowed me to learn about that person’s role, strategies, and approach in a more in-depth fashion.

I am definitely becoming more accustomed to the culture and way-of-life at B&R. Some of the observations I initially found unique and fascinating are now becoming more commonplace. Yet, I still continue to be amazed by the amount of conflict between people. Not a day goes by that there is some kind of confrontation or interpersonal issue among program participants that may or may not involve staff. The most extreme case that I have witnessed to date occurred on Friday afternoon in the Organizational Meeting, a time where everybody gathers to discuss issues facing the organizations. Two females in the program, both of whom have been at B&R for more than 8 months, got into a very heated argument. Essentially, the conflict arose over whose role within the organization held more responsibility and pressure, and therefore would merit missing ‘mandatory’ B&R gatherings that occurred within the workday. As both women stood up, their words may have escalated into physical confrontation had not one of the staff members stepped in. Even with the seriousness of conflicts like these, I can’t help but laughing to myself in disbelief. It is unlike anything I have ever witnessed before in my life.

The undisputed highlight of the week happened on Saturday, when Polly, a Boaz & Ruth volunteer, and myself took seven people from the program to Virginia Beach for the day. Not only was this my first trip to VA Beach; it was the first time for many of them going to the beach in their life! (Virginia Beach is only 1 ½ hours from Richmond.) Therefore, it was a great joy for me to see everybody enjoying themselves and spending some much needed time just relaxing. It was another reminder of how precious our freedom is, and how being in prison can bring one to appreciate our liberties in this country even more. I think the effect of a trip like this also shows the importance of travelling and experiencing life outside of the little bubble we often find ourselves trapped in. This is especially the case for residents of the inner-city, who often don’t have the resources to take such trips on their own account.

Definitely the most crowded beach I have visited

It was CT's first time at the beach

Catchin' some afternoon Z's

The Boardwalk that runs along the beach

I will end this week with a very interesting story of a series of events that unfolded late Saturday night. After getting back from the beach, I went out to a downtown Irish pub with my buddy Dan to watch David Beckham’s American soccer debut. We left about 1:00am and just as we were getting into my car we were approached by a man asking for our help. He was a middle-aged, cleanly dressed black male and did not fit the stereotype of a bum at all. He started telling us of how his semi-truck had broke down on the interstate and the trooper had brought him into downtown. Apparently, he owned his own construction business of some type based out of Charlotte and was in Richmond working for a few days. He spoke very fast and his story was difficult to follow, but what he needed from us was a ride just a mile or two down the road to one of his construction suppliers so he could secure some of the materials on his truck. Even though it was in the middle of the night, I didn’t doubt his type of work would have him working this late at night.

Ironically, this came the weekend after I led a staff Bible study at Boaz & Ruth on the importance of supporting spiritual words with physical deeds. I talked more in depth about this last week, and only one other person showed up this week, for the record. Anyways, I digress. I felt that this was an opportunity given to me by God to do a good deed and affirm what I had been examining earlier that week. As we gave him a ride, I couldn’t help but speculate whether his was telling the truth, even though his story seemed very elaborate and his dress was very clean.

In any case, when we arrived at the site, there was nobody present. Apparently they had grown tired of waiting for him and had gone home. He then wanted us to take him a hotel where he could sit in the lobby and make some phone calls to his co-workers to come help him. Along the way, he mentioned needing $25 in cash to help pay for his tow since his credit card was maxed out and he only had $40-some in cash on him. My friend Dan was too skeptical and untrusting to help out, but I had the cash on me and decided to give it to him. Again I reflected back to my studies on scripture dealing with this topic and figured the benefit of this help to him was worth the slight risk of his story being fake. I thought, “that was a lot of work to go through to scam somebody out of their money.” He insisted in getting my phone number so he could call back and pay me back; and while I gave him my money I told him I wasn’t interested in getting paid back. Rather, I told him to ‘pay it forward,’ but he insisted he would call me the next day (Sunday). For the record, I never did hear from him on Sunday. Regardless, I was grateful to have the opportunity to at least apparently help somebody in a time of crisis.

Thanks again for reading and enjoy y’alls weeks. I am anticipating speaking with you again next week.