WP2 Rough Draft
I was terrified of the term “prisoner” before talking to a resident at Francisco Home. Suppose they assault us. What if they treat us disrespectfully and rudely? Due to the prejudices we had towards the residents, we were hesitant to meet them in person when participating in the group discussion in class. However, many of my preconceived notions about formerly incarcerated people were dispelled as a result of my experience with Francisco Homes.
When I first met the residents at the Opening Ceremony, I found that they were quite amiable. One of the residents, Charles, introduced himself to me while I was at the ceremony and showed me the photos on his camera roll that he had taken while traveling Los Angeles after being released from prison. He took me around the places of Los Angeles he’s been to and the murals he spotted. He said to me, “I like biking around a lot and seeing different things.” He later showed me around the streets near USC and told me about interesting spots to visit while we strolled around the neighborhood. I felt like I was talking to a teenager who had so much passion about different things, instead of a thirty-three year old pre-incarcerated person. We talked about everything like friends, which broke through the racial and age divide between them and me as an international college student.
Francisco Homes introduces us college students to the pre-incarcerated population, giving us a first-hand service experience. I think it’s crucial for community participation that we do this. In addition to reading contexts about pre-incarcerated people and their struggles in the classroom, going into the “context” gives us a much clearer picture of how the community is like and puts us in contact with the actual people in the community, which will teach us real skills and dispositions to handle their potential problems. Tania Mitchell elaborates on her idea of community engagement in “Traditional vs. Critical Service Learning” by arguing that it is preferable for students to participate in the community outside of the classroom. “Opportunities to learn from others’ lived experience, confront inequities and injustices that can shape the classroom as much as the community, and gain activist skills to make social change.” (qtd. in Mitchell 464). In other words, Mitchell understands the value of volunteering in addressing problems and challenges that affect the community and improving the neighborhoods. Students must therefore leave the “classroom” and become familiar with the “life experience” of the community in order to more fully appreciate the “inequities and injustices” that they are fighting. Only then will they be able to completely understand the purpose of community service.
But as I continued working with Francisco Homes, I started to question the value of my volunteer work because it didn’t seem to be having the desired impact. Only two participants in the beach vacation I planned showed up. The remaining residents either cited a want to spend time with their families or a need to complete work. What I am currently doing in Francisco Homes is primarily offering the residents company and emotional support through conversation and handing out, but what seemed to discourage this idealogy is the gap that already exists between me as an international college student and them as people who experienced real life struggles that I could never relate to and have served in prison for at least a minimum of 15 years. It is very impossible to break down this barrier naturally because it is a product of society and cultural differences. Through our conversation, I found out about Charles’ early orphanage and how he had to provide for himself. He also spoke about the rigorous lifestyle and daily meals of rotten smash potatoes in prison. Because of our vastly different life experiences, it was challenging for us to deeply connect and for him to fully open up to me, which made my supposedly companionship superficial.
