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【Stay with Us?】
"I want to help people in real need." We usually say so, that is, under normal circumstances. But when a stranger in urgent need of help--including those who’ve become homeless or refugees--actually appears at our doorstep, our thoughts begin to shift. When we honestly consider this, the safety concerns quietly creep into our minds. Regrettably, those fears often drive us to tweak our earlier statement: “I want to help people in real need--just not in my own backyard.” For many of us, welcoming a stranger into our sanctuary--our home sweet home--feels completely out of the question. Yet, is that truly who we want to be? Around the world, countless people lack basic necessities like running tap water, sanitary toilets, and refrigerators. Many struggle to find enough food to eat or clean clothes to wear. Too many people live without peace or comfort because of abuse/violence/poverty. The painful truth is that so many were simply born into such circumstances. And they’re not just “somewhere out there” in the world. They're also very much nearby. To make life better for everyone, what can each of us do? One tangible step is to welcome into our own neighborhood to build new affordable housing. That matters. But, what about those who can’t even enter our country because they’re non-citizens? Or the children who require adult care and protection? Many people in serious need have no option but to find a home willing to take them in. When we honestly confront the reality that an overwhelming number of people are in real need of help--even at this very moment--we face a choice. Instead of telling them “Anywhere but here,” let us have the courage to offer, “Would you like to stay with us?” We ask ourselves: are we ready to welcome someone in serious need into our own home? The encouraging truth is that we can decide for ourselves. We can talk openly with everyone in our household. We can decide, together. We can make our home more than a place of comfort, but also a place of action--of support/volunteerism. That is, our will to help, even if it may require opening up of our sanctuary. Welcoming even a stranger into our own home because they’re in real need of help. That is, letting go of our instinct to keep within the family. Trying our best to extend the same “kindness for our family” to others in serious need of help as well. For these reasons, welcoming even a stranger into our home is profoundly important. Read Previous: Welcome Strangers into Our Home (2)【Anywhere But Here】 Complete Series: Welcome Strangers into Our Home (1)～(3) [1] [2] [3] Read Theme: On-site Report 【Anywhere But Here】
We must not lose sight of the deeper importance in opening our sanctuary--our place of peace and comfort--even to a stranger, because they’re in real need of help. In many ways, this idea becomes clearer when viewed through the lens of affordable housing crisis in the US. Today, we quite regularly come across people living in tents or cars--individuals who’ve become homeless and displaced. When we do, it’s imperative to remind ourselves that many have fallen into these circumstances through misfortune; often born into abuse/violence/poverty and never had a fair shot to learn basic life skills or access quality education. What’s more, America faces a historic shortage of affordable housing--a problem decades in the making. We simply haven’t built nearly as enough homes, especially for the lowest-income renters. To make matters worse, basic housing is increasingly out of reach for many as rents have risen faster than wages over the last few decades. For this reason, today's affordable housing shortage is staggering, estimated at more than 7 million units. Even so, a glimpse of optimism can be found. Through public/non-profit programs, along with donations and tireless volunteer efforts, America today is housing more people than ever before, and faster than ever in the past. In fact, voters in some states/cities have been asked in recent years to approve more spending for affordable housing. In some communities--often those with more liberal constituencies--voters have supported these measures even when they require tax increases. Many of these places have already drawn up plans to construct new affordable housing. While the progress is far from sufficient and we still have long ways to go, these compassionate actions offer genuine hope for a better tomorrow. Unfortunately, a regrettable observation is that significant hurdles often arise just as these plans begin to move forward. Despite swallowing a bitter pill on higher taxes, the local opposition frequently surfaces when proposed construction sites appear close to home. Neighbors may object, saying, “I don’t want homeless people and refugees here; I’m just trying to protect the safety of my neighborhood. Build it anywhere--but not here.” As this opposition gains momentum, the projects stall or collapse altogether. Sadly, some people are quick to dismiss this as a classic pattern of “Agree in principle, but disagree on the details.” That is, fully agreeing with the principles of “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights--yet retreat from those principles when it comes to welcoming strangers into their own neighborhoods, saying, “That’s a different story.” And just like that, we end up with many saying, “I’m in full agreement with building more affordable housing only if it’s anywhere but in my backyard.” The consequence is predictable. When people try to shift the responsibility onto others, even with sufficient funding and a skilled crew ready to proceed, there's nowhere to build; stifling the plans for more affordable housing. In the next post, let’s explore how this reality sheds light on the deeper importance of opening up our own homes--and our hearts. Read Next: Welcome Strangers into Our Home (3)【Stay with Us?】 Read Previous: Welcome Strangers into Our Home (1)【The Reason】 Complete Series: Welcome Strangers into Our Home (1)～(3) [1] [2] [3] Read Theme: On-site Report 【The Reason】
Every form of support for volunteerism is meaningful when it aligns with the core idea of "Contributing to everyone’s happiness by caring/helping others." Each act matters as long as it's sincerely intended to make this world a better place for everyone; to help those in real need. Support/volunteerism comes in a variety of flavors. Some efforts happen off-site, such as donations or writing letters. But more commonly, it involves engaging in person and on site. On one hand, donating money/goods is truly essential because it allows this warm circle of support to reach even the most remote corners of the world--places that are often difficult to access. On the other hand, in-person/on-site actions allow us to meet eye to eye, walk hand in hand, and connect heart to heart as we share the same physical space. And when we take this idea a step further, we can even transform our own homes into sites of support/volunteerism. For example, as foster/adoptive parents, we can welcome into our homes and provide care for children unable to live with their biological parents due to adverse circumstances. Similarly, we can open our homes to refugees--people who've been forcibly displaced by war/violence/persecution--and offer safety and support. We can also adopt abandoned animals into our families and provide at-home care. So, why should we open our own homes to those in real need of help? It’s because our home is our sanctuary; it’s where we feel the greatest peace and comfort. Some critics may argue. “That’s right, our home is the one place where we find real peace and comfort. So, there’s no way we can let a stranger into our private sanctuary--let alone live with them--because we’d feel unsafe. It’d be too uncomfortable!” There's no denying that opening our private sanctuary to a stranger is a tall order. It's not an easy decision. What’s more, it can be equally challenging to ensure that everyone who lives in the home fully supports the idea. Gaining that shared agreement takes effort, but it’s a crucial step that should never be overlooked because it's everyone's home. At the same time, we must not lose sight of the deeper importance in opening our sanctuary--our place of peace and comfort--even to a stranger, because they’re in real need of help. In the next post, let’s dig in a little deeper on this point. Read Next: Welcome Strangers into Our Home (2)【Anywhere But Here】 Complete Series: Welcome Strangers into Our Home (1)～(3) [1] [2] [3] Read Theme: On-site Report 【Job Coach】
Losing a job, and then our home. It can be a living nightmare, a devastation, and those who participate in our job coaching program may literally be in the midst of it. Our clients may be living through it as we speak with them. In every interaction with the homeless people, we try our very best to make a wholehearted connection to the feelings and emotions of each person. Nonetheless, we can’t deny the fact that the pain our clients suffer in front of our own eyes is of the variety that most of us have never experienced first-hand. In that sense, we can only try to make a connection through imagining ourselves in their shoes. By trying to place ourselves in the images of their pain. What helps us get there is the fact that we team up with the shelter employees to run our job coaching program. This is truly valuable, especially because many of these employees have personally experienced homelessness – coming from various backgrounds with each unique story. Some lived on the streets with their parents as young children, when by all rights every child should feel the hope and excitement for what’s to come ahead – instead of the worries for the next meal. Some became homeless after dropping out of high school and leaving their dysfunctional parents, having no adult figure in their young life to guide them. Others ended up on the streets due to the physical/mental disabilities that overwhelmed them from staying on a job. Renewed from such background, many of our shelter employees are the living proof that homeless people can, indeed, get off the streets. They’re the success stories for our clients. Nonetheless, people who’ve experienced homelessness at one point in their life say not a day goes by without thinking about those difficult times. Especially, when such unjust experience was forced upon them in their playful youth or self-conscious adolescence. They tell us that sense of humiliation, frustration, and anger lingers on and follows them around like a dark shadow. Through their experience, our shelter employees are better able to come to grips with the feelings and emotions of our clients, perhaps, much more vividly than we can. Indeed, such first-hand perspective is invaluable not only here but in any field of work. We can learn so much from their personal experience as we try our very best to make a wholehearted connection to the feelings and emotions of each homeless person. To be sure, there are plenty of difficulties ahead. After getting repeatedly discouraged, denied, and rejected for so long, it’s understandable that we’d often feel utterly incapable of staying positive. That all odds are stacked up against us. That even if we muster up the courage to try our best yet one more time, we’ll just end up getting crushed again. Nevertheless, turning negative won’t help. It won’t help us at all – so we tell ourselves to let’s stay positive to help our own selves. There are a few who – from start to finish – show very little motivation in getting job coached. Probably and understandably, they have their own reasons for that. Yet, as we proceed on with our interview coaching, most faces start to light up. And some will even express gratitude saying, “no one’s ever taught me any of this, ever.” Indeed, such are the moments that give us hope that maybe just maybe, they can start moving forward in their new chapter of life. Every month, between 20 to 40 of our clients get a new job and start on their first step towards permanent housing. Time and again, we hear through our daily interactions and the media that Homeless problem is a huge social issue. And in their voices, we often sense the subtle innuendo to imply that the homeless people are the problem. However, isn’t the real problem Our society that mass produces homelessness yet offers very limited help? That is, turning a blind eye to those who are less-fortunate, all the while knowing the very real existence of a born-into, very nearly insurmountable Inequality of Opportunity. Many people who live in relative comfort choose to look the other way, trying to justify their inaction with a long list of dry excuses. Isn’t that the real problem? By all means, it’s certainly easy to maintain a society that centers around only those who live in relative comfort. And it’s our natural tendency to try to please the powerful rather than the powerless. Surely, living in such society feels cushy and comfy for many of us. Nevertheless, if we just accept that and try to maintain it, then the people on the opposite end of that social spectrum – those who are less-fortunate, who often go unheard – will be left behind and forgotten. Let us have the honesty to confront the reality, no matter how brutal that reality may be. And if the reality is uglier than how we wanted it to be, then let us muster the courage to take action. Take action to make a change – for a better and more inclusive society – instead of turning a blind eye. Let us do that, even if we ourselves aren’t the victims of that brutal reality. No matter how small each of our actions may seem, each and every one of us has the ability to collectively make a change for the better. Read Previous: Our Work (3)【Interview Class】 Complete Series: Our Work (1)～(4) [1] [2] [3] [4] Read Theme: On-site Report 【Interview Class】
An effective resume advances you to the job interview, and a strong interview lands you the job. Along this track, the second part of our weekly job coaching program is Interview Coaching. Interview coaching is carried out in a class setting with all participants of the day. Around 20 clients on a busy day, and 5 clients or so on a quiet day. How can you most effectively convince the interviewer that you’re the best prospect for the job? We cover the basics such as what to wear and how to behave, as well as the Do’s & Don’ts and the detailed Q&A’s in an interview, all in about an hour and a half. Present a positive and confident image. Speak up and make eye contact. Utilizing the 10 Common Interview Questions, prepare your own 30-second answer to each question that best conveys what you exactly want to tell the interviewer. All answers must show your passion for the job. Moreover, know the importance of preparation and practice so that your delivery in the actual interview will be effective and sincere. Our interview class is designed to be both informative and interactive, not just a one-way lecture but a two-way communication. Our participants are encouraged to raise hands and ask questions anytime, with a reminder that we all have something to learn from each other. To engage everyone, we also ask questions to the participants. Because people of all backgrounds and from all walks of life gather at once for the first time, the class can get derailed at times when all sorts of opinions and ideas are thrown around. In such times, we let the discussion play out until it starts to get unproductive, at which point we intervene to bring the class back on track to refocus on our primary purpose of Getting the job and into a permanent housing. In guiding the class and, for that matter, in every interaction with the homeless people, there’s one important aspect that we always try our best not to lose sight. That is, to try our very best to make a wholehearted connection to the feelings and emotions of each person. Understandably, it’s not so difficult to imagine how emotionally tough it must be for a person to lose a job. Self-confidence can take a huge hit when we lose a job, let alone when we lose our home and, in some instances, our family. It can be a living nightmare, a devastation, and our clients may literally be in the midst of it. Our clients may be living through it as we speak with them. All odds are stacked up against us. There’s nothing we can do to get out of this abyss. Even to those who may feel this way, it’s important that we try our very best to make a wholehearted connection to their emotional pain. It’s essential that we try to engage with them to see the positive light, that Maybe just maybe, changes can be made here on out and life can get better. And in the midst of it all, we try to always remind our clients that the job interview system itself is an imperfect system. Having hired many hundreds of people throughout my career, I do believe so. When we stop and think about it for a moment, it’s almost a common sense. Say, for instance, a couple who’s been happily married for several decades. Even for them, from time to time, they surely feel like they still don’t know some aspects about one another. So then, who really believes that we can get to know a person – I mean TRULY KNOW a person – in just 30 minutes or so? Notwithstanding the foregoing, we utilize job interviews just because it’s still the best system available to us today. But at the same time, we should all understand its limitations, that it’s an imperfect system, nevertheless. As such, even if you don’t get hired after a job interview, there’s no reason to take it personal. Sometimes, you don’t get hired after a job interview. You get the rejection and it usually stings. It happens to everyone, it’s happened to me, too. Nonetheless, it says nothing about who you really are – how good a person you truly are. That’s the most important thing. Jobs come after that. In truth, the rejection simply means that the interviewer thought someone else was better suited for that particular position, at that given point in time. Nothing more, nothing less. But remember, if you didn’t get hired after a job interview, it means that you can use more preparation and practice to get better at the ball game. Read Next: Our Work (4)【Job Coach】 Read Previous: Our Work (2)【Support Program】 Complete Series: Our Work (1)～(4) [1] [2] [3] [4] Read Theme: On-site Report 【Support Program】
Our weekly job coaching program largely consists of two parts. The first part is Resume Building. Generally speaking, many tend to reduce this task into a dry administrative chore, yet that’s not where we’d like to take it. In fact, our aim is to sit face-to-face with each client, taking the time and listening carefully to their work and life history. This poses a challenge on a busy day, but we try our best not to lose sight of what’s important. What kind of work were you doing? Did you enjoy that job? Why did you leave that job? What skills, training, or licenses did you acquire from your previous jobs that may prove useful on your next job? For those who’ve moved from afar, what prompted you to make that decision? What line of work are you interested in now? The company that I worked for went out of business. Skipped work frequently, until eventually I was let go. My Commercial Driver’s License should help me get a truck driver job. Carpenter ‘til my mid-50s, but fell from a ladder during work, broke my spine, and now I’m on a wheelchair. Able to secure childcare for my 5-year-old, so I want to start working again. Now that I’m divorced, I need to resume work. Dropped out of high school for my first pregnancy, and I had my hands full with raising 5 children, one after another. Because of my mental health issue, I get sudden panic attacks that disables me to continue on a job. Had to escape from my abusive husband, so I left my kids with my mom and came here – that’s why I quickly need a job to bring my kids over. My daughter has a severe disability so our family moved here for her to receive a much-needed medical care at no cost – but it’s been incredibly difficult to find a job in an unfamiliar town, and eventually we became homeless. I beat up my supervisor on the job and was fired. I was incarcerated for some time. I ruined my life with substance abuse. In one case, a successful lawyer who had her own practice after graduating near the top of class at a law school, and a stint at a distinguished law firm. Yet, after a divorce, substance abuse sunk her deep – so deep that she lost her home and was eventually forced onto the streets with her two children. “I’m good at work and studies, but I’m bad at making the important life decisions.” Her eyes full of sorrow as she quietly confessed those words. And from time to time, we hear about the unhealthy relationships with parents. I was raised by a single mom, as a result often felt neglected. My parents argued all the time, we had no real conversation at home, so our family was totally dysfunctional. My childhood was unbearable because of the physical abuse from my dad. My parents’ drug problem completely messed up our family. My mom still drives me nuts even to this day, obsessively intervening in my life. Indeed, resume building can be a plain task of listening, asking, and taking notes. Nonetheless, no matter how limited in scope it may be, it lets us touch the lives of people from all walks of life. No matter how limited in vision it may be, through the lens of work and life history, we come to see the livelihood of each client. A unique story of each person who lives with us in this same world. Surely, every one of us carries a curious past and the distinct emotions attached to each episode in our life. We all naturally come from our own different background. Nevertheless, if there’s one common thread in all of us, then that may be our basic demand to be treated with dignity as a human. That’s, indeed, a very basic human demand. Surely, we all demand and deserve that. And how to respond to it is also very basic – we just see and hear each person with our fullest sincerity. Quite simply, that may be all. Look straight in the eye and introduce ourselves. Ask their names and give a firm handshake with a smile. And then, take the time and listen to their life story. Through it all, let them know that we’re here to help if they so choose. In the beginning, many clients have their guards up. Perhaps, that’s the reflection of how our society treats them. Nonetheless, as we approach each person with dignity and sincerity, most faces tend to ease up. And little by little, many start to open up and talk about their life story. Read Next: Our Work (3)【Interview Class】 Read Previous: Our Work (1)【Homeless in America】 Complete Series: Our Work (1)～(4) [1] [2] [3] [4] Read Theme: On-site Report 【Homeless in America】
It’s estimated that approximately 150 million people in the world are homeless. What’s more, when we include those who lack an adequate housing such as an accommodation without electricity and plumbing, our homeless population jumps to roughly 1.6 billion people. Of all the people who live with us in this same world, more than 20% of us are living under a dire housing condition. We often use the word Homeless as if it represents a single set of the same people. Yet, in truth, it represents various people of diverse backgrounds and from all walks of life. For instance – People who live on the streets or sleep at parks. Those who stay at the homeless shelters. People who had no choice but to leave their homes due to emergency situations, such as domestic violence or abusive social circumstances. People with mental disabilities who have no family that can support them. People who sleep in their cars. Those without a fixed residence who move between temporary housing, including places of friends and family. Sometimes, they may be couch surfing or doubled up. In the US, it’s estimated that roughly 550 thousand people are homeless. And to provide help and care, approximately 10 thousand homeless shelters are operated in the US, primarily by the non-profit organizations (NPOs) and municipal agencies. These shelters provide a temporary housing equipped with showers and bathrooms, meals, and supportive services that can pave a path to jobs and independent housing. At one of these shelters, I volunteer every week as a job coach. On the day of the job coaching program, the participants (or Clients as we refer to them) gather at a designated job center at 9am. These clients have been informed of our program in advance by various workers/volunteers of our shelter, other NPOs, and municipal agencies who provide homeless assistance across the state. As they gather for the program, each and every one of our clients lugs with them a unique life story. As such, we learn who’ll be participating that day as they arrive at the job center on the morning of the program. Sometimes, those who we didn’t expect would show up. At other times, those who we expected, wouldn’t. Some people will hear about our program from other clients and decide to participate. On a busy day, we’ll have around 20 clients. On a quiet day, 5 clients or so. Our participants are not only people who stay at the shelters, but also those who are on the streets, doubled-up, couch-surfing, or sleeping in their cars. Some of our clients may already have a job, but are homeless because the pay is too low to afford a rent. On the contrary, some clients may have a home now, but are on the verge of eviction because they’re behind on rent since losing a job. These At-Risk people, who are only a few paychecks away from homelessness, also participate in our program. To be sure, our clients have a colorful work history. Heavy labor at construction sites. Flipped burgers at McDonald’s. A 20-year veteran as a security guard. A grocery store clerk. Cleaned bathrooms at a shopping mall. Loved teaching the kindergarteners. A police officer. Earned a PhD in Psychology. A dishwasher. A restaurant owner. A fisherman on an Alaskan fishing boat. A 13-year career in making pizzas but don’t want to go back. A debt collector. Operated forklifts at a warehouse. A caretaker of a 17-year-old boy and a lady in her 50s with disabilities. Cleaned hotel rooms. Been a bartender forever. Repaired boats at the harbor. A farmer and love it, but it doesn’t pay the rent. A beauty salon owner. Want to get back into baking breads again. Worked at a local government office back home. A job hopper from one after another on a weekly basis. By all means, our clients present a rich diversity. In race and ethnicity – including White, Black, Asian, Polynesian, and Jewish. In age – ranging from the teens to 70s. In gender mix – male, female, and LGBTQ. People in wheelchairs as well as those with disabilities gather for the program. People struggling with mental health issues also participate. What’s more, people from abroad such as Micronesia, whose first language isn’t English, also participate. Despite the extra challenge in communicating with each other, when we take the time and harness ample patience, it’s almost magical how much we start feeling like we understand one another. Read Next: Our Work (2)【Support Program】 Complete Series: Our Work (1)～(4) [1] [2] [3] [4] Read Theme: On-site Report |
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