la protestadora

So I realise that I already wrote one post about what I did this past weekend. But I guess my life must be so darn exciting that I still have more to say. It was a big weekend for Washington in general...what with the anti-war march, a national book fair and a green conference among other things. Like I said, I was at a training session that ran from Thursday night until Saturday at noon. At the training I met another girl my age who is part of the Jewish Volunteer Corps here in Washington and she invited me to come along with her to the anti-war rally. So needing to make some new friends, I decided to go along. I also figured there would be some pretty good action at the march. So with my new friend Ilana and 4 of her housemates we headed off to the march. We missed the rally (which had begun at 10:30) so just joined the march at some random point. I have never been surrounded by so many people. It was sooo cool (hands down beat any protest I've ever partaken in in Regina - which, by the way, is one). You may have heard that they estimate ~100,000+ people took part. Yeah, so lots of people and lots of police (even mounted police!!). People were advocating for different issues, not just against the Iraq war. At one point in the route we passed by a group of people who were demonstrating in favour of the war. It was really quite sad to visually see the deep division that exists here regarding the war and realise the complexities of the issue (whether it is the American duty to support the troops no matter what, or whether being against the war means you don't support the troops, etc.). Anyways, it was an experience. An interesting mix of people of all ages. Although predominantly white which is interesting in a city that has a significant black population. Food for thought.

Hmmm, this may be a longish post. On Saturday night my housemates and I went to a party being put on by some of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps people. Cool moment, I ran into my friend Carolina there - the one person I know in Washington. It really is a small world. Anyways, I am totally flabbergasted at the amount of Volunteer Corps there are in the US (I am here as part of the Westmoreland Volunteer Corps which is run by a congregation of the United Church of Christ - they are service organisations). This past Tuesday my housemate Marissa and I went to a potluck for all the volunteer corps in the city. There were volunteers from the Jesuit group, the Franciscan group, the Mennonite group, and some from some smaller groups like our own. Many of these service corps are national which amazes me. I would really like to see something similar develop in Canada (unless there already is and I'm unaware of it). It just seems like a really great opportunity. Back to the potluck, it was really great to get to meet some people your own age who share similar views and values and who are doing the same thing you are.

Ok. Last story. I figure I should talk about work at least a little. I just have one cool story and then I'm finished. Part of my job at Bethesda Cares is to go with the outreach social worker when she does her walks around the neighbourhood to check and see who is on the streets. Either to check up on people she is already familiar with and to also see if there is anyone new. Which I think is really cool because often people need that personal contact before seeking out help (which is true for any of us). Anyways, a new fellow appeared a couple of weeks ago and we'd seen him out a couple of times. Each time the social worker would ask him if he needed any assistance, if he was homeless, etc...and he would always say no. And there's not much you can do at that point. It has to be up to the individual to seek out help. The social worker always introduces herself anyways and lets the person know where we can be found should they decide they would like some help. Anyways, guess who shows up at work today but this man. We didn't even recognise him. He had shaved and had a hair cut and had a shower. It was just a neat moment. I still have no idea what he is up to or where he is staying but it was so nice to see him not sleeping on a park bench. Hopefully he'll be back again.