Help "Stuff The Bus"!!!

Remember the excitement of buying all of the new school supplies for the new school year?
Getting that new backpack, sharpening all of the pencils, writing your name on everything?

So many school age children won’t be able to go school shopping this year. So, in Florida and Georgia, Publix has teamed up with First Coast News, and the Red Cross to accept new school supplies, that will be donated to needy children along the First Coast. Donations will be accepted at all Publix through August 14th!

In Colorado, 9News has made it easy to “Stuff The Bus” by enabling you to donate online. You may also be able to drop off new school supplies at a local Walmart. You may donate by following this link: http://www.gamma3graphics.com/voa/stuff-for-students.htm?ref=9news.com

Let’s help all of our children have a great start to the new school year, and give them the tools needed to succeed!

The Children of Mali

"From here to Timbuktu", a popular statement, but do you know where Timbuktu is? Is Timbuktu even a real place? Yes, Timbuktu is a real place, where gold, salt, ivory, literature and knowledge used to be traded. Timbuktu sits on the Niger River, on the edge of the Sahara Desert, in Mali, a large Northwestern African country, about the size of California and Texas combined. Much like the US, Mali provides free public education to all children between the ages of 7-16. So why, with a population of 14.5 million people, are only 61% of the Malian children attending school, and why is the national literacy rate somewhere between 27-46%? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mali)

Though families do not have to pay school tuition, the cost of uniforms, supplies, books, and other fees to attend school, are unattainable for many Malian families. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mali about half of the population of Mali lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day.

Additionally, access to schools, teachers, and supplies is limited. Especially in Mali's northern regions. Situated in the Sahara Desert, the climate is harsh and water is scarce. The nearly 1.5 million people occupying these lands are primarily nomadic. They regularly move from one location to another, in search of food and water for their families and livestock. Often the children of these nomadic families are constantly on the go as well as working in order to help care for their families. Constructing, staffing and supplying a permanent school can be problematic in such an environment. Considering the circumstance, would children even be able to attend school if there was one?

There are organizations who are trying to make a difference. One such organization, Build a School in Africa (www.buildaschoolinafrica.org). Build a School in Africa has built at least 7 schools in Mali since 2005. Their goal is to build 1 school per year. According to their web site, they can get a middle school large enough to accommodate 200 children built for only $30,000. Mali needs more organizations, or at the very least, more people to care about its people, to help provide a basic education. In America, we don't even thing about not having an education. Kids complain daily about having to get up and go to school, and the children in Mali be to go to school, but many can't.

Information for this article was obtained through the following web sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mali

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/demographics_of_mali

www.buildaschoolinafrica.org

What It's Like to Be a Homeless Mother

Mother’s day affords us the opportunity to reflect on, and appreciate, all the hard work and sacrifices mothers make for the sake of their children. What does a mother do, however, when she finds herself homeless? The following article published in August 2010 on change.org offers a powerful glimpse into life as a homeless mother. Click the link below for the full text. It is an incredibly powerful and moving story.

http://news.change.org/stories/what-its-like-to-be-a-homeless-mother

Farm Worker Housing in California

A great story from National Public Radio’s Housing First Special Report on migrant worker housing (originally broadcast in 2003) can be found at:

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/housingfirst/nprstories/030607.migrant/index.html

It paints a vivid picture of the conditions migrant workers face and some of the initiatives that were trying to improve those conditions. It is important to note that inadequate housing is reality faced by many migrant workers both foreign and American born.

Migrant Farm Workers: Feeding the World While Going Hungry

Have you ever trolled the colorful booths of your local farmer’s market, or sat down to enjoy a leafy salad, and wondered how all that horticultural goodness got there? From the nut orchards of the San Joaquin Valley in California to the endless corn rows of the Midwest to the sweet smelling orange groves of central Florida, millions of laborers work hard to keep our plates full and our stomachs happy.

The hands that plant and harvest the food that we consume everyday are rough, and the lives of the millions of migrant farm workers that work the approximately 406 million acres of cropland across the US can be hard.

According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture conducted by US Department of Agriculture, American farms sold nearly $297 billion in farm products and employed over 2.6 million laborers. Many of them were migrant workers.

The term “migrant farm worker” can be applied to those that who move often within a yearly period, for employment purposes. “I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. It’s the only thing I’ve ever known.” explains Terrance a farm worker whose life is shaped by the crops in season, “Each year starts in Florida. We do cabbage. Then we move up to Virginia and Delaware for potatoes.”

The BOCES Geneseo Migrant Center reports that nearly 80% of migrant farm workers are men who, like Terrance, often must leave their families behind while they seek work. Terrance spends long hours in the field to earn money to support his 14-year old daughter and 4-year old son, which is difficult when half of all migrant farm workers earn less than $7,500 per year.

The Florida Department of Health reports that 150,000 to 200,000 migrant and seasonal farm workers, like Terrance, and their families annually travel and work in Florida. Typically, these laborers will work for a farm boss who contracts them out to plant or harvest for farm owners in the surrounding area. The farm owner pays the farm boss who takes a cut before paying the farm worker.

Often, migrant workers are housed in barrack like buildings adjacent to the fields they work. These barracks can be filled with men floor to ceiling during the peak of a harvest. At least one of the barracks we visited while researching this story had holes in the roof. The Florida Association of Farm workers Reports that a 2001 housing study conducted by the National Center for Farmworker Health found that 22% of farm worker housing units had serious structural problems, and 26% of the units were directly adjacent to pesticide-treated fields. The same study also found that 29% of farm workers paid more than 30% of their income for housing.

“We’re only fed once, sometimes twice, a day” explained Terrance. “You get hungry working the field. I gotta pay for the roof over my head and support my family. Where am I gonna get money to eat.” Food and housing, however, are not the only expenses that drain farm worker pockets. They must also pay for the boots, gloves, and clothing necessary for their line of work. More often than not, however, these luxuries cannot be afforded. Many of the farm workers housed in the barracks where we met Terrance wore clothes that were in tatters and had to slog through the fields in boots with holes.

This is a common circumstance for many migrant workers. Like Terrance, they have been working the farms from childhood. Often they leave school to do so. “I’ve gotta do something different. I need to make a change,” he expressed. With no money and living so rurally, this will be difficult for Terrance.

Sadly, education and alternative employment opportunities are not the only things beyond the reach of most migrant farm workers. Hard physical labor, dangerous equipment, and pesticide exposure make agriculture one of the most hazardous occupations in the United States. According to the National Advisory Council on Migrant Health, migrant health centers provide accessible care for farm workers, but existing centers have the capacity to serve fewer than 20% of the nation’s farm workers.

Living out their lives in parts of the country many of us will never see, these men and women remain invisible to most as they toil under the heat of the midday sun. There are organizations, however, that are serving these laborers that help feed the world. United Farm Workers (http://www.ufw.org/) advocates for farmworkers and serves to broaden awareness of issues surrounding migrant labor. The Farmworker Association of Florida (www.floridafarmworkers.org) is an organization committed to challenging and transforming the well-established systems that maintain farm workers and the rural poor in situations of poverty, exploitation, and powerlessness. Student Action with Farmworkers (http://www.saf-unite.org/) brings students and farm workers together to learn about each other’s lives, share resources and skills, improve conditions for farm workers, and build diverse coalitions working for social change; and Migrant Health Promotion (www.migranthealth.org) builds on community strengths to improve health in farm worker and border communities.

When is Someone Worthy of a Home?

Though I am not quite sure where I first learned it, I recall from my youth that both food and clothing were basic human rights and should never be withheld from someone in need.  In other words, food and clothing should never be used as “weapons.”  What I always understood this to mean is that, as a basic human right, these should never be used to influence or coerce a behavior or opinion. It always seemed odd to me that shelter was not regularly discussed as one of these basic human rights.  As I grew older, and began a career in community development and social services, I found that this was exactly the case - that while food and clothing were basic rights, housing was something that people often had to work for, or in a sense, become “worthy” to have. 

There is a model that was common about 10 years ago and remains at the core of social services in many communities today.  It begins with meeting someone who is living outside, on the street, or in some place not designed for someone to live.  This person is invited into an emergency shelter where their immediate needs (food, medical care, clothing) are assessed and they are provided with all of these basic needs for the immediate time being.  After a few days or weeks, services begin to focus on long-term stability and tackling the barriers that keep this person from being self-sufficient, including medical issues, addiction, mental health, and/or employment (or under-employment). 

As these services are offered, this individual might move into housing that is not an emergency shelter, but into other temporary or transitional shelters. The housing location might change two or more times as this person becomes ever more prepared to move in to a place that they can call their own, whether that be an apartment or small home. 

At any point during this process, however, housing can be revoked for behavioral issues associated with a mental illness and/or relapse of an addiction and the person will find themselves back at the bottom of the ladder. In this way, many find themselves caught in a continuous loop until they are finally able to overcome all of the barriers that face them.  In this model, housing is not a right, but instead used as an incentive, and often as a weapon that can be held against an individual and lost at any vulnerable moment.

About 9 years ago I moved to Asheville, NC, and began working for a small non-profit that sought out to seek out the core barriers, and develop workable solutions, to someone having sustainable housing.  During my time at Homeward Bound of Asheville, Inc., I became more familiar with a model called “Housing First/Housing Plus”, a services model that many communities are adopting.  In this model, housing is not used as a “weapon” but instead recognizes it as the first and most important facet to someone obtaining stability and self-sufficiency.  It recognizes that as long as the individual does not have a permanent address and a consistent and safe place to keep their medicines, important belongings (including photo identification, paperwork, clothes, etc.) they remain in a suspended state and are much more likely to re-lapse or fall back into the old habits or behaviors that first resulted in homelessness. 

In this model, a person is moved directly into stable permanent housing after their immediate needs have been met. Once in housing (subsidized by public funds or grants), a care team designed to meet the specific needs of that individual is put together and services are provided to them in that housing unit. The team visits on a regular basis and serves that person in their home, where they have a bed, a closet, a medicine cabinet, and a safe location to keep items.  They never go to bed at night wondering how long it will be theirs, and if a relapse or behavior issue arises, the housing is not taken away from them. Instead, the care plan put forth by the team adjusts to better suit their needs. 

Many communities have noted drastic decreases in the number of people seeking emergency room visits and being arrested by local police once participating in a Housing First; and the costs saved by reduced emergency and law enforcement expenses often outweigh the costs associated with publicly subsidized housing. It is my hope that many more cities will begin to investigate the possibility of serving their communities with this type of program, and begin to recognize housing as a basic human right, and not something that a person has to show worthiness in order to attain.

More information about these statistics and model Housing First Programs can be found on a website, www.pathwaystohousing.org. Homeward Bound of Asheville has a website at www.hbofa.org.

By Missing Petal Contributor Kenneth Kidd

Genetically Altered Fungus Designed to Attack Malaria in Mosquitoes

Click the headline above to read a fascinating article published on the Scientific American blog by Francie Diep about combating malaria by using a protein found in scorpions to genetically alter a fungus that dramatically reduces the number of malarial cells found in carrier mosquitoes. According to the article:

The most effective treatment combined two types of the transgenic fungi. Only 25 percent of the mosquitoes treated with both the scorpine-enhanced fungus and the [SM1]8/scorpine-enhanced fungus carried malarial cells after treatment, compared to 94 percent of untreated mosquitoes. The treated mosquitoes that did still carry infectious cells showed a 98 percent reduction in Plasmodium falciparum in their bodies.

Kibera residents welcome new vaccine

Great article from ONE.org about a new pneumonia vaccine for children being introduced in Kibera. They report that it could save 700,000 lives by 2015.

Kibera: Life in Africa's Second Largest Slum

Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the second largest urban slum in Africa. According to AMREF, the 2009 Kenya Population and Housing Census reports Kibera's population as 170,070; but unofficial estimates place the population figure closer to 1 million.

The following description of conditions in Kibera was reported by Kibera UK: The average size of a shack in this area is 12ft x 12ft built with mud walls, screened with concrete, a corrugated tin roof, dirt or concrete floor. Conditions in Kibera are extremely poor, and most of its residents lack access to basic services, including electricity and running water. Only about 20% of Kibera has electricity. Until recently Kibera had no water and it had to be collected from the Nairobi dam. The dam water is not clean and causes typhoid and cholera. In most of Kibera there are no toilet facilities. One latrine (hole in the ground) is shared by up to 50 shacks. Once full, young boys are employed to empty – they take the contents to the river.

The immensity of the slum is beyond description. The conditions are brutal. Many people born there will never know an existence beyond the vast tracts of mud walled housing that cover the neighborhood’s gently sloping hills, yet the residents that I had the pleasure of meeting were hopeful. They longed for an opportunity to forge a different life and to see conditions in the place they called home improved.

Some of the organizations working to empower the people of Kibera by providing water, sanitation, electricity, healthcare, and employment include UN Habitat (http://www.unhabitat.org), ONE (http://www.one.org/), AMREF (http://www.amref.org/), and The Big Issue - Kenya (http://www.thebigissuekenya.com/).

The pictures below were taken during a visit to Kibera in 2006.

Laws Aimed at "Dealing" with the Homeless

Last August, according to an article by Jennifer Edwards in the St. Augustine Record, the St. Augustine City Commission took up discussion on how to curb “aggressive panhandling” in the heavily trafficked tourist areas of downtown. According to the article, Assistant City Attorney Carlos Mendoza said that “several tourists have complained about panhandlers and transients, which worries officials.”

“The City of St. Augustine relies heavily on tourist dollars ...,” he said. “When we get phone calls and e-mails that the experience someone had on vacation was sullied, that gives us great concern.” The full article can be read at: http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-08-09/city-seeks-panhandling-solution.

In October of 2010, the St. Augustine Record published that the City Commission passed Ordinance No. 2010-35, which amends section 18-8 of the city code to prohibit “begging, panhandling and solicitation after dark by any means.” At that time, the case given for the ordinance by Mr. Mendoza was to, “to protect those who are being solicited as well as those soliciting.” The full text of this article can be found at: http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-10-12/city-passes-panhandling-ordinance.

It would be interesting to know what the city's real motivation was behind the passage of this ordinance (tourist dollars or public safety), especially considering the geographic boundaries outlined in the ordinance for its enforcement. I have heard from the homeless in St. Augustine that violation of this ordinance has resulted in jail time for repeat offenders, which only complicates their attempts at finding gainful employment. Has this ordinance really improved safety in St. Augustine, or just driven the homeless to areas of the city less frequented by tourists?

Discharged from hospital, admitted to the streets - Street News Service

Discharged from hospital, admitted to the streets - Street News Service

Extending a model from east to west Africa | Partners In Health

Extending a model from east to west Africa Partners In Health

Houseless vs. Homeless: Rethinking Community in the Nation's Oldest City

“I don’t consider myself homeless. I consider myself houseless.” It was one of those quotes that always seems to accompany a life-changing moment, easy to associate with a memory…witty…practiced almost. They were the last words John shared with me after our first meeting in the wooded camp that he and six others called home north of downtown St. Augustine, Florida. In the days that followed, I spent a great deal of time thinking about those words that John had spoken and what terms like house and home mean and how those definitions can shape our concept of community.

I had been taken to the camp by a friend and co-worker of mine named Kenny who felt that I would benefit from meeting some of the people that he had been taking food to in the evenings. He coordinates the outreach efforts of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church where he is a member.

After a short quarter-mile hike down a dusty trail I began to see a couple of taut blue tarps peeking through the grove of straight pole pines that lined the way. The air smelled of earth and campfire. My friend called out to announce our arrival before leading me into a place my own naiveté left me ill prepared to see. The couple of tarps that were visible from the trail were actually only the first in a collection of tents and make-shift shelters that comprised a miniature city.

The camp’s amenities were impressive and ingenious. On the outskirts of the camp was a large cooking area where food, that was shared communally, was kept and prepared. At night the camp was illumined by Christmas lights and filled with music from a stereo that was powered by an old motorcycle battery that they recharged using solar panels from discarded yard lights. They even had a gravity fed shower.

John and the other residents of the camp greeted us warmly. Around the glowing embers of a dying fire they shared their lives. The familial atmosphere that permeated the camp, and their warm hospitality, was almost instantly comforting.  

For as welcome as we were made to feel, the fear of that considered “outside” was palpable. John, for example, made a point of showing me all of the implements he could employ to protect the camp. Though the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office could not corroborate his claims, John legitimized the need for such precautions with stories of people who had tried to steal from them or set fires in the woods in an attempt burn them out of their camp. I couldn’t tell if he shared what he did as a warning, or to help me to understand the dangers he perceived inherent to his lifestyle. Maybe it was both.

In either case, it was clear that the development of this community was no different than any other. Everyone in the camp saw great value and comfort in the relationships that they had forged with one another. They seemed to have shared experiences, similar fears, and common hopes. It was order and stability amidst the possibility of great danger and chaos and therefore worthy preservation.

Though relatively content in the oasis they worked so hard to create, many of them talked of families that were waiting for them in the world beyond the trees. The ones who felt comfortable enough to open up seemed to have experienced profound pain in their lives either as a result of the loss of a job, divorce, or other disruptive experiences.

Carl shared his story as he gave us a tour of his meticulously ordered home. Originally from Louisiana, his parents divorced when he was young and he moved to Florida to live with his dad. Carl became an electrician, married, and had a child; but when we met him that life seemed long gone. He and his wife had separated; and he had just lost his full-time job with the railroad. He now lives in tent under the trees barely scraping by on the seasonal part-time work he can find at local resorts or hotels. His wife does come to visit him from time to time; and judging by the warn edges of the picture he keeps of her, she is on his mind often.

The Emergency Services & Homeless Coalition of St. Johns County (a local coalition recognized by the Florida Coalition for the Homeless) is an organization comprised of homeless advocates, service providers, members of the faith-based community, formerly homeless persons, educators, attorneys, mental health professionals and others who are committed to putting an end to homelessness and improving the conditions of persons living without shelter. In their most recent Point-in-Time Report, which provides statistical data on the homeless population of a given county, there are over 1,300 people that fit the Federal/HUD definition of homeless in St. John’s County. Half of them report having a disabling condition which could include a physical handicap, a developmental disability, mental health issues, drug or alcohol addiction, or HIV/AIDS.

It was clear even after my first visit to the camp that they were all very aware of the “us and them” perception that exists in our culture. Kenny, my friend who brought me to the camp, explained, “The first time I came out to distribute food I was met with surprise. When I asked why, one gentleman said, ‘Most people go out of their way to avoid us. We’re not used to people wanting to spend time with us.’”

In spite of this, everyone we met considered St. Augustine home, and had so for a long time. Over 70% of the people surveyed by the Emergency Services & Homeless Coalition of St. Johns County for their Point-in-Time report stated that they had been living in St. John’s County for over a year. These were not transient people. Many of them worked. They were building what life they could, with what they had, amidst the circumstances they faced. They had dreams and desires. Many of them even volunteered through a non-profit that coordinates food distribution programs in Jacksonville and St. Augustine to serve meals to others in similar situations.  

My time with these new friends certainly helped me to understand how broad a word like community can be and how inconsistent it is with a term like homeless. It afforded me the opportunity to see people beyond their circumstance and to affirm that, regardless of whether or not that circumstance finds them in a house or in a tent, they can and should call the place where they live home.

The more time I’ve spent at the camps in and around St. Augustine, the more I’ve begun to see homelessness, or houselessness as John calls it, as a mere symptom of the deeper societal issues of our time. Substance abuse, unemployment, and mental illness (to name but a few) can afflict all people whether they live under a tarp in the woods or under the Spanish tile roof of a beachfront villa. These ills do not discriminate between the haves and the have nots. Our collective determination to, not only help others survive these travails, but to overcome them is no small task. These efforts, however, will speak volumes as to who we are as a community and will help all people who are fortunate enough see the sunrise over our sandy beaches or experience the history that runs through our ancient streets to call St. Augustine home.

For more information on Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church’s Outreach efforts contact Kenneth Kidd by e-mail at kennethdkidd@yahoo.com. For more information on the Florida Coalition for the Homeless or local coalitions in Florida visit http://www.fchonline.org.

Welcome to the Missing Petal

Behind most of the major issues of our time is a human being in need. The Missing Petal hopes to connect you with these people by sharing their stories, broadening awareness of the struggles they face, and by helping to highlight the organizations that strive to serve them. We hope that introducing the people behind these issues will increase consciousness of the great need present in our world among our readers.

Need is everywhere. It is common to the human experience. It is felt among the rich and the poor, by the healthy and the infirmed, across the street and around the globe. We welcome you to follow this blog as this need is explored in all its forms. We welcome your feedback and comments, especially if they will help us to further understand an issue or to know the people that it affects.

The Missing Petal is operated by Missing Petal Studios which works to empower non-profits by helping them to broaden awareness of their cause; but the issues and organizations featured in this blog will not always be Missing Petal Studios clients. Please contact us if you are aware of an issue, or an organization, that we should consider covering.