Cereal. Salad. Salad. Cereal. Salad. Cereal. Cereal.
With an occasional injection of coffee, that nicely sums up my diet from the past few days. I'm not complaining though, I am honestly just very happy to know where food is located and when I can get it and where I'll be sleeping tonight.
Over the past two weeks, I've slept in 7 different places. I have mastered the art of living out of a trunk of a car. Looking back, it really was an adventure. During my most dramatic moments, I felt homeless and rejected. It felt like an over-privileged extension of the poverty simulation.
Confused yet? I'll clarify my references. This summer, I am interning with HOPE International, a Christian non-profit providing financial services to the poor across the world in a Gospel-centered way. When I first arrived in south central PA, I attended the HOPE International 2014 Leadership Summit. It was a great time of getting to know the staff, the other interns, learning about HOPE and God and life, and getting thrown into a simulation where I was feverishly making paper bags and giving out hugs in order to provide for my family (a group of 5 HOPE staff partners and staff). It was an intensely emotional 30 minutes and gave me a very small dose of what it feels like to be trapped in poverty.
Needless to say, my home hopping of the last two weeks comes no where close to the kind of entrapment and powerlessness that millions of people experience worldwide every day.
This is a post of gratitude. I am so thankful to be working with such a genuine and effective organization this summer. I am also blessed with the surprise of a very good part-time job that allows me to do things I love and get paid for it. I am living with some incredible young people that are constantly giving me examples of how I want to live and view life and I even have a closet all to myself now.
So long, suitcase living! Hello, breakfast munchies and leafy greens!
Until next time,
Chloe
With an occasional injection of coffee, that nicely sums up my diet from the past few days. I'm not complaining though, I am honestly just very happy to know where food is located and when I can get it and where I'll be sleeping tonight.
Over the past two weeks, I've slept in 7 different places. I have mastered the art of living out of a trunk of a car. Looking back, it really was an adventure. During my most dramatic moments, I felt homeless and rejected. It felt like an over-privileged extension of the poverty simulation.
Confused yet? I'll clarify my references. This summer, I am interning with HOPE International, a Christian non-profit providing financial services to the poor across the world in a Gospel-centered way. When I first arrived in south central PA, I attended the HOPE International 2014 Leadership Summit. It was a great time of getting to know the staff, the other interns, learning about HOPE and God and life, and getting thrown into a simulation where I was feverishly making paper bags and giving out hugs in order to provide for my family (a group of 5 HOPE staff partners and staff). It was an intensely emotional 30 minutes and gave me a very small dose of what it feels like to be trapped in poverty.Needless to say, my home hopping of the last two weeks comes no where close to the kind of entrapment and powerlessness that millions of people experience worldwide every day.
This is a post of gratitude. I am so thankful to be working with such a genuine and effective organization this summer. I am also blessed with the surprise of a very good part-time job that allows me to do things I love and get paid for it. I am living with some incredible young people that are constantly giving me examples of how I want to live and view life and I even have a closet all to myself now.
So long, suitcase living! Hello, breakfast munchies and leafy greens!
Until next time,
Chloe
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