an invitation to a whole-of-planet collaboration on: homelessness, and loneliness
A couple of social workers from Taiwan have visited our little island recently to acquaint themselves with the situation of homelessness here.
My takeaway: information on an upcoming event in Seoul.
From Agent L (a pseudonym): “This conference will explore housing policies and the situation of homeless people and migrant-workers in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It features multiple site visits and local engagement.”
East Asian Inclusive City Network, 14th Conference. https://www.iiud.org/ea-icn-14th
Today a couple of church-employees showed us around a church-carpark that has been re-purposed as an overnight shelter for our homeless friends.
However these stayers – the church-employees avoid calling them “clients” – are, more often than not, emotionally damaged people, who behave in (ahem) unconventional ways, to put it mildly. Sad but true.
My takeaway is a quote: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken people.”
I would like to repeat the church-employees' request: “If you own a building and would like to donate it, please let us know! cheeky giggle. And we would like to invite other churches to open up their physical space for rough sleepers. Sadly many church leaders have resisted the idea.”
https://yckc.org.sg/sheltering-the-homeless-at-yck-chapel/
In the twinkling of an eye, I have been a volunteer at Homeless Hearts of Singapore, for about 2.5 years.
Part of the ethos I have picked up:
“Homelessness is not a problem to be solved, but people to be loved.”
“Homelessness is not a lack of housing, it is a breakdown in relationships.” (eg. divorce, and the loss of the matrimonial house).
“Homelessness is not solved by providing houses alone.” (eg. a newly-built dormitory can still feel like a suffocating cage for a so-called “rough sleeper”.)
“The truest measure lies not in our provisions to those in the margins, but in our sense of kinship with them.” (Source: Gregory Boyle, a priest who is quoting a Buddhist nun, in the book titled: “Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion”.)
I would highlight that loneliness is an adjacent or overlapping phenomenon with regards to homelessness. Academic researchers have identified a “loneliness epidemic”: a concern of public health, which harms the suffering individual in the equivalent measure of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. (this statistical figure was passed to me by word of mouth; I have not yet verified its accuracy).
Due to limits on time, I end with a gentle call to awaken us from our collective forgetfulness. We can transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow. How blessed we are to live with access to the teachers' wisdom: Thich Nhat Hanh, Thubten Chodron, Tara Brach, the 14th Dalai Lama, Maia Duerr, and Pope Francis (just to name a few).
parting shot
As Marcus Aurelius wrote (pardon the awkward translation from Greek language to English): “To her who gives and takes back all, to nature, the man who is instructed and modest says: Give what thou wilt; take back what thou wilt. And he says this not proudly, but obediently and well pleased with her.” (Meditations 10.14)
And, from the same Marcus Aurelius:
“No longer talk about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such.” (Meditations 10.16)