Spring Break With Meaning
By John Mohan

Every year hundreds of thousands of university students migrate to the Florida coastlines to indulge in the annual spring break experience. The sun, beaches and non-stop partying make it a renowned escape from months of classroom learning.

However for five female students from the University of South Dakota it was a non-issue. Sunburn and tequilas weren't on their minds, but engaging with Winnipeg's homeless was as they responded to a poster that offered an "Alternative Spring Break." All were unknown to each other, but had a common goal of learning about homelessness and serving the less fortunate outside the United States.

While some days last week were bitterly cold, they enthusiastically engaged with our inner city community in every way Siloam Mission staff could humanely think of. The collective giving of nearly 180 volunteer hours provided an experience that was positive (like being welcomed by countless friendly Winnipeggers) and negative (such as being evicted from Portage Place for loitering as they rested from scraping ice off the downtown sidewalks with Siloam's employment trainees). All agreed it was a life-changing, educational and fulfilling adventure.

In their last debriefing they reflected on their experiences among the homeless and the cultural differences they noticed including our use of "eh."

One commented on people's ignorance back home about domestic poverty. (One student admitted her dad warned her not to touch any homeless people because they might be dirty.) They found most people they know believe the homeless are so because "they're lazy and they want to stay that way." But they personally recognized that if they hadn't had positive family support as they grew up, they could easily be living on the streets or standing in as line for shelter and food. We're all closer to homelessness than we realize. They discovered that each person living on our streets have three things in common with everyone else. First, everyone had a childhood dream that when they grew up they'd have a home and a family and a career. Nobody dreamed of being homeless, mentally ill or working for minimum wage struggling to afford rent and groceries. No one aspired to be standing in a line in -30 degree Celsius weather hoping for a bed or waiting for a hot meal. Second, everyone has the same needs as us -- the need to be valued, to be treated with dignity, the need to be loved. Lastly everyone is driven by hope. Hope of something better motivates us to endure, to change, to succeed.

As the five left Siloam Friday afternoon, they did so better informed about domestic poverty issues on both sides of the border and vowed to help at a local feeding station in their own community.

When the student body of USD returned to campus this week and compared notes, the ones who headed to Winnipeg to serve the homeless community will be a lot better off (and interesting) than those who went to Florida, got sunburned and forgot what else happened to them.

--John Mohan is the CEO of Siloam Mission.

Originally printed in the Winnipeg Sun, Wednesday, March 18, 2009.
Reprinted with the permission of Sun Media Corporation.