Middle Class Kids Poor for a Weekend

As I blogged about yesterday, this past weekend 30 kids from my church participated in a poverty simulation.  When we debriefed the experience together, here were some of their insights:

–  A new empathy for folks asking for money.  As one kid put it, “As I walked up to folks to ask them for money for food, they were laughing and totally at ease with each other.  As soon as I approached, they closed up.”  Our kids left with a new resolve to look people in the eye who are asking for money or food.  And hopefully even have a conversation with them.

– The division between the “haves” and the “have nots”.  Literally a 5 minute walk from where we did our poverty simulation was the Staples Center and L.A. Convention Center.  One girl in my group had a bunch of friends who went to see Britney Spears in Staples Center the first night of the poverty simulation.  They took a limo, no less.  And here this girl was now wearing clothes from Goodwill, asking people for money for food.  The contrast couldn’t have been more stark.

– Real hope in the city.  We met Carmelo, a 59 year-old resident of Pico Union who every Saturday makes a safe place for kids to tag, and to tag lawfully.  We met Jose, a 19 year-old who lives in Section Eight housing who was happy to talk with us.  One group went to a church and the church ended up inviting them in and feeding them.  There is such hope and generosity in the city.  God is indeed at work in deep ways.

My biggest hope and prayer is that the lessons learned this weekend aren’t lost.  To find out more about how our research is helping leaders help kids connect the dots between what they experience in their justice work and what they experience in second period History the next day, or the next month, check out our Deep Justice Journeys book and student journal, released May 1 by Youth Specialties.

©2009 Fuller Youth Institute