[分享] 哈坲大學生幫助無家可歸的遊民

看板studyabroad (留學)作者monica01331 (monica)時間15年前 (2010/08/31 11:51)推噓2(2推 0噓 0→)

留言2則, 2人參與討論串1/1

不知道可不可以po在這裡，不過看到這篇文章，的確有打翻我對於發哈佛學生的看法！當哈佛精英遇到無家可歸的人?? 大部份的人對於哈佛大學的印象就是成績很好，站在這世界的最前端！位於金字塔頂端的他們，大部份的人都是來自於生活優渥的家庭或是本身有著不同於一般人的努力和智慧，大部份的人會知道哈佛大學有新的研發抑或是多了個諾貝爾獎得主，從來沒有人去想過他們除來在學術和公司的領域外，也有著不同的貢獻！以下為一篇相關報導每年，哈佛大學的學生總會在活動和課程之間，注意到一直在哈佛廣場無家可歸的人。有些人會想：這些就讀於世界最富有大學的菁英學生可以提供什麼樣的幫助。根據Continuum Books(由波士頓大學教育學教授Scott Seider撰寫)的針對收容所歷史、工作紀錄、曾經居住過的仁和經營的學生所做的調查，這個兩個不同世界的人相遇地方─ 哈佛廣場收容所，是整個國家唯一完全由學生經營的收容所！ Seiger於十一年前在哈佛畢業，就學期間，他也曾經在收容所擔任義工，還升為執行長和領導者。Seider提到他擔任義工的啟發：「在走路經過這些無家可歸的男男女女，到漂亮的學校餐廳，享受吃到飽的服務，對我來說，是非常難以忍受的！」 Seider在這本書中面試了七十三個曾經在收容所擔任義工的學長姐或學生、或是在收容所待過的人。他寫這本書的目的主要是探求社區服務對於青少年的發展影響，尤其是那些不只擔任志工而且擔任經營職位的人。「不管是哪種學生(擔任志工或是經營收容所的學生)，都從經驗中獲得相當豐富的成長。對於志工而言，他們學習如何面對無家可歸的人；對於經營者而言，他們思考永遠不夠負擔的房子是那些無家可歸人永遠翻越不過的困難！」一位接受訪問無家可歸的婦女Macy DeLong提到「這些學生都還年輕，充滿著理想，她們相信她們有改變的力量─不管是改變人的生活或是這個世界。」雖然因為先前其他收容所的經驗，她不願意進入居住，但是Macy還是待在收容所附近並且接受食物。「大部份的收容人都願意盡自己的力量來幫助同樣也居住在那邊的其他人，不管是哪種的事情，他們都願意做。」明年負責人─大三的Katie Dahlinghaus說：「在OHIO州長大，我從來沒有和無家可歸的人接觸過。在這裡工作，我發現不論你多麼努力，有些事情總是無法成真。」另一位四年級生Jonathan Warsh在訪問中分享：「他再大一的時候就開始執收容所的大夜班，在大二的時候，開始擔任管理職位，也因此看到很多無家可歸人的問題，開始思考他自己的未來職涯─一個從他高中就開始掙扎的問題。」「我可能申請法學院或是醫學院。」「不管是哪一個職業，都有可能對於無家可歸的人做出一些貢獻。」哈佛廣場的收容所在經營的二十五年以來，一直希望可以拓展她們更多的服務！最近，學生發展出「街頭小隊」走入大街小巷中去發放食物和毛毯給無法待在收容所中的人。還有一個最終目標是鼓勵其他學生也成立相同的組織。這樣的團體也引起賓大和佛羅里達大學學生的注意。雖然學生願意貢獻，但是多少還是影響到學生的成績，必須要熬夜或是犧牲假期…Seider 希望可以透過這本書給予一些鼓勵。＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿以下為原文＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ Harvard and Homelessness August 27, 2010 Every year, some Harvard University students -- between classes and other activities -- begin to notice the constant presence of homeless people in Harvard Square. And some wonder how they, privileged students at the world's wealthiest university, can help. Many of them come across the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, and there they stay, sucked in, enthusiastic, and eager. Shelter: Where Harvard Meets the Homeless, to be released in September by Continuum Books, examines the history and the workings of the shelter, and the lives of the homeless who stay there and the students who run it. According to Scott Seider, the author of the book and a professor of education at Boston University, it’s the only completely student-run homeless shelter in the country. Seider graduated from Harvard 11 years ago, where he volunteered at the shelter and ascended the ranks to become a supervisor and director. “Passing these men and women on my way to this beautiful dining hall with as much food as I could eat was really jarring for me as a young adult,” Seider said of his motivation to start volunteering. The shelter -- which is an independent nonprofit organization -- is ruled by committee with 14 student directors at the top each year, 14 student supervisors, and a corps of about 100 student volunteers. Every night of the week from November to April, two directors oversee the shelter’s operations. Students work in three shifts from 7 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. serving hot dinner and breakfast (leftovers from the Harvard dining halls and donations from local restaurants) and providing two-week bed space for 24 men and women – referred to as “guests” -- based on a lottery system. The directors also take on additional roles such as fund-raising, scheduling, stocking supplies, or helping the homeless find work or permanent housing. Though the shelter opened 25 years ago under the auspices of a Lutheran church (and is still based in its basement), it quickly became entirely student-operated. Seider interviewed about 73 people for the book throughout the past year, including student volunteers and directors, alumni, and homeless men and women who either currently were staying or had stayed at the shelter in the past. He said he wrote the book because he was particularly interested in the impact that community service has on the development of young adults, and particularly those who not only volunteer, but run the whole show. “Both types of students gain enormously from the experience,” Seider said. “For [the volunteers] I think the experience put a face on homelessness… but the students who are really managing the shelter, they get to see the way the lack of affordable housing makes it very, very difficult to allow someone to climb out of homelessness – they get to see the structural barriers.” Shelter is littered with references to developmental psychologist Erik Erikson and the particular attributes of “emerging adulthood” that make students particularly well-equipped to excel at these kinds of responsibilities. Seider lists qualities such as young adults’ optimism, focus, willingness to listen to people’s stories, and motivation to do something good for the world. One of the defining characteristics of this particular shelter is the powerful relationship the students build with some of the homeless who stay there; students are eager to listen to the stories of people older and more experienced than they are, and they lack the jadedness that may come from professionals who have spent years working at such shelters. “The students are young, they’re idealistic, they believe that the re are changes that can be made – whether it’s changes in people’s personal lives or changes in the system as a whole,” Macy DeLong, a formerly homeless woman who was interviewed for Shelter, said in an interview. Though DeLong refused to stay at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter because of a bad experience at a different shelter, she lived outside of it and took food from the student volunteers. “Most shelters are there to take care of the people who are staying inside the shelter… but they were doing everything that they could to help people wherever they were at,” she said. DeLong is the founder of Solutions at Work, a nonprofit near Harvard that helps people transition out of homelessness. The book is split into three thematic sections, one each on how the shelter is good for the homeless, for society, and for students. Not only is it a literal shelter for those who need it, but it also becomes a type of shelter for the volunteers, granting them a respite from academic and social pressures and a familiar place outside of the “Harvard bubble,” Seider writes. It also enables them to break out of their perhaps-sheltered lives: many of Seider’s interviewees said they had never witnessed homelessness in their own cities, or never considered homeless people as individuals before beginning to work with them. Junior Katie Dahlinghaus, who will be a shelter director this year and appeared in the book under a pseudonym (as did all the people Seider interviewed), grew up in a small Ohio town where, she says, there is no homelessness. “Going into it I never understood the idea that it doesn’t always work out for you no matter how hard you work,” she said in an interview................... “I’ll probably go into law or medicine,” Warsh said in an interview. “In either of those careers, some pro bono part of my law practice or some volunteer time of my medical career will be dedicated to homelessness.” But working at the shelter is also a bit of a double-edged sword for both the students and the guests. Sometimes the homeless are wary of being catered to by wealthy young adults, and sometimes the students must deal with challenges beyond what they would normally encounter. Seider describes episodes where students have had to break up fights, deny people beds because they are drunk or on drugs (the Harvard Square shelter is a dry shelter), or comfort people confiding in them about difficult issues, such as having HIV/AIDS. “In some cases you have an 18-year-old girl who’s 5’2” and weighs 105 pounds handing out a little warning slip to a man who is 50 or 60 years older, and that creates a very challenging dynamic,” Warsh said. Dahlinghaus said one of the biggest challenges for her is remembering that although the shelter is a nice place to be, when the guests leave every morning they face a harsh reality. The Harvard Square Homeless Shelter has evolved over the past 25 years, and is always hoping to expand its services. Most recently the students developed a “Street Team,” which goes out into the Square and hands out food and blankets to the homeless who are not staying at the shelter, and occasionally encourages people to put their name in for a bed. Warsh says an upcoming priority will be to try providing more nutritious meals. One of the ultimate goals, however, is to encourage students at other universities to establish similar programs. The Harvard shelter has received some attention from students at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Florida. Though the degree to which students must be willing to commit is high – potentially sacrificing grades, staying up all night, or working through the winter holidays – Seider says he hopes the book will prove to be an inspiration........................ － Iza Wojciechowska http://www.hellonyc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7372 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 122.118.75.158