CHRONICLES OF
Quaker Education FALL 2018
Working on Revealing Shared Humanity: Eighth Graders Attend Community Workshop on Solving Homelessness By Annika and Dora, 8th graders, San Francisco Friends School Each year, San Francisco Friends School students focus on a service topic for a yearlong study: immigration, public accessibility, natural disaster relief, and more. This year, eighth graders focused on homelessness. Our work included biweekly visits to the Gubbio Project, baking for At the Crossroads, and holding seminars that discuss our interests and actions. In addition five students attended “Solving Homelessness,” a community workshop focused on possible solutions to end homelessness within San Francisco. We came into an open room occupied by about 150 audience members, some formerly experiencing homelessness, radio producers, designers, and journalists. We were the only students.
As part of their yearlong study on homelessness, 8th graders at SFFS volunteer weekly with the Grubbio Project, a local nonprofit that supports those experiencing homelessness by offering them a place to sleep. Here a student cleans mats used by guests.
As the five of us took our seats in the swivel chairs that were scattered about the room, we noticed a man sitting in the row in front of us with a bearded dragon perched on his shoulder. Sitting next to us was a woman named Joy that told us about her nonprofit and who kept striking up conversations with different neighbors. The room of strangers most definitely made for a strong community that we could feel and made us want to take action. People buzzed around, taking food and drinks from the counter and mentioning how great it was that children were attending. The workshop consisted of many panels, presentations, and brainstorming solution sessions, but we thought it fit to share our favorite parts of the workshop — possible solutions towards solving homelessness and a panel of people experiencing homelessness that were willing to share their stories and experiences. SFFS eighth grader Jiya said, “It feels odd to me to discuss an issue about someone without them being there. Hearing their stories motivated me further to want to help solve homelessness.” Riley, also from SFFS, agreed, “I loved this workshop. I never thought that I would hear these things at an event like this — I assumed that we would listen to ideas from (a not very diverse set of) people who have never experienced homelessness.” First-hand stories also made the experience of homelessness easier to empathize with. The speakers gave homelessness faces. There was Daniel, a guitarist with his bearded dragon
A Publication of the
Through a Meeting for Business co-clerked by 8th graders, the class landed on these queries to guide their thinking and acting for the year-long study of homelessness. Graphic documentation by Melanie Chopko.
Jupiter; JR, an art teacher for 13 years who lost his job when he was hospitalized; Cooper, a firefighter disabled on the job who lived in Diamond Heights and drove an Audi; and Moses, who spent twenty years on the streets of San Francisco. Homelessness suddenly felt more relatable — something that could happen to anyone, even us. Another SFFS eighth grader, Dexter, said, “After listening to all of the presenters, I noticed this event had people of all races and genders; some homeless, some not. The variety really helped me get perspective and ideas on homelessness as a whole. I think that we all got more information than we expected and it really broadened our perspective.” “We have to deal with invisibility,” was one line that really stood out to us. How would you feel if you were ignored every minute of every day? We as an eighth grade are working towards revealing shared humanity between ourselves and people experiencing homelessness, but hearing from a person living on the street that they feel invisible is so much more heartbreaking than hearing it from a teacher who has never had the experience of experiencing invisibility. continued to page 2