Sanctuary

For the past two days I've been working at Sanctuary -- one of Bethesda Project's homeless shelters.  In the shelter's private courtyard, I've been working on creating an illusion of a 3D archway with a garden statue representing the shelter's theme of brotherhood.  This is what I did the first day:

Despite the cold, the process was quite pleasant.  Linda made me a cup of coffee and some of the residents came by to chat.  One man named Happy started a philosophical conversation with me about the nature and difference between knowing and understanding.  When I told him I might want to be a lawyer, he asked, "JD, how do you bring justice to a world of injustice?  How do you bring unity to a world divided?"  I was basically stumped for words the entire time, but I found his questions intriguing and plan spend some more time thinking about them.  He later informed me I would need to learn martial arts for my future and said, "Don't be afraid, JD.  Embrace the talents your Maker has given you."  At that point, I felt like a ninja turtle meeting my Splinter.  

Today when I came by, another kind man informed me that he put these pumpkins in front of the mural to enhance it's 3D nature.  I really like the effect they have; and in the summer when the roses grow over the arch the final look will be complete.  The same resident sat and talked with me about younger days when he used to fish with his father.  The man also joked that I should add spiderman and a tidal wave to the mural.  The proposition was tempting, but I had to pass.  I don't know if Father Dominic would have approved the wild departure from the sketch.  

I added flowers to the flower pot and started the garden statue of the two monks.  It doesn't look too bad from far away, but it needs a lot of detail work which I'll do tomorrow if I don't get rained out.  

Elliot Hospital, NH

Four months after first contacting Billie Ford, we finally got to meet in person at Elliot Hospital.  Though the initial process of discussing the mural and my arrival time via email was slow, we got to right business the morning of Wednesday November 17th.  I was immediately impressed with Billie's passion to beautify the hospital -- which already had several murals in the cafeteria and in the children's floor.  However, one blatant eye sore remained: a random truncated hallway-wide space next to a staircase.  This shortened hall also sported a tiled basin.  Who knows what the architect was thinking...

For sanitary and maintenance purposes, a fountain could not be installed; even the beautiful fake plants Billie had filled the space with earlier in the year had to be removed because of the dust they collected and the effort required to clean them.

However, there was no reason fountains and gardens couldn't be installed with paint.  So I set to work.

Results after day one:

Results after day two:

From the top of the stairs, however, the basin still grabbed most of the passerby's attention:

The mission of day three was to fill the basin with water.  I began with some foot painting.

Going for a fish.  Despite the security guards' requests for piranhas in their "holding tank" I had to settle for goldfish, a frog, and some lily pads.  Shortly after this photo I was instructed by some joking visiters to get out of the water.  

Westerly Road Tent City

Haiti remains in the headlines if not in the limelight.  Heart breaking titles such as "Cholera Moves into the Beleaguered Haitian Capital" and "Winds Pummel Haiti" seem to roll too easily and frequently through the press.  Beleaguered is right.  When will Haiti catch a break?  If history continues in its seemingly inexorable course, then the answer is not anytime soon.  Even so, as long as the people still hope and we do not grow lax, the tides of time do not have a total say in Haiti's state.

As part of the continual effort to raise awareness about Haiti's condition, Westerly Road Church has set up a weekend long event to show people in the church and community just what Haiti is like.  Today, we turned the youth room into a mini tent city.  It took us almost five hours to set up dirty camping tents, two wash lines, and some basic cooking items.  Most of the tents were bigger (aside from shared community tents) than ones used by the families in Fond Parisien.  Imagine your family on a camping trip, all cozily in the same tent.  Now imagine it's almost 100 degrees out.  The tent traps the heat.  Imagine cooking dinner and lunch in the same space.  Imagine the rain that comes with the billowing storm clouds.  Your mattress, if you have one, is soaked.  There is no end in sight.

In addition to talks, slideshows, and my and sony's art displays, the children who come to experience the tent city will get to make cards (and learn some basic Creole to write inside) for children in the real tent city of Fond Parisien.