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While coming of age often conjures up images of bar mitzvahs or quinceañeras, senior David Shackelford got to experience something a little different.
Illustrations by Susan Lau
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I participated in the Faithful Fools street retreat in the Tenderloin as part of Unitarian Universalist Coming of Age program, Shackelford said. Once I did it, it became a spiritual journey for me.
The Faithful Fools is a charitable program and self-described "street ministry" in the city that leads participants on walks through the Tenderloin in an effort to find truths about the poverty-stricken neighborhood and themselves.
Day-long street retreats are an integral part of San Francisco's Faithful Fools Street Ministry program, founded by Franciscan Sister Carmen Barsody and Unitarian Rev. Kay Jorgensen in 1998. At the time, Barsody had been working in Nicaragua, while Jorgensen was walking the streets of San Francisco looking for a church to join.
"During that process, I noticed that poverty and homelessness were becoming rampant," Rev. Jorgensen said. "So, I gave up my search for a church and decided that my ministry was on the streets."
Located in a bright purple building on Hyde Street in the heart of the Tenderloin, the San Francisco Faithful Fools' ministry also runs a photocopying shop staffed by Tenderloin residents.
Retreats are held about once a month for individuals who want to expand their minds and hearts about the Tenderloin itself and, more importantly, about relationships: between the city and its citizens, between the rich and poor, among different classes and races. Participants transcend social divides while experiencing the life of those on the street.
"There's this idea that people have about (certain) places that we can't go to, but by walking through (these areas), we heal that separation," Unitarian minister Alex Darr said.
Shackelford agreed that viewing life from different perspectives is essential, especially to study-absorbed and college-focused high school students.
This is an alien experience because these people lead completely different lives than what we are used to, Shackelford said. But by getting those pieces of knowledge that we lack, we can also see what thrives on the streets: love and community.
The Nov. 19 retreat began at the Unitarian Church on 1187 Franklin Street. "Today will be my third street retreat, and I don't have any expectations at all, because each time is always different," participant Georgia Clariza said. "But I know something will happen for sure."
About 20 people, including veterans like Clariza and newcomers, showed up for an orientation that included introductions, an acoustic guitar sing-along and a brief prayer, as well as information about what to do in case of an emergency. At least 1,500 people have gone through the street retreat program, according to Darr, and the only time anyone has ever called the Fools' emergency cell phone number was to report a toothache and ask for a local dentist.
After introductions, the group walked from the Unitarian Church to the Faithful Fools building at 234 Hyde St., where participants split apart and went their own ways.
illustrations by Susan Lau
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Participants have no pre-assigned destinations, but instead walk around for an hour through some of the grittiest and most notorious areas of the Tenderloin.Youth participants are shadowed by adults, including Unitarian minister J.D. Benson, who stayed within ten steps behind reporter Jen Lee.
Many participants make their way to St. Anthony's on Leavenworth and McAllister streets and stand in line for a free lunch.
With Benson four people behind her in line, Lee waited about 45 minutes before entering St. Anthonys dining hall, starting conversations with a few people, who savored the opportunity to talk about their lives. Dave, a talkative man, joined her for lunch. He told her about his home on a boat in Fishermans wharf that he shares with his dog, CD.
After lunch, Lee continued her walk and witnessed more drug dealing and prostitution transactions than she had expected, at times feeling uncomfortable because many men stared, and a few followed her up the block. One man followed her for six blocks until she ran into senior Kimberly Mark helping with the Red Cross and stopped to talk to her.
However, Lee found the most difficult part of the day to be finding something to do. She walked aimlessly, taking in as much as she could, finally taking a break from walking and sat down in front of Civic Center for a while with Benson. She continued to walk with no particular destination while diverting questionable stares, ignoring the stench of urine and observing people left and right.
Simply going across the city from Franklin and Geary Streets to the lower sides of Taylor Street, Lee saw the full range of the human condition: the homeless and the rich, the lucid and the insane, couples and loners, tourists and locals. Sometimes it wasn't so easy to tell who actually was homeless, because many dressed just as well anyone else does. Women especially cover up their homelessness very well for safety and self-respect reasons, according to Rev. Jorgensen.
On her way to Boedecker Park, Lee walked by a woman smoking crack on the sidewalk, a sight common on the streets. At the park, she stripped down to a tank-top, unaware that this was a hot spot for prostitution transactions. One man asked if she would like to go eat some chicken with him. He respected her response that she had already eaten lunch and told her that if she wanted anything, she should just "holler" at him later. Although Benson was there with her, ensuring her safety, Lee felt a bit uncomfortable and left.
The retreat does not end until participants make their way back to the headquarters on Hyde Street and meet for reflection.
Faithful Fools also offers overnight retreats, ranging from four to six days, once a year. A six-day long retreat will be held April 9-15 of next year.
"Longer retreats are really intense," Darr said. "It allows us to get much deeper into the streets and ourselves
waking up in a shelter with no usual schedule and to really depend on others' generosity" is quite different from the day-long retreats.
On both day-long and overnight retreats, participants may bring any provisions they deem necessary, except cell phones. Some participants have shown up with nothing but the sweatshirts on their back; others have lugged sleeping bags, according to Darr.
Besides street retreats, the Fools' other events include daily meditation and reflection open to the public, as well as a "Faithful Fools court," including events such as poetry readings, film nights and Bible studies. They also hold a Ministry of Accompaniment where members comfort those in emotional and physical need.
Since 1998, the Faithful Fools have expanded from San Francisco to Nicaragua and Vancouver, British Columbia. They have held street retreats in Richmond, Long Beach, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Fort Worth and Austin, Texas.
The Fools have had participants as young as three months old, a child a Unitarian minister brought along on a retreat, to people in their eighties, according to Darr. Participants have also come from all over the country, as well as from other countries as far away as Korea, New Zealand and Germany.
The next street retreat will be held on Jan. 21. To participate, fill out an information request form at the Faithful Fools Web site (www.faithfulfools.org), or call the Fools at (415) 474-0508.
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