Moreau Center Social Justice Programs

Diana

Interns for Justice: July 1st – July 6th, 2019 (by Diana K. Salgado Huicochea)

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Hello Dear Reader,

My name is Diana, I will be entering my Senior year this Fall 2019! I am a Biology and Theology, double major. This summer 2019, I am an Intern for Justice through the Moreau Center for Service and Justice serving at Rose Haven, a non-profit, day shelter and community center for women-identifying people and children experiencing trauma, abuse, poverty, physical and/or mental challenges.

This is part of the “living room” space at Rose Haven.

A reason I chose Rose Haven as my internship site is because as a Biology major I spend most of my days studying the human body or I spend many hours in a lab not interacting with people, especially when I do independent research. This summer, I wanted to work with people and remain in the Portland area to serve my home community. I wanted to work with inspiring and empowering individuals driven towards social justice, I found this at Rose Haven. The team that I work with are incredibly supportive and they are never afraid to be human – to show emotion, to do the work that is needed; to give people the dignity they deserve. To acknowledge that everyone is a child of God.

“Projects for Diana” as an intern I have begun to work on a shelter resource sheet along with the services the shelters provide.

My days at Rose Haven are never dull! Each day I am assigned to work at a different “department,” which is different from my morning and my afternoon shifts. Rose Haven offers many services to our guests and to the volunteers to serve in. Such as advocacy, “the shop” (a boutique for our guests to freely shop in) and you serve as personal shopper, the shower program, the food table, sorting the donation center, cooking food in the kitchen, being “the runner” (giving people the emergency needs they have that day) and/or administrative support. I have been lucky to serve in almost all of them since I have been interning at Rose Haven since the month of May!

All the departments are fun, yet my favorite role is working as the Shower Program Assistant. We allow each guest to have a twenty-minute shower, which is a significant time compared to other places. After their shower, the guest is welcome to spend as much time as they’d like in our vanity space which has a big mirror, blow dryer, hair tools, make-up among other things for the guests to use. I enjoy this role because from the moment the person walks in we aim to give them the best experience. First, the shower space has a clean smell, we offer the guests additional products they can use in the shower since we have shampoo and conditioner dispensers already inside the shower rooms. After each guest is done we disinfect the shower room, for a new guest to use.

It is fascinating to see what a shower can do for the guests –it’s a beautiful transformation! Guests come out of the shower as a new person. Their faces are brightened through the refreshment a simple shower can have. As we, too, know what a shower can do for us, especially when we are not having the best day. The shower rooms also provide that confined space that promotes security and a space for healing and cleansing which is what our guests seek at Rose Haven.

Community Agreement applies to guests, staff, and volunteers.

As guests spend time in the vanity space I have the opportunity to listen to their stories and have good conversations. I enjoy seeing how supportive and kind they are towards each other by encouraging and empowering one another. They help each other do their hair, compliment their make-up and/or the outfit they chose from the shop. The conversations they have among each other are always fun to be part of.

 

The Vanity Space, guests can sit to wait for their shower as it gets closer to their slot time. Behind the screens, we have the mirror and products for them to use.

 

One of the continual challenges I experience is listening to the hardships that these women experience. Our guests share the trauma they have gone through whether it was years ago to a few hours ago. It is difficult to not think about it once my day at Rose Haven is done, but it is something I continue to work on. And of course, the Rose Haven team, the Moreau Center staff, my friends, and journey partners (people also doing the Interns for Justice Program at different sites all over the country) are people I can debrief with.

There have been and continue to be many powerful moments I am been privileged to experience at Rose Haven. The guests I work with bring me every type of joy! As I end this blog post I encourage you to provide the space for a friend, a family member, or a stranger to share a piece of who they are, you will be amazed at the extraordinary experiences people possess!

In great gratitude,

Diana Keyla Salgado Huicochea

5/21 Little Rock Central High School

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May 21st, 2018

After having breakfast at the retreat center we are staying in, our Civil Rights Immersion Team headed to Little Rock Central High School. This high school is a beautiful gothic revival architectural design (I have included a picture of it in this post). The high school was constructed in 1927 at the cost of $1.5 million, the budget was established for the construction of two high schools: an all-white high school and a black high school but of course this construction took most of the money.

Little Rock High School was the first high school to be integrated, a fight that 9 brave African American children took so that today, we could have the right to attend any school regardless of skin color. Although, that previous sentence summarizes what we see today, I must mention and we must not forget, that these kids put not only their lives at risk but their entire families and the lives of those who supported and aided them during this fight. At this time the Jim Crow laws were approximately 80 years old, not only in the south but throughout the United States for example in CA there were segregated schools for whites, blacks, and Mexicans.

Only 9 African American children were accepted into Central high school, since the system made it very difficult for blacks to get into the school. These students would also have to follow strict rules: straight A’s, not allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities (sports, clubs, school dances, etc.), and they were not allowed to retaliate against anything that was done to them by whites. Their names and home addresses appear on newspaper and radio, this made them much more vulnerable to acts of terrorism by the angry white mob.

The first day of school, none of the 9 kids showed up due to deadly threats imposed, that would remain throughout their year there. The second day they all showed up and were harassed severely, Elizabeth was one of the African American girls who arrived to the school by herself, while the other 8 arrived together. The National Guard was sent so that these students would not get inside of the school, the media was present and served as protection, the local police was also there for protection and escorted the 9 students. However, once inside the school there was no protection. The first day that the black students entered the school the white students exit the school and one girl jumped out of the second floor window as a form of protest.
Every morning there was a chance for these 9 kids to be killed, the police tried to make a deal with the crowed and the deal was simple: “just give us one of the students to lynch.” (ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS!!!). As these students attended school they would be terrorized by their classmates some examples include: pushing them, spitting on them, pouring their hot lunch all over them, placing broken glass in their gym showers, tacks on their sits, even making permits that would allow white students to kick “each Central high school negro once per day until expiration date” (May 29,1958).
One of the African American girls was expelled because of two incidents: the first was when two white boys smashed her legs with the chairs in the school cafeteria and she accidentally on purpose spilled her lunch on two them. The second incident that cause her expulsion was when two white girls were walking behind her trying to attack her when she turned and said, “do not touch me you pieces of white trash.” (SNAPS). After she was expelled the white students made notes that read “ONE DOWN… EIGHT TO GO.”

Picture taken by Kelly.

One last comment about today since my reflection is already really long… The tour guide mentioned how this month there will be the 60th high school reunion for the class of one of these students and how he has not attended a single one of the reunions… And WOW, I can only imagine the conscience of this class who did not stand up for justice as well as the traumatic experience of these nine black courageous students who stood up for the right to equal education we experience today and will be experience by the many future generations of students to come.