The beginning of last week I (Roger) while on outreach with Nathaniel saw one of the men we know get arrested. He was really drunk and high. We were in mid conversation with him when all of the sudden he walked out into the road in front of a police car just to wind up the officer!! It really took us back.
At the end of the week (Friday), Nathaniel went away on a marriage retreat with his wife, which left us interns in charge again. That night Brain and Lail went on street out reach. Then on Saturday it was mine and Brian's turn to walk the streets. We ran into the guy who I saw get arrested at the beginning of the week. It turns out he was released the next day after he had sobered up a bit. Which is good in one sense as his girlfriend (who we met that night also) is 6-8 months pregnant and homeless so she would have really struggled without him.
We all also ran the house of hospitality on Saturday during the day. The good news is that two new guy's turned up. We had a good time chatting with them, getting to know their needs spiritually and practically.
This week, because it is our last, seems to be quite packed. We have been trying to get James the right help now that is homeless and found out 3 weeks previous that he is HIV positive, but everything takes such a long time. We have two more books to read excerpts from and discuss with Nathaniel and Brain, an essay to write, Nathaniel and Lail have the Emmaus news letter to get out, and we all have a meal at the end of the week to meet the Emmaus Board of Directors in Houston. That's not including the normal house of hospitality three days this week and, street outreach.
When we get on top of things we hope to give you some reflections about our time with Emmaus.
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Friday, 3 August 2007
Emmaus Promo Video
Here is an Emmaus promo video. It has been made by Emmaus Chicago, so the streets and the center are different to the Houston center. However it will give you a good idea of what we do and the struggles the men through.
The Social System
Today, I got a very rude awakening to what it's like for someone to go through the social system. Brian and I went to pick up one of our guests, let's call him James, from Thomas Street Health Center, which is a health clinic specifically for patients with HIV and AIDS. It's supposedly one of the leading AIDS Hospitals in the country. One of the first doctors who discovered that HIV develops into AIDS currently works there.
We picked up James and spent the day with him basically to help him run errands. The plan was to first go to the social security office to get an ID, then to Ben Tuab Hospital to apply for a gold card, which is a card that lower-income people can apply for in order to get free medications, and then finally to one other office that provides free emergency housing to patients with AIDS. I'd love to say that we accomplished everything we set out to do, however I quickly realized that we would be lucky to even finish one thing on our list.
We started at the social security office to get an ID. We walked in to see one giant waiting room filled to the capacity. We got our number and managed to find seats. I looked around the room of people who were elderly or poor; everyone looked annoyed, frustrated, tired, and basically fed up. I turned to James and said, "This is depressing." He laughed and said, "Thanks." I quickly apologized realizing that I was probably not being very positive. He said, "No, don't apologize. Thank you for noticing how depressing this can be. This is bad enough if you're healthy and things in your life are alright. But think how this is for someone like me, who has nothing going for him."
As we continued to wait for our number to be called, we heard a woman getting very agitated. She was a deaf woman who was trying to communicate with the security guard, who didn't know any sign language. She was signing to him and making some noises, but none that were discernible words. She was getting more and more frustrated. The security guard finally went to get an employee that signed. I don't know much sign language, only the alphabet, but from what I could see the employee just kept telling her to leave. I watched his mouth, and he was, he was telling her, "Just get out. Just leave." She finally just broke down and cried. The security guard and the employee physically removed her from the building as she yelled, cried, and continued to sign to them. Everyone in the room just watched this awful scene. I looked around the room and saw the most horrified expressions on people's faces.
James, Brian, and I chatted for the next hour. During that time I asked him if he had any ID at all. He pulled out one piece of paper from his pocket. It was from a local prison stating that he was a registered sex offender. That was his only form of ID. After about an hour of waiting, we got the appropriate paperwork for James: a print out of his social security number, and a form saying he was homeless and had no income.
I won't get into the rest of the details of the day, which basically involved a series of waiting rooms, being turned away, or being sent somewhere else. The day concluded in James being told that the best thing he could do for himself would be to go to what is called The Homeless Program. I told James I would meet him at 7:30am Monday morning to go to this office and see how they can help him. He said that he can't guarantee that he will show up and left it at that.
We picked up James and spent the day with him basically to help him run errands. The plan was to first go to the social security office to get an ID, then to Ben Tuab Hospital to apply for a gold card, which is a card that lower-income people can apply for in order to get free medications, and then finally to one other office that provides free emergency housing to patients with AIDS. I'd love to say that we accomplished everything we set out to do, however I quickly realized that we would be lucky to even finish one thing on our list.
We started at the social security office to get an ID. We walked in to see one giant waiting room filled to the capacity. We got our number and managed to find seats. I looked around the room of people who were elderly or poor; everyone looked annoyed, frustrated, tired, and basically fed up. I turned to James and said, "This is depressing." He laughed and said, "Thanks." I quickly apologized realizing that I was probably not being very positive. He said, "No, don't apologize. Thank you for noticing how depressing this can be. This is bad enough if you're healthy and things in your life are alright. But think how this is for someone like me, who has nothing going for him."
As we continued to wait for our number to be called, we heard a woman getting very agitated. She was a deaf woman who was trying to communicate with the security guard, who didn't know any sign language. She was signing to him and making some noises, but none that were discernible words. She was getting more and more frustrated. The security guard finally went to get an employee that signed. I don't know much sign language, only the alphabet, but from what I could see the employee just kept telling her to leave. I watched his mouth, and he was, he was telling her, "Just get out. Just leave." She finally just broke down and cried. The security guard and the employee physically removed her from the building as she yelled, cried, and continued to sign to them. Everyone in the room just watched this awful scene. I looked around the room and saw the most horrified expressions on people's faces.
James, Brian, and I chatted for the next hour. During that time I asked him if he had any ID at all. He pulled out one piece of paper from his pocket. It was from a local prison stating that he was a registered sex offender. That was his only form of ID. After about an hour of waiting, we got the appropriate paperwork for James: a print out of his social security number, and a form saying he was homeless and had no income.
I won't get into the rest of the details of the day, which basically involved a series of waiting rooms, being turned away, or being sent somewhere else. The day concluded in James being told that the best thing he could do for himself would be to go to what is called The Homeless Program. I told James I would meet him at 7:30am Monday morning to go to this office and see how they can help him. He said that he can't guarantee that he will show up and left it at that.
Thursday, 2 August 2007
Beyond Gay
We've been reading some chapter from a book,Beyond Gay by David Morrison. Below is an excerpt from that book, that took us slightly by surprise. The media, and the gay community, paint a very rosy picture about their lifestyle and community, but the reality is in fact very different:
"Suppose you were to move into a large house in San Francisco with a group of ten randomly selected homosexual men in their mid-thirties. According to the most recent research from scientific sources, whose authors are without exception either neutral or positive in their assessment of homosexual behavior, and with the use of lower numbers where the statistics differ, the relational and physical health of the group would look like this.
"Four of the ten men are currently in relationships, but only one of those is faithful to his partner and he will not be within a year. Four have never had a relationship that lasted more than a year and only one has had a relationship that lasted more than three years. Six are having sex regularly with strangers, and the group averages almost two partners per person per month. Three of them occasionally take part in orgies. One is a sadomasochist. One prefers boys to men.
"Three of the men are currently alcoholics, five have a history of alcohol abuse and four have a history of drug abuse. Three currently smoke cigarettes; five regularly use at least one illegal drug and three are multiple drug users. Four have a history of acute depression, three have seriously contemplated suicide and two have attempted suicide. Eight have a history of sexually transmitted diseases, eight currently carry infectious pathogens and three currently suffer from digestive or urinary ailments caused by these pathogens."
Our previous post below includes our discussion about this book, as well as some further research that we have done on bug parties.
Bug Parties
Just a warning, this is definitely not for the faint of heart. This post is going to be pretty disturbing and even shocking.
Last night, we met up with Nathaniel and Brian for prayer and dinner. Over dinner we discussed our reading for the week, Beyond Gay by David Morrison. In the first chapter, Morrison explains the concept of, what he calls, the "sex-at-any-cost" movement. This is the acceptance among the gay community that they most likely will not live to see 40 years of age. Therefore, rather than living a life without sex, they freely choose to participate in unsafe sex and risk contracting HIV.
The four of us discussed this for quite a while. We thought about why someone would make this type of choice. Although we may not have come to any conclusions, we did have some thoughts on the issue: The gay community is foundationally based on sex; the culture itself is sex. The world tell us that sex equals love and a life without love is not worth living. Essentially, the reason people have this tainted view of love, is because they don't know love in the true sense, which is God's love.
God's love is seen in terms of "giving." We can see this in John 3:16-17, which says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Whereas, the type of love predominantly found within the gay community, is not about giving, but is instead based on taking. Sex is all about, "What can I get out of this?" and not, "How can I give to this other person?"
The discussion led to Nathaniel asking all of us if we had ever heard of bug parties. None of us had so we looked it up when we got home. The following information is taken from the website,http://www.gaylife.about.com/:
What are bug parties?
Bug parties are sex parties often ranging from a few to as many as 30 people. Unsafe sex with every participant at the party is encouraged. There are several variations of bug parties. At some, there is one member of the "orgy" that is HIV positive. Only this individual and the host know his positive status. The remaining participants know that there is an infected person in the room, but do not know his identity. The participants then partake in a night usually filled with alcohol, drugs and of course unsafe sex.
In other variations of a bug party, there is one person who is not infected with HIV, however the other participants are or may be. Every one is aware of the person who is disease free. The HIV negative person then allows the infected guys to have unprotected anal sex with him.
What is a "bug chaser?"
A bug chaser is a gay man who deliberately attempts to contract HIV by having unprotected sex with a man or group of men who are known to have the virus.
What is a "gift giver?"
A gift giver is an HIV positive gay man who deliberately transmits the virus, often times to bug chasers, or those willing to contract it.
Why do people participate in bug parties?
Many psychologists theorize that participation in bug parties is actually an anxiety disorder where the non-infected individuals fear getting HIV so greatly that they would rather contract it and free themselves of the anxiety of living in fear. These parties are also seen as a sort of club for those living with HIV. Infecting a HIV negative and willing participant initiates them into their world. Some people also engage in unprotected anal sex (or barebacking) as the fear for AIDS dangerously dwindles.
Last night, we met up with Nathaniel and Brian for prayer and dinner. Over dinner we discussed our reading for the week, Beyond Gay by David Morrison. In the first chapter, Morrison explains the concept of, what he calls, the "sex-at-any-cost" movement. This is the acceptance among the gay community that they most likely will not live to see 40 years of age. Therefore, rather than living a life without sex, they freely choose to participate in unsafe sex and risk contracting HIV.
The four of us discussed this for quite a while. We thought about why someone would make this type of choice. Although we may not have come to any conclusions, we did have some thoughts on the issue: The gay community is foundationally based on sex; the culture itself is sex. The world tell us that sex equals love and a life without love is not worth living. Essentially, the reason people have this tainted view of love, is because they don't know love in the true sense, which is God's love.
God's love is seen in terms of "giving." We can see this in John 3:16-17, which says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Whereas, the type of love predominantly found within the gay community, is not about giving, but is instead based on taking. Sex is all about, "What can I get out of this?" and not, "How can I give to this other person?"
The discussion led to Nathaniel asking all of us if we had ever heard of bug parties. None of us had so we looked it up when we got home. The following information is taken from the website,http://www.gaylife.about.com/:
What are bug parties?
Bug parties are sex parties often ranging from a few to as many as 30 people. Unsafe sex with every participant at the party is encouraged. There are several variations of bug parties. At some, there is one member of the "orgy" that is HIV positive. Only this individual and the host know his positive status. The remaining participants know that there is an infected person in the room, but do not know his identity. The participants then partake in a night usually filled with alcohol, drugs and of course unsafe sex.In other variations of a bug party, there is one person who is not infected with HIV, however the other participants are or may be. Every one is aware of the person who is disease free. The HIV negative person then allows the infected guys to have unprotected anal sex with him.
What is a "bug chaser?"
A bug chaser is a gay man who deliberately attempts to contract HIV by having unprotected sex with a man or group of men who are known to have the virus.
What is a "gift giver?"
A gift giver is an HIV positive gay man who deliberately transmits the virus, often times to bug chasers, or those willing to contract it.
Why do people participate in bug parties?
Many psychologists theorize that participation in bug parties is actually an anxiety disorder where the non-infected individuals fear getting HIV so greatly that they would rather contract it and free themselves of the anxiety of living in fear. These parties are also seen as a sort of club for those living with HIV. Infecting a HIV negative and willing participant initiates them into their world. Some people also engage in unprotected anal sex (or barebacking) as the fear for AIDS dangerously dwindles.
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