11 29 2017

$2

VOL. 15 ISSUE 2 NOV. 29 - DEC. 12, 2017

Real Stories

Real People

suggested donation goes directly to your vendor

Real Change

HOME a place of refuge

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

@ STREETSENSEDC

A PUBLICATION OF

2 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / N O V. 2 9 - D E C . 12, 2017

BUSINESS MODEL

© STREET SENSE MEDIA 2017 1317 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20005 (202) 347–2006 streetsensemedia.org info@streetsensemedia.org

How It Works

Street Sense Media publishes the newspaper

Each vendor functions as an independent contractor for Street Sense Media, managing their own business to earn an income and increase stability in their life.

$2.00

YOUR SUGGESTED

$.50 Vendors pay

DONATION

per newspaper copy

supports your vendor, helping them to overcome homelessness and poverty

NO CASH? NO PROBLEM.

Pay vendors with the Street Sense Media app!

S treet S ense M edia . org /A pp

AVA I L A B L E

VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT

As self-employed contractors, our vendors follow a code of conduct.

1. Street Sense will be distributed for a voluntary donation of $2.00, I agree not to ask for more than $2.00 or solicit donations for Street Sense by any other means.

2. I will only purchase the paper from Street Sense staff and volunteers and will not sell papers to other vendors.

3. I agree to treat all others, including customers, staff, volunteers, and other vendors, respectfully at all times. I will refrain from threatening others, pressuring customers into making a donation, or in engaging in behavior that condones racism, sexism, classism, or other prejudices.

4. I agree not to distribute copies of Street Sense on metro trains and buses or on private property.

5. I agree to abide by the Street Sense vendor territorial policy at all times and will resolve any related disputes I have with other vendors in a professional manner.

Bashir and Ghosoun Alhumayer prepare ful medames during a List + Learn program with National Community Church.

PHOTO BY

JILLIAN WILZBACHER

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

6. I understand that I am not an employee of Street Sense, Inc. but an independent contractor.

Jeremy Bratt, Margaret Jenny, Jennifer Park, Reed Sandridge, Dan Schwartz, Jeremy Scott, John Senn, Kate Sheppard, Aaron Stetter, Annika Toenniessen, Martin Totaro, Daniel Webber, Shari Wilson

7. I agree to sell no additional goods or products when distributing Street Sense.

Brian Carome

8. I will not distribute Street Sense under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Eric Falquero

9. I understand that my badge and (if applicable) vest are property of Street Sense, Inc. and will not deface them. I will present my badge when purchasing Street Sense. I will always display my badge when distributing Street Sense.

10. I agree to support Street Sense’s mission statement.

In doing so I will work to support the Street Sense community and uphold its values of honesty, respect, support, and opportunity.

INTERESTED IN BEING A VENDOR? New vendor training: every Tuesday and Thursday // 2 p.m. // 1317 G St., NW

The Cover

VENDORS Shuhratjon Ahamadjonov, Wanda Alexander, Melissa Allen, Ollie Alston, Gerald Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Katrina Arninge, Lawrence Autry, Aida Basnight, Charlton Battle, Lori Bettinger, Phillip Black, Reginald Black, Maryann Blackmon, Emily Bowe, Clarence Branch, Debora Brantley, Deborah Brantley, Andre Brinson, Kanon Brown, Donald Brown, Lawrence Brown, Elizabeth Bryant, Dwayne Butler, Brianna Butler, Melody Byrd, Floyd Carter, Conrad Cheek, Aaron Colbert, Michael Craig, Anthony Crawford, Kwayera Dakari, Louise Davenport, James Davis, Charles Davis, David Denny, Reginald Denny, Ricardo Dickerson, Dennis Diggs, Alvin Dixon-El, Ronald Dudley, Brandon Eades, Betty Everett, Jemel Fleming, Johnnie Ford, Duane Foster, Samuel Fullwood, Chon Gotti, Latishia Graham, Marcus Green, Levester Green, Barron Hall, Tyrone Hall, Denise Hall, Mildred Hall, Veana Hanes, Dwight Harris, Danell Harris, Lorrie Hayes, Patricia Henry, Derian Hickman, Vennie Hill, Vennie Hill, James Hughes, Leonard Hyater, Joseph Jackson, Chad Jackson, David James, Mark Jones, Morgan Jones, Linda Jones, Darlesha Joyner, Larry Kelley, Juliene Kengnie, Jewell Lean, John Littlejohn, Scott Lovell, Michael Lyons, William Mack, Ken Martin, Geneva McDaniel, Jermale McKnight, Jennifer McLaughlin, Jeffery McNeil, Ricardo Meriedy, Kenneth Middleton, Amy Modica, L. Morrow, Collins Mukasa, Evelyn Nnam, Moyo Onibuje, Earl Parker, Marcellus Phillips, Barbara Pollard, Jacquelyn Porter, Angela Pounds, Jeanette Richardson, Angela Richardson, Henrieese Roberts, Doris Robinson, Rita Sauls, Melania Scott, Chris Shaw, Gwynette Smith, Patty Smith, David Snyder, Franklin Sterling, Warren Stevens, James Stewart, Beverly Sutton, Sybil Taylor, Archie Thomas, Shernell Thomas, Eric Thompson-Bey, Carl Turner, Jacqueline Turner, Ronald Turner, Adam van Deusen, Joseph Walker, Martin Walker, Michael Warner, Robert Warren, Glenn Washington, Sheila White, Angie Whitehurst, Anneka Wickham, Sasha Williams, Robert Williams, Clarence Williams, Wendell Williams, Ivory Wilson, Christine Wong, Charles Woods

The Street Sense Story, #MoreThanANewspaper Originally founded as a street newspaper in 2003, Street Sense Media has evolved into a multimedia center using a range of creative platforms to spotlight solutions to homelessness and empower people in need. The men and women who work with us do much more than sell this paper—they use film, photography, theatre, illustration and more to share their stories with the our community.

Our media channels elevate voices, our newspaper vendor and digital marketing programs provide economic independence and our in-house case management services move people forward along the path toward permanent supportive housing.

At Street Sense Media, we define ourselves through our work, talents and character, not through our housing situation.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS & SALES MANAGER

Jeff Gray

VENDOR MANAGER

Maysa Elsarag

EVENTS & ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

Dani Gilmour

CASE MANAGER

Colleen Cosgriff

WRITERS GROUP ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Willie Schatz

OPINION EDITORS (VOLUNTEER)

Rachel Brody, Arthur Delaney, Britt Peterson

EDITORIAL INTERNS

Lilah Burke, James Marshall, Emma Rizk, Nick Shedd, Bethany Tuel

EDITORIAL VOLUNTEERS

Jason Lee Bakke, Grace Doherty, Miriam Egu, Roberta Haber, Hunter Lionetti, Laura Osuri, Mark Rose, Andrew Siddons, Sarah Tascone, Jackie Thompson, Marian Wiseman

OFFICE SALES VOLUNTEERS

Miya Abdul, Bill Butz, Jane Cave, Emma Cronenwethe, Pete Clark, Orion Donovan-Smith, Maria Esposito, Roberta Haber, Ann Herzog, Bill Magrath, Alec Merkle, Nick Nowlan, Sarah O’Connell, Leonie Peterkin, Eugene Versluysen, Natalia Warburton

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

EVENTS

// 3

NEWS IN BRIEF COMMUNITY

Thanksgiving in the street Hundreds of Baltimore neighbors gathered to share food & fellowship

BY JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN Artist/Vendor

On a warm fall day, Nov. 18, across the street from the Healthcare for the Homeless office, 1,400 meals were served to homeless and formerly homeless Baltimore residents at the 4th Annual Thanksgiving Lunch, hosted by a grassroots coalition of organizations. Clothing, canned goods and shoes were given away and live music was performed. The event started at 2 pm under a bridge where a tent community was recently cleared away. It stretched into the evening and ended with a community dance party.

THURSDAY, NOV. 30

“Ours to Lose” book talk 6:30 pm - 8 pm The Potter’s House // 1658 Columbia Rd NW

Ours to Lose tells the oral history of a diverse group of Lower East Side squatters in New York City who occupied abandoned city-owned buildings in the 1980s, fought to keep them for decades, and eventually began a long, complicated process to turn their illegal occupancy into legal cooperative ownership. Amy Starecheski not only tells a little-known New York story, she also shows how property shapes our sense of ourselves as social beings and explores the ethics of homeownership and debt in post-recession America. Starecheski is co-director of the Oral History Master of Arts program at Columbia University.

On My Mind/In My Heart:

Voices of Women in Public Housing

6:30 pm // 474 Ridge St, NW Metropolitan Community Church “A powerful performance that invites you into the lives of women who are fighting for their public housing communities in the midst of DC gentrification. Each show is followed by a Q&A with residents who are fighting displacement.”

More showtime: empowerdc.org/event-calendar/

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings Emergency Response Committee Nov 29, 1 pm // 441 4th St NW Youth Wxork Group (WG) Nov 30, 10 am // 441 4th St NW Singles Housing Assessment (CAHP) Dec 5, 1 pm // TBD, Likely 441 4th St NW Housing Solutions Committee Dec 6, 1:30 pm // TBD, Likely 441 4th St NW Family Redesign — Advocates Dec 6, 3 pm // TBD, Likely 441 4th St NW Quarterly Full Council Meeting Dec 12, 2 pm // 4058 Minnesota Ave NE

HOUSING

$242K Judgment Against Former Park Southern Neighborhood Corp. President

UPDATES @ ICH.DC.GOV/EVENTS SATURDAY, DEC. 9

More than 400 volunteers of all ages came together B & Dee’s Baltimore Love Thanksgiving Clothing Drive and Empowerment Day meal. PHOTO BY JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 6

The Sanctuaries “Street Theater” Dinner + Huddle 6:45pm - 9pm 1810 16th St NW (1) free meal + (2) skill share + (3) artmaking “Let’s create change through performance and dialogue! I welcome you to experience the unique art of street theater, as we perceive it and as it has played out for movements worldwide.”

Attorney General Racine announced in a Nov. 28 press release that his office had secured a judgment against Rowena Scott, the former board president of the nonprofit Park Southern Neighborhood Corporation (PSNC), for abusing her authority and acting contrary to the charitable mission of PSNC by siphoning non-profit funds from its 360-unit affordable apartment building at 800 Southern Avenue SE. While the building fell into disrepair and financial distress, to the detriment of its tenants, Scott paid herself tens of thousands of dollars a year and gave herself free rent for a period of nearly nine years. The Superior Court of the District of Columbia ruled that Scott must return $242,605.01 to the non-profit. The ruling is the latest action in litigation by the Office of the Attorney General against PSNC and Scott that began in 2014, according to the release.

Keep up with community events at StreetSenseMedia.org/calendar

AUDIENCE EXCHANGE The Silicon Hill @TheSiliconHill

CJ Ciaramella @cjciaramella

In #DCtech news: Tech journalist-turnedfilmmaker @laliczl has a new passion project: http://bit.ly/HomelessLove #HomelesslyinLove

Hell of a cover from @streetsensedc, DC’s excellent street newspaper

10:26 AM - 25 NOV 2017

1:38 PM - 18 NOV 2017

CORRECTION: The article "Shelter guests feel

unwelcomed by city services and hotel staff" featured in the Nov. 15 edition of Street Sense has been updated online to reflect that during the summer and fall months, DHS has been spending just over $60,000 per night to shelter families in overflow hotel placements and to clarify that year-round access to shelter for families and interim eligibility shelter placements are both DHS policy.The initial article framed year-round family shelter access as an extension of the city's right to shelter. The spending amount for overflow shelter placements previously provided by DHS, $80,000, reflected expenses during Spring 2017.

4 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / N O V. 2 9 - D E C . 12, 2017

NEWS

Monsoor Ali, a WildTech-CCNV leader and founder Lou August stand in front of the shelter at 2nd and D Streets NW. PHOTO BY NICK SHEDD

This nonprofit is training shelter residents in the tech skills they need to keep up with the workforce

BY NICK SHEDD nick.shedd@streetsensemedia.org

Despite government programs and private initiatives aimed at promoting equitable access to information technology, the District’s digital divide persists. This global phenomenon is becoming ever more problematic in our increasingly technologydependent world.

“Everything we do—from applying to a job, to paying bills, to getting around the city—those are all things we do with technology now,” said Elizabeth Lindsey, Executive Director of Byte Back, a local nonprofit that offers computer training courses in libraries around the District.

Street Sense Media has previously featured Byte Back in its pages, as well as Connect.DC, the local government program with which it partners, but these are not the only groups engaged in bridging the digital divide. Another program, which is less well-known, is the WildTech venture at the Community for Creative Nonviolence (CCNV).

In 1983, after years of activism on behalf of people experiencing homelessness in D.C., Mitch Snyder led CCNV members to occupy the vacant building that had formerly housed Federal City College. President Ronald Reagan originally agreed to allow use of the decrepit building as a temporary shelter, but two long fasts by Snyder and others eventually convinced Reagan to renovate the shelter and turn over the deed to D.C. government. That movement created the largest shelter in the country.

The organizers of the CCNV wanted to do more than just shelter homeless residents, they wanted to help residents move beyond homelessness. That is where the WildTech-CCNV venture comes in.

Founded in 2006 as an East Coast branch of the Washingtonbased Wilderness Technology Alliance (WTA), WildTech-CCNV seeks to bring technical skills, experience and access to shelter residents. “We created this WildTech model where people in the shelter create a technology company,” said Lou August, founder of WTA and Director of Arts & Education for CCNV. August founded a technology company in the 1980s and quickly became concerned enough about the growing digital divide to use his profits to found WTA. After his company won several contracts with schools, August said, he discovered “what was really surprising was how the wealthy schools were getting technology, while those that weren’t wealthy weren’t.”

In Washington State, WTA took the form of a camp for youth where they learned technology skills while also exploring the outdoors, a passion of August’s that he believed could inspire

people to put their newly learned skills into creative and productive use.

When August came to the District, however, he found this model more difficult to apply. It is quite a trek from the CCNV shelter on 2nd Street NW to the nearest outdoorsy locations.

But beyond this practical issue lay another challenge. August had never applied for or received a grant for the program at CCNV, so he organized residents to create a company that would be eligible for such support and partnerships.

The organization, located in the computer lab of the CCNV shelter, offers free technology trainings to shelter residents and low-cost trainings to outside organizations. Thanks to donations from government agencies and private corporations, WildTech also provides free laptops to shelter residents who complete the basic training program.

Further, some residents opt to become more involved in the venture by running trainings, distributing laptops and refurbishing computers, which they learned how to do in the trainings. Despite being built without grant funding, WildTech– CCNV has been able to pay past participants between $50 and $500 over the course of their time in the program.

These services, as well as their independent location and administration, have taken on increased importance in D.C. with the closure of the Martin Luther King Jr. Library for renovations. Byte Back, which teaches in libraries in partnership with Connect.DC, has found that “there’s just less space for us and other nonprofits to teach,” said Lindsey, its executive director. For the homeless and housing-insecure community, which Lindsey said makes up one third of her clientele, the loss of the public computers and internet in MLK Library is even more problematic.

Lindsey called Wi-Fi access part of the “three-legged stool” necessary to bridge the digital divide. The other two legs, she said, are possession of a device and the training necessary to use it. Providing people with these tools empowers them to get a job that pays them well and “just transforms people’s lives,” Lindsey said.

August is optimistic that those jobs are out there and can help people achieve secure housing.

Through training people experiencing homelessness, handing them free laptops and engaging them in leadership roles,, WildTech-CCNV is attempting to build the three-legged stool that Lindsey described for shelter residents.

“It’s not the youth paradigm bridging the digital divide, it’s the untapped potential paradigm that exists in the homeless community,” August said.

Georgetown medical students and D.C. General Family Shelter team up to bring free medical services to shelter residents

BY JAMES MARSHALL james.marshall@streetsensemedia.org

LaShawn Lopez brought her four young children to the doctor’s office on an evening in late October. The Lopez family lives in the D.C. General Family Shelter, which is situated in a dilapidated former hospital building on the southeast side of the city.

Their commute to the doctor was short. From their place in the shelter’s west wing, they walked less than a block, just past an empty playground and the barbed wire fence surrounding the city jail, before reaching the shelter’s main building. On the fourth floor of the shelter is Hoya Clinic, a walk-in clinic that is free to everyone regardless of insurance coverage.

The clinic is a Georgetown University initiative run completely by volunteers. It is open on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 6 p.m. until all patients are seen, which can be 10 p.m. on nights when there are 10 or more patients. As a rule, when residents of D.C. General Family Shelter get sick, they head upstairs to Hoya Clinic.

Once inside the clinic, Lopez’s oldest daughter zoomed onto an exam room table and said, “Superman needs a checkup!” Several other superheroes and princesses occupied the waiting room in anticipation of their own checkups — it was the night of D.C. General’s Halloween party.

That evening, Lopez brought in her children because two of them had red, gooey eyes. The first people to visit the Lopezes in the exam room were two medical students: a first-year who was charged with taking the children’s vitals and a third-year to help facilitate the interaction.

The D.C. General campus where the Lopez family lives and where Hoya Clinic is located. D.C. Jail sits beside it. Construction is under way on several new family shelter facilities intended to replace D.C. General by 2020. Other sites are stalled by neighborhood debates.

PHOTO BY JAMES MARSHALL.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 5

‘Home for the holidays’ campaign aims to house 400 D.C. families and individuals by January

BY EMMA RIZK & REGINALD BLACK Street Sense Media

LaShawn Lopez and her sick daughter in the Hoya Clinic waiting room.

PHOTO BY JAMES MARSHALL

Georgetown medical students have the most patient contact, while an attending physician supports the medical students until the end of the patient’s visit, when the physician provides medical expertise directly. Hoya Clinic benefits all parties involved — it acts as a training ground where Georgetown medical students are able to get their first hands-on experience practicing medicine and it serves a vulnerable population.

There is a long waiting list of medical students who want to volunteer at Hoya, explained firstyear medical student Janet Shin.

Gaining practical experience is only one reason for the high level of interest. “We can make a tangible difference in people’s lives here,” Shin said.

The Lopez family, who had been to Hoya Clinic five times previously, is grateful for the convenience it offers them. Having just walked over from next door, Lopez considered her options. “If the clinic wasn’t here, I probably wouldn’t have taken them anywhere just yet,” she said. “And if it got worse, I’d probably take them to the emergency room.”

Emergency room usage is high among people experiencing homelessness, whether or not they are insured. In addition to being exposed to more dangers, competing priorities like food and shelter can cause homeless people to either neglect primary care altogether or turn to the emergency room when unmanaged symptoms worsen. As many as two-thirds of homeless people visit an emergency

department annually, according to a University of Massachusetts study.

Dr. Jeffrey Toretsky, the attending physician that night, said the services Hoya Clinic provides are not that different from other clinics. It is the convenience for shelter residents that makes it unique. “We do physicals for job seekers, vaccinations for kids,” Dr. Toretsky said. “Things that would have been a hassle otherwise make a difference.”

"We do physicals for job seekers, vaccinations for kids. Things that would have been a hassle otherwise.”

Dr. Jeffrey Toretsky

Outside of the Lopezes exam room, Dr. Toretsky conferred with two medical students. The children’s likely diagnosis was conjunctivitis.

Had the case of gone untreated, the contagious infection could have spread across the tight quarters of the shelter, or even at Lopez’s youngest daughter’s preschool.

Hoya Clinic provides a necessary service by bringing medical care directly to the underserved. The last order of business for the Lopezes before leaving the clinic was picking up their prescription, free of charge.

On Nov. 20, in the company of her two children, and supportive services for tenants, such as case Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Department of Human management, according to Zeilinger. DHS provides Services Director Laura Zeilinger, and a half-dozen news short-term rent subsidies through its rapid rehousing cameras, Tremaine Anderson signed a two-year lease for program and long-term rent subsidies through her family’s new apartment. permanent supportive housing placements. There is Anderson became homeless after she had her first also a new flex fund to help rent-burdened tenants that child. Over the years, she has stayed in D.C. General need an extra hand.

Family Shelter, at her mother’s house and couch surfed.

Tremaine Anderson works three part time jobs and is None of it helped change her trajectory. Until now. seeking full-time employment. The arrangement set up This was the 72nd lease signing of DHS’s Home for by DHS allows her to privately contribute an affordable the Holidays campaign, an effort to move 400 families amount to the D.C. Housing Authority while DHS and individuals into permanent housing by Jan. 15. subsidizes the rest of her rent. Gladstone will receive a Bowser spoke about her administration’s focus single check from the housing authority. on transforming the city’s homelessness services Zeilinger explained that DHS is supporting the system, including “exiting” people into safe and Anderson family with housing so that they can increase affordable housing. their earnings to maintain the cost of rent in the long run.

According to Zeilinger, Mayor Bowser and the D.C. When asked at the lease signing about the impact of Council have appropriated unprecedented resources to the Home for the Holidays campaign, with 7,000 people help people exit homelessness. The mayor spent the experiencing homelessness in D.C., Bowser said that first week of October announcing such investments, her administration’s efforts over the last three years culminating in a briefing for the landlord community have been effective in reducing veteran and individual at the Wilson Building. There, the mayor announced a homelessness and improving prevention services. new public/private “mitigation fund” to assure landlords However, she acknowledged the great need for that working with families exiting homelessness in the affordable housing beyond the pace of what government District would be good for their business. The fund and nonprofit actors can build. This campaign is working essentially insures landlords up to $5,000 for excessive with the private sector community to make housing damage or unpaid rent lost to formerly homeless tenants. available to people exiting homelessness with the On balance, partner landlords would be expected assistance of the city. to look beyond an eviction history or poor credit to give someone who has been trapped in a cycle of Any landlord interested in partnering with DHS can email homefortheholidays@dc.gov or review more information at homelessness an opportunity to find stability. dhs.dc.gov Street Sense Media has previously reported that common stereotypes held by landlords include that homeless leaseseekers will be bad tenants, destroy property or be evicted after a short time.

The Department of Human Services has been working diligently since at least 2016 to find partner landlords who are willing to lease to formerly homeless individuals and families in a high-demand market where another tenant is usually not hard to find. The mitigation fund is a concrete demonstration of DHS’s commitment to their landlord partners.

“We need to recognize that housing is a business,” Bowser said at the landlord briefing in October. ”Nobody can do this alone and we are successful when we work across the government, when we work across the business community and when we work across the faith community.”

Don Gladstone, Anderson’s new landlord, heard the mayor loud and clear.

“We are aware of the shortages, especially to the indigent,” Gladstone said at the November lease signing. “We wanted to do our part in curing some of the need. I call on other landlords who are considering the same to take a bold step forward and make a difference in the lives of individuals and families across the city.

By joining hands and hearts we can work together for endless possibilities.”

New tenants Tremaine Anderson and her two children, DHS Director and Mayor Muriel Bowser gather in the Andersons’ new home.

Separate from the insurance fund, Zeilinger PHOTO BY EMMA RIZK landlord partnerships include subsidies

6 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / N O V. 2 9 - D E C . 12, 2017

Volunteers help refugees find schools, find jobs and make friends

BY LILAH BURKE lilah.burke@streetsensemedia.org

Ghosoun Alhumayer makes traditional ful medames for Listen + Learn attendees.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JILLIAN WILZBACHER

O

ver 500,000 refugees have been accepted into the United States since 2010, according to the State Department.

Just over 1,000 were resettled in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland last year. As these refugees try to find jobs and schools, some area residents are helping them feel at home.

Refugees and volunteers from National Community Church are building relationships as they share food, time, and assistance. The interdenominational Christian church picks up families from the airport, furnishes and decorates their homes prior to arrival, and connects refugees to family friends and mentors who can navigate the school system or take them to the doctor.

The Alhumayer family arrived in the U.S. from Syria a little over a year ago to escape the civil war. Bashir Alhumayer had worked as an electrician in Damascus, and the family lived outside the city in a mostly Christian town. As the war escalated, Bashir found himself hiding his sons and daughter from bombs and sniper fire. His wife, Ghosoun, was sick with diabetes. The family paid a smuggler to transport them to Jordan, where they lived in a refugee camp for three months.

“I hope nobody goes through what I’ve been through,” Bashir said through a translator.

The refugee camp lacked basic necessities like electricity and running water. Half the time, Ghosoun was in the hospital. “Life was hell there,” Bashir said.

The family paid a smuggler to transport them into Amman, where Bashir worked once again as an electrician. Ghosoun began to lose her vision and the family had to pay for two surgeries. Jordan was one of the only Middle Eastern countries that accepted Syrian refugees. After the family had been in Jordan for years, the United Nations High Council on Refugees moved them to Maryland.

Bashir and Ghosoun told their story to an audience of more than 40 people at a National Community Church program called, “Listen + Learn.” Bashir, who is Muslim, had crossed paths with the church soon after moving to Maryland and developed a strong relationship with the director of the church’s international missions arm, David Schmidgall.

“We try to really listen and learn,” Schmidgall said of the church. “And create environments where our people can understand difficult topics, meet people from different faiths and backgrounds, cross those lines of division, and begin to develop relationships.”

At the Listen + Learn program on Nov. 10, audience members crowded the spacious living room of Schmidgall’s home in Southeast. Bashir and Ghosoun Alhumayer told their story over ful medames, a common Arab dish made of fava beans.

During these programs, refugee families share food, teach recipes, and answer questions. The church sells tickets, and all of the money goes directly to the family. “They get a few months of assistance when they get here, but then you’re kind of expected to become self-sufficient as quickly as possible,” said Jill Carmichael, director of domestic missions. “This will probably provide a full month’s rent for them,” Schmidgall said.

The Alhumayer family lives in a small apartment, with their children sharing a room. They had no choice in their resettlement location in Maryland. Only refugees with relatives in the District are placed in the city.

Some new arrivals are eligible for the U.S. Refugee Resettlement program, while in D.C. others are referred to Lutheran Social Services or the Catholic Charities Refugee Center. “Agencies are not enough,” Schmidgall said. “It’s not that they’re doing a bad job, they’re just limited.”

“Most of these families have case managers, but these case managers have huge caseloads,” said Carmichael. “How can we help support the services they’re already getting?”

The National Community Church works with refugees from many places, though most often from Syria and Afghanistan. Their faith provides motivation. “We’re called to do what Jesus did,” said Carmichael, “which is serve the poor and the oppressed.”

Schmidgall said there can be tension within families between assimilation and preservation. “We owe it to them to know and understand their world, their customs,” he said. “We celebrate their diversity, but we also invite them in to be part of our culture.”

The Alhumayer children are doing well in school, but language is an obstacle. Bashir hopes his children will go to college, although they’ve had to delay their plans for financial reasons. The family loves camping in the area but doesn’t like American food. Bashir said he would like to open up a commercial kitchen, a Syrian restaurant. Eventually, he would like to return to Syria in peace.

“What we fear, we tend to misunderstand,” Schmidgall said. “What we misunderstand, we tend to judge.”

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

CELEBRATING SUCCESS

// 7

AT A GLANCE

Street Sense Media vendors take part in hunger and homelessness awareness week

BY JAMES DAVIS Artist/Vendor

On Nov. 14, I participated in a panel discussion at The George Washington University about ending homelessness. It was organized by a progressive leadership organization, the Roosevelt Institute, which is affiliated with the Roosevelt presidential library. In addition to me, they recruited Commander Morgan Kane of the Metropolitan Police Department's 1st District, At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman and ANC 2A (Foggy Bottom/West End) Commissioner Eve Zhurbinsky, who is in her last year of studies at GW. Councilmember Silverman said that while the city is making progress, much more is needed.

She explained that while D.C. has committed to annually investing $100 million dollars in the local Housing Production Trust Fund, and that seems like a lot of money, it doesn't go very far when rationed out, in comparison to our community's need for affordable housing.

Commander Kane explained why tent encampments are razed by the city, even though that does nothing to help end homelessness. A couple of camps on E Street near the university campus had recently been swept and drew the attention of students. Kane said camps are shut down for safety issues.

Starting at the left corner of the table, MPD 1st District Commander Morgan Kane, ANC 2A Commissioner Eve Zhurbinsky, James Davis and At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman. PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMES DAVIS

They can be breeding grounds for rodents and in one instance on E Street, domestic and sexual abuse was taking place.

When asked about my interactions with people experiencing homelessness, I said that I do outreach at the downtown parks with the National Coalition for the Homeless as well as helping my fellow vendors by giving out sales tips and offering financial help.

This event was scheduled as part of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, which has been observed by an increasing number of college campuses since 1975. But you, my customers, remain aware of hunger and homelessness 24/7/365. Thanks for your support throughout this year, You all are AWESOME! Street Sense Media artists also performed works of original theater and spoken word at The George Washington University and Georgetown University campuses.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WENDELL WILLIAMS

“At the Takoma Park Farmers Market with Street Sense Media supporter and Takoma Park mayor, Kate Stewart.”

Wendell Williams

BIRTHDAYS

Thanks to Trusted Health Plan, Dr. Lysa Fitzpatrick (Promoting Pracitcal Health) and DC Soul 139 and one of our vendors, a free health fair was provided at the Street Sense Media office on Nov. 22. Above, Vendor Marcus Green cuts hair for Vendor Marcellus Phillips. PHOTOS BY KEN MARTIN

Shernell Thomas Dec. 1 ARTIST/VENDOR

The Street Sense Media photography group’s work was on display at the IA&A at Hillyer for FotoWeekDC 2017. Above, artist Levester Green enjoys the gallery with work by Sasha Williams visible in the background. Left, Levester’s photo of keys is displayed along with an exhibit about immigration.

PHOTOS BY JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN

Wendell Williams Dec. 4 ARTIST/VENDOR

SENSE STREET MEDIA Real Stories Real People Real Change This limited edition 2017 wrapping paper was created by our illustration workshop members:

CLARENCE BRANCH, LEVESTER GREEN, CHON GOTTI, MILDRED HALL, PATTY SMITH, DWIGHT HARRIS, JEMEL FLEMING, ANGELA POUNDS, DAVID SEROTA

1 0 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / N O V. 2 9 - D E C . 12, 2017

OPINION

Vote them out

BY ANGIE WHITEHURST

Do you know what is disturbingly, disgustingly, outrageously, egregiously, despicably, disastrously, immorally damning?

It is the game of public trust. We liked what you said before we voted you into one of those chairs, and we gave you the benefit of the doubt. Let us blink and believe that you sincerely and seriously cared. Your campaign brochure said so, I still have them on the coffee table and clamped by a magnet on the ice box.

We even turned our heads the other way when it seemed that you were going back on us. Oh, it is just politics, we thought. Just another backroom deal to keep everything well-oiled, we told ourselves. Those politicians are all alike. But that is life, the constant little uncolored lie we too frequently tell ourselves.

We don’t just need to change our minds; we need to revisit some ol’ fashion common sense: It is not what you say that counts, it is what you do: Actions always speak louder than words. What we see is what we get. And right now, it is a capital triple F, as in: you are failing, fooling and flimflamming us.

We need to stop unethical loophole deals filling someone's pockets and the appearance of bought and sold ballot boxes. We need to stop eminent-domain ousters, evictions of apartments, tent cities.

We need to ensure the establishment of available, accessible, affordable housing.

We need emergency revamping of shelters. There should be no such thing as homelessness.

We need to do a better job of connecting people with wrap-around services and getting rid of the limitations within "core services.”

Our problems are not unique. They are the same to various degrees across the country and around the world. But this is not an excuse we can accept.

The terms are different: the displaced, refugees, immigrants, dislocated, political asylum-seekers, the exiled, the shunned in some countries. It's all the same. They are homeless, disconnected and isolated for the same and different reasons: hard times, civil unrest, war, manmade and natural disasters. Do not let the variation of the names and definitions fool you!

The emoji smiley face with the blink of an eye and a heartful kiss, is a clue and a cue to immediate and strongly suggested emergency action: Do the hard work. It is not about color, gender or party, it is all of us, as one, as implied by my fellow Street Sense vendor, Denise Hall, in her monologue in the theater production of “Timone of D.C.” produced by Leslie Jacobson and Roy Barber: “We can do leaps and bounds better.

And we the people, must use the most powerful ploy in our free world: Vote them out!”

Get to work!

Angie Whitehurst is an artist and vendor for Street Sense.

Why I left public housing

BY DEBBIE BRANTLEY

I left public housing after two and one half years on 11th Street NW in Washington, D.C. This was after too many threats of bodily harm from people and a willful lack of progress on the part of the professionals who were trying to help me. They were the ones who had urged me to find public housing anyway. So, their funny behavior – putting me in subsidized housing, then disdaining me -- was actually a blessing.

It's a blessing because financial opportunity has quadrupled since I left. I am better off on the streets waiting on real opportunities rather than giving up and going with a formulated government solution that puts me in housing with such deep ugliness and a bad smell. I was becoming a funky girl. I was more a waste of time than I had been before.

Debbie Brantley is a Street Sense vendor.

Danica Roem at a July 26 protest in front at the White House against President Trump’s transgender military ban. PHOTO COURTESY OF TED EYTAN / FLICKAGAINR

Danica Roem and the politics of bread and butter

BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

It’s been some time since I’ve said something positive about Democrats. However, if Democrats find more candidates like Danica Roem, Democrats may become a viable party once again.

I almost have to be on medication to say something positive about Democrats. After they cheated Bernie Sanders out of what was rightfully his – the nomination and possibly the presidency – I have trust issues.

However, Roem may be the first step in the right direction. While Hillary Clinton ran as a women, Roem ran as a resident of Virginia, not a transgender woman. She won by using old-school tactics like knocking on doors and talking about issues. While the establishment Democrats are clueless, the grassroots gets it: All politics is local. Her win may dispel the notion that all Republicans are deplorables and right-wing nut jobs. Roem defeated ultra right-wing conservative Bob Marshall in a relatively conservative district.

Roem embodies Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of character coming before color, gender or identity. When Roem was disrespected, she didn't crawl into a safe space or become "triggered." She fought back and defeated her mocker. I believe the only way to knock down doors is have uncomfortable conversations.

When President Donald Trump suggested a ban on transgender people in the military, I supported and defended it. Today, I regret and apologize for saying hate-filled things about transgender people.

It's no secret Democrats have forgotten their bread-and-butter roots and become the party of Thurston Howell lll, the millionaire from “Gilligan's Island.” Maybe people should follow Roem’s lead, by ignoring the mess with establishment Democrats and focusing on local elections. I would suggest Democrats have a “tea party” of their own, and jettison the corrupt party establishment.

America needs a blue-collar party. Neither major party represents the interests of the American worker.

Because Democrats abandoned people like me, they allowed Trump and former White House chief strategist and Breitbart chairman Steve Bannon to become the voice of the people. There’s no reason why labor unions

and working people should allow Trump and his coterie of well-connected plutocrats to shoplift issues that were once the staples of the Democratic Party. No Republican should be talking about curbing immigration, raising wages and improving living conditions – that was Democratic home turf that establishment Democrats allowed to be stripped away.

The time is right for the working people to have a civil war in the Democratic Party.

We need to move the party back to the center-left and jettison the left-wing out of the Democratic Party. The establishment Democrats are committed to free trade and open borders. They're okay with sacrificing our future for short-term gains. Only the working people, not Trump, can fix what ails the American worker. We need to get back to issues that put American workers first, such as public works, job training, restructuring our immigration system and a strong safety net.

Unfortunately the politicos in Washington don't know a damn thing about Trump supporters. I don't have an ideology or a party. I voted for Trump. I support both Roy Moore and Danica Roem. It has nothing to do with their politics. I don't agree with Moore, but I can see why people in Alabama love him. When Mitch McConnell and the left tried to do a hit job on Moore, Moore said bring it on. Both Moore and Danica Roem are fighters. That's what Washington needs: people who are not afraid to step on toes, and do what's right for America.

Danica Roem is the Jackie Robinson of our time. Self-respect goes further than victimhood. When she was disrespected by Bob Marshall she didn't whine and cry. Even after Marshall wrote nasty comments about her, she didn't call his supporters deplorable.

She said they're all my constituents. Because of her I had to come around on gay rights and transgenderism, I believe when someone regardless of creed or gender emerge victorious they have the right to lead. Danica has proven a worthy adversary and we all should give her our respect.

Jeffery McNeil is a Street Sense columnist and vendor.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

ART

// 11

PHOTO BY JANE CAVE www.janecavephoto.com

Change

BY DENISE HALL // Artist/Vendor

Rejection

ILLUSTRATION BY DWIGHT HARRIS

Change the President who resides in the White House at 16th Penn, who’s not qualified for that position.

BY KEN MARTIN

Have we met? If so, I can't recall the pleasure of your acquaintance. I may have seen your face before, but my memory is suspect. That happens when you're sleep-deprived.

We homeless share that long-term symptom.

You see, it begins before homelessness actualizes. It's the great disruption that interferes with problem-solving, from the notification of housing at risk through eviction or displacement and crisis resolution to housing acquisition and forward to healing, a.k.a life recovery.

What I do remember — as if indelibly imprinted on my psyche — is your expression, disapproving of my existence. That look you offer saying I am an encumbrance, an obstruction, a burden. The look that evokes my confused response. I don't understand, because the most I ask of you is "How are you?" To which the common retorts are: "No, thanks"; the hand extended toward my face; the wipe, a

Change what? Change who? Not me, not my melanin skin, not my afro puff, cornrows, wide nose, full lips, thick hips.

sudden face-turn-away; the nose in the air; or, in special cases, The Whizz, a Usain Bolt-like burst of speed until you are three steps beyond my post. Then and only then can you exhale.

On my birthday, Oct. 5, when I was vending with a large square helium balloon imprinted "Birthday Boy" and tied to "Lydia," a female person of maturing years asked, "Is today your birthday?” "Yes, it is!" I replied proudly. She turned and exited as though I was never there.

Bottom line: Rude is rude. Insulting is insulting. But civility and courtesy always surpass those vile emotions. Mrs. Martin taught her babies to "never talk to strangers but speak when you're spoken to." Politeness requires acceptance of other people as just that.

Anything less is uncivilized.

Change not my two steps I do when I think no one is watchin’, change some of those half bake politicians, who create jacked up policy, to better policy.

Ken Martin is a vendor and artist for Street Sense.

Ken operates a pop-up hat shop in the District.

Learn more at www.brims4you.com.

Change the mind of the abuser, blind the pedophile.

Change those racist police to do what they were sworn in to do, not what they chose to do.

Ungrateful to grateful, unwilling to willing.

Change the bullets, before that coward pulls the trigger, to plush pellets that explode sprays of Love Potion #9 in the air.

Change the have-nots, to have, And lower high interest rates.

Lock the brakes on hateful drivers who speed through the streets and kill for no reason.

Change hate to love.

Change those who don’t listen to listen, we are the people.

Your thoughts are always welcome - Have an opinion about how homelessness is being addressed in our community?

- Want to share firsthand experience?

- Interested in responding to what someone else has written?

Street Sense Media has maintained an open submission policy since our founding. We aim to elevate voices from across the housing spectrum and foster healthy debate.

Please send submissions to opinion@streetsensemedia.org.

Change the national anthem to Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” So we all can blend and get it in.

I pray it’s not too late — let’s take a chance, we create a link to link up to love and get rid of these sick sons of overbearing, headache, and heartaches of hate.

As Michael Jackson once sang, “Let’s make that change.”

Denise wrote “Change” as part of the Street Sense Media Theater Workshop and has performed it numerous times throughout the city.

1 2 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / N O V. 2 9 - D E C . 12, 2017

A father’s cry

Making the walk

BY RON DUDLEY // Artist/Vendor, a.k.a. “Pookanu”

BY REGINALD E. BLACK // Artist/Vendor, a.k.a “Da Street Reportin’ Artist”

My baby momma get high again Tellin the same old lie again Selling the food stamps to get her drugs, But all the kids need is food, and love.

The walk to your home, The walk to a home.

You gotta walk to some sort of income.

How come we don’t have the funds?

Funds that seem endless, but all over Everyone says there is not enough of it.

So quick to get into trouble, How long will important people bottle each other?

Just to make it from one page to another.

Mother’s sons and daughters, Further too.

Everyone walking to find a home Some walking with dead logic Some walking to stop oppression.

The spirit is the only profit.

Labeled a misfit but walking, Just like you, to gain a line of credit.

Better yet the Earth is abundant.

Have you started your walk?

Yet walk together, hand-in-hand.

It’s a long walk to recover lost time and land, But if we keep walking, it will fulfill the plan.

Before I go to work everyday I pray.

That my son don’t get taken away.

My baby momma getting high again Can’t let my son go through the same old lies again.

She stole the money out your piggy bank.

She drunk the milk you was suppose to drank She took you out of school To leave you home in your crib crying all alone I hear you crying, I hear you crying.

I feel like dyin, I feel like dyin.

I feel like killing, I feel like killing.

I love you son, I love you son.

I feel like living.

Father protect my son from his momma cause she’s evil.

Son just know that I will never leave you I’m gonna raise my boy to be a man Put family first, help save the world When you can. God give me the wisdom To be the best father.

Life ain’t easy But I’mma still try harder I’mma pray for a house with a key that we can go in.

Cause we need space and a place that we can grow in.

Every time I pray God answers me later I need a miracle I need a prayer.

Ron’s latest album, “Father’s Day,” is available for purchase and download at www.Pookanu.com

Ron Dudley and his son. PHOTO BY RON DUDLEY

Marcus Green and his wife, Bobby.

PHOTO BY MARCUS GREEN

Bobby, I miss you

BY MARCUS GREEN // Artist/Vendor

My wife died November 24, 2015.

It was the worst Thanksgiving and the worst day of my life. Especially if you were not living right by her. I would give anything to have an hour or a day with her. She was the love of my life, the brick foundation to my soul. There never will be another.

She was down for whatever.

I am in another relationship now but it feels as though I'm settling down. So I will leave when I get my own place.

I believe I can do better because my God tells me so. I need the peace in my spirit. When God calls someone home, a newborn comes into the world to keep the cycle going.

I encourage everyone in “Street Sense” Land to love your family, your dog, your cat —– whomever. Make sure you tell them you love them. I appreciate God sharing my wife Bobby with me.

I come whence thee comes, he returns. Thanks for your support and making a difference in me and my wife's lives. God bless.

Carrying on and playing through

BY PATTY SMITH // Artist/Vendor

My heroes

BY BEVERLY SUTTON // Artist/Vendor

My case manager came to see me recently.

She checks in on me every couple of months to make sure I'm doing okay. John, her supervisor, is a nice person. On my birthday he gave me balloons and money.

He always makes sure I get my clothes and food voucher on time. I thank God every day that these people are there to help me with housing, food, and clothing.

No matter what we go through we have to hold our head up high. Sometimes, though, those words are easier said than done. There have been times in my life when I just didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. I was so uncertain and unsure. People made me feel like I was nothing.

But I have conquered all those negative feelings. Now, after years and years, the world treats me nicely and I can truly say I am much stronger and much happier after all those bad experiences.

PHOTO CREDIT: PIXABAY

My mother said

BY ROBERT WARREN Artist/Vendor

My Mother Said a few words out of her head.

Sometimes old age and one’s thoughts going everywhere but right there in truth.

My brother and me debating like brothers do on the morning of 10-32017, the night before evil doing what evil do.

Another mass shooting, another record is broke. Are we really Trump with bad luck for three years more?

My Mother Said, why are you arguing while people are dying on the bridge?

I asked her if she thought it was so-called radical Islam or another good Christian off his meds, and then My Mother Said, what difference does It make? Why argue while people are dying on the bridge?

The bridge. People are dying on the bridge, so sad sometimes we never make it to the other side, stuck in our sin of vanity. Is it in the music that we sing?

Helping people not die on the bridge is the most important act for human beings.

Thanking you Mama for that truth

and your beliefs.

I never asked her about O. J., released in Vegas the other day.

Evil is Evil.

Men shed each other’s blood every day, We debate day in and day out about who is right or wrong.

Then the Lord will judge us all.

Our common day to see what My Mother Said to me.

To help your brother and wife who may die on the bridge this day and the thought My Mother would say this is the story of the Heroes was made for TV, YouTube for all to see how we help each other across the bridge of understanding.

The Second Amendment of 1791 is not the reality of 2017.

People, please help my people across the bridge.

One life to give, one thought that’s real.

Regulate the bullets; that’s what kills. Let them have their guns and come across the bridge. The only one to fear is the NRA. I remember My Mother Said, why argue when people are still dying on the bridge?

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 1 3

FATS DOMINO: an R&B appreciation

BY FREDERIC JOHN // Artist/Vendor

On the “Night Train” near the car, Feel the bouncing tempo over the rails And ties. The honking saxophone floats Across the neon-lit expanse of mysterious darkness.

Soon there’s a new tune.

This time I’m walking to New Orleans.

I’m hoping that she saw me?

How exotic, dramatic met from the heart, Down home style, is that?

Mr. Antoine “Fats” Domino, born 1928 and died October 2017.

Survived Katrina, changing tastes In pop, jazz and Rock ‘n’ Roll, But always “eats was in the house.”

“Ain’t got time for talkin’, so I’ll just keep on walkin’.

The insistent triple piano chords, Covered by just a hint of swept strings, Then the last drop of a bass drum pedal, Maybe Earl Palmore, who knows.

There were some comfortable when Fats stayed away from the Harlem funeral of his gifted guitarist, “Papoose” Nelson.

But Fats had to book his shows, Tend to his eight children, and he had his reasons.

Fats was in general, a good, humbled cat — No matter what bubbled beneath His life’s surface; always he gave us the wide smile Why did “Blueberry Hill” make such a Hugh dent on our brain pan?

Fats insisted “Louis Armstrong was ‘my all-time favorite singer!’”

Nor will we forget — In the spring of 1961, Fats Exited from the tour bus, And direct from New Orleans, Played my brother’s spring At St. Alban’s School for Boys.

Saun tells me the show was unforgettable!

And all for the then-sum of $600!

Fats, we still need you. But the Soul Heaven, how “we got rhythm!”

(And Ette has its avatar in Mister Domino.)

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROLAND GODEFROY / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

PHOTO COURTESY OF PIXABAY

PHOTO COURTESY OF PIXABAY

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

My name is Moyo, part 2

BY MOYO ONIBUJE Artist/Vendor

This is part 2 of a 4-part series. In part 1, Moyo wrote about his early years in London and his father’s decision to take the family to Nigeria.

In the great tradition of Alex Haley, one of the greatest writers America has ever seen, I continue this series.

When I returned to Lagos, Nigeria (in West Africa), I was only five years old and spoke only English. My father’s reasons for returning to Nigeria — he had been living in England where he had been working and studying for some 15 years — were numerous. The Nigerian “Blafran War” had ended. It was a Nigerian version of the American Civil War. My father had finished his electrical engineering degree and had obtained a good job at the famous Pinewood Studios. He had worked for directors such as Roman Polanski (Rosemary’s Baby).

Nigeria had been independent from British Colonial rule for 10 years and my father was homesick. This is the reason my father wanted to return to Nigeria. But he had met my mother in England. I affectionately refer to her as “The Baroness Elizabeth” from Germany, a Hanoverian. Recently I learned that Britain was ruled by the Stuarts and the Hanoverians, royalty going back many centuries (the DNA results are pending in that department).

My father was, quite simply, the proudest person I knew.

He never asked anybody for anything throughout his life. He was a master of corporal discipline and regularly beat me and my sisters with a cow whip when we misbehaved. His favorite saying was “You will not disgrace the family name.” In fact, years later, when I had an arranged marriage in 1990 to a lady I affectionately called the ‘ballerina’ (because that was what she was), it was my father’s reputation as a fiercely proud man that sealed the marriage agreement. She was an upper-class lady.

Then, in 1970, I returned to Nigeria with my mother, the German aristocrat, art historian and theatrical costume designer.

As a white woman, the early years of her life were difficult.

There were few white people in the country, so I, my sister and mother were constantly taunted while on forays to the market and to the village. One of the favorite sayings of the locals was “White person, if you eat pepper, you will become whiter.” I hated that.

Then, in 1990, we moved to Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. In those days there was a lot of bush along with snakes, malaria and other threats to existence. My father immediately enrolled me in grade one. I was five years old. The school was called the Maryland Primary School and was a Catholic school. There were people in grade one that were 12 and 13 years old and had come from the villages to be educated in the Capital. I was the youngest.

My dad was adamant that I should learn how to speak Yorusa, the native African language of my tribe, hence he took me to the village at every opportunity. As a result, I speak and understand Yorusa and still interact with all my relatives and, of course, my school friends.

After I ran away from home at the tender age of 16 I went back to England. It would be 6 years until I returned to Nigeria and my family. My mom had long since returned to Germany with my brother, someone who spoke only German. When my mother died at the age of 58 in 1998, I was in University in England doing some more college. This was when I noticed the Hanoverian coats of arms on certain family artifacts and old books, some centuries old. I remember many incidents during my lower grade school years, and if I don’t, my sister will surely remind me.

I must have been 11 or 12 years old when I first heard my family history on the talking drum. I was on the first floor of the 22-room family mansion, in the center of the village looking out from the balcony at the drummers, Mas Quesadas, and the crowds gathered below.

The name of my village is Isd Ago Odo and it is less than a mile from Africa’s most famous landmark, the Olumo Rock.

My family has lived in this village for centuries and the Rock has been here for millennia. Every time I went to the village for ceremonies and holidays I used to play at the Rock or climb to the top. Now they have steps, but if you cannot climb, you could be carried up to the top.

The Rock is unique for many reasons. At the top sits a tree, solitary I might add, with leaves that have not withered for 200 years. It was at this Rock that the slave traders from Dahomey were defeated in the early 18th century by the Yorubas. It was at this Rock that rumors began about three Europeans who fell to their deaths when they tried to drive stakes into the Rock and some kind of liquid burst forth, throwing them off the mountain.

Three metal plaques now mark the spot at the very apex.

There are numerous caves existing within the Rock and it has something to do with the coronation of the Yoruban kings called Obasast but not least, there are numerous shrines littered with African carvings and artifacts by Yoruban master carvers.

This includes the Olowe of Ise, who carved the centerpiece of the African American Museum in Washington. A lot of pregnant African women visit this Rock because they believe it bestows spiritual and physical gifts on their babies.

It also appears there are certain attributes of greatness that go with being Yoruban! My brother, Folawiyo “Fola” Onibuje, is a famous soccer player. One of Africa’s most famous musicians calls me when he is in America on tour. My son, Lgoge Onibuje is in the U.S. Air Force.

Now, how then did I become homeless?

This is a completely alien term to me. I was well into my 40s and my efforts to educate people and help them, not just in the area of homelessness but particularly poverty, will be continued in Part 3 of “My Name is Moyo.”

I come from a huge family, a country bordering three continents and my experiences are vast. I will be sharing them in time. Donations in support of this project are welcome. (to be continued)

1 4 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / N O V. 2 9 - D E C . 12, 2017

FUN & Answers Sudoku #1 5 1 GAMES 6 3 2 5

4 6 9 3 2 7 9 Puzzles, 1 1, Book 1 8 4Volume Novice Sudoku 8 4 9 1 3 2 6 7 5 1 6 8 7 5 3 2 9 4 4 7 5 2 9 8 1 6 3 2 9 3 6 1 4 5 8 7 7 8 1 4 6 5 3 2 9 3 2 4 9 8 1 7 5 6 9 5 6 3 2 7 4 1 8 7

Sudoku #6

7 2 9

8

5

3 5 6

5 9 8

4 Sudoku 7 9#3 4 8 6 9 1 7 3

5

2

7 3 9 6 8 5 1 2 9 5 3 1 2 4 6 7 1 2 4 7 5 3 9 8 2 6 1 4 3 7 8 5 5 4 8 2 7 9 3 6 3 8 5 9 6 1 2 4 4 9 6 5 1 8 7 3 6 1 7 8 4 2 5 9 8 7 2 3 9 6 4 1

4 7

4 3 9 4 7 6 2

6

6

3 1

8

8 5 9

© 2013 KrazyDad.com

Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each Sudoku 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 thru 9.#5

SUDOKU: Fill in 4 5 guesswork.

3 6 2 7 8 1 without If you logicsquares you can solve the9puzzle the use blank so that 6 shows 7 order 3 the 2 a5logical 9 to 8 solve 4 puzzle.

1 Need a littleeach help? row, The hints page each columntheand Use it to identify next square you should solve. Or use the answers page 3 8 7 4 1 2 6 9 5 if you really get stuck. each 3-by-3 block contain all of the 4 9 1 2 6 7 8 5 3 digits 1-9.

8

LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION >>

1 5 9 4 2 7 5 7 2 8 4 3 9 1 6 1 4 9 6 8 5 7 3 2 2 5 6 3 7 4 1 8 9 7 3 8 9 2 1 5 6 4 6

3

Sudoku #7 7 4 2 1 3 5 8 9 9 1 6 4 6 3 1 5 2 9 5 7 8 7 4 6 1 6 7 2 4 2 3 8 5 8 9 3

6

3 5 7 2 1 6 3 5 7 2 8 9 4 7 4 3 6 8 2 1 9 3 5 4 8 9 9 7 5 1 1 6 2 4 8

9 4 8

2 1 5 3 6 7

When I reflect upon the number of disagreeable people who I know have gone to a better world, I am moved to lead a different life.

8 5 1

9

Novice Sudoku Puzzles, Volume 1, Book 1

Name:

Sudoku #2 9 4 2 6 1 7 5 8 3 A collection of city resources and cultural touchstones 6 8 7 ref5erenced 3 2 throughout 4 9 1 this edition of Street Sense.

3 1 5 8 9 4 6 2 7 2 5 8 7 6 11 3 4 9 2 4 3 6 9 2 8 7 1 5 7 9 1 3 4 5 2 6 8 8 2 3 1 73 6 9 4 5 4 5 7 4 2 8 9 1 3 6 1 6 9 4 5 3 8 7 2 Sudoku #4 5

2

9

1

2

5

6 8 1 9 8 7 4 36 3 6 7

4

6 8 4 9 3 4 7 3 9 2 5 1 3 2 5 4 6 8 7 6 3 8 5 7 4 2 5 6 4 2 1 3 9 2 9 1 7 8 6 5 9 8 2 1 5 7 4 8 4 7 3 9 1 6 1 5 97 6 3 2 8 7

1

5

8 Sudoku #6 6 9 4 7 8 1 5 2 Created 3 with TheTeac hers Co rner.net Cro s s wo rd Puz z le Generato r 8 7 3 5 6 2 9 4 1 Across Down 1. acro nym fo r the city to o l that finances pro ductio n and 2. a co mmo n Arab dish made o f fava beans (2 wo rds) 5 2 1 3 9 4 8 6 7 preservatio n o f affo rdable ho using 4 . the millio naire fro m “Gilligan's Island” (2 wo rds) 3. jazz musician with 3 do6zen7To p940 3 po p5hits,2 5 . Jamaican Olympic athlete syno nymo us with speed (2 1 o4ver 8 inducted in the Ro ck & Ro ll Hall o f Fame (2 wo rds) wo rds) 3 writer 2r o8f Ro 4o ts (2 6rds) 5 and 9 1 7 wo 6 . a great American autho 7 . where many ho meless peo ple turn fo r primary care (2 7 6 2 4 3 5 1 9 8 wo rds) 8. equitable access rmatio techno 4 to 8info 7 6 lo2gy (23 wo5rds) 9 n1 2 3 5 8 4 7 6 1 9 9 1 6 2 5 3 7 8 4

Sudoku #8 2 5 9 3 3 4 6 5 8 1 7 6 5 3 4 8 9 6 1 4 7 2 8 9 1 7 3 2 4 9 2 1 6 8 5 7

1 8 9 7 2 5 6 3 4

6 8 2 9 7 7 4

5

6 2 3 7 1 3 8 4 5 8 9 1

2

1 5

4

4 1

3 9 8 6

5 6 7 3 2 9

Author Gene Weingarten is a college dropout and a nationally syndicated humor columnist for The Washington Post. Author Dan Weingarten is a former college dropout and a current college student majoring in information technology. Many thanks to Gene Weingarten and The Washington Post Writers Group for allowing Street Sense to run Barney & Clyde.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

COMMUNITY SERVICES

SHELTER HOTLINE Línea directa de alojamiento

(202) 399-7093

YOUTH HOTLINE Línea de juventud

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE Línea directa de violencia doméstica

(202) 547-7777

(202) 749-8000

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

Education Educación

Health Care Seguro

Clothing Ropa

Legal Assistance Assistencia Legal

Case Management Coordinación de Servicios

Food Comida

Employment Assistance Assitencia con Empleo

Transportation Transportación

Showers Duchas

All services listed are referral-free Academy of Hope Public Charter School 202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Place NE aohdc.org

Bread for the City 202-265-2400 (NW) // 561-8587 (SE) 1525 7th St., NW // 1640 Good Hope Rd., SE breadforthecity.org

Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 Good Hope Rd., SE calvaryservices.org

Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

Central Union Mission // 202-745-7118 65 Massachusetts Ave., NW missiondc.org

Charlie’s Place // 202-232-3066 1830 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org

Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd., NW christhouse.org

Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P St., NW food (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach

Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 E St., NW cflsdc.org

Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

Covenant House Washington 202-610-9600 // 2001 Mississippi Ave., SE covenanthousedc.org

D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org

Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 Eye St., NW fathermckennacenter.org

Food and Friends // 202-269-2277 219 Riggs Rd., NE foodandfriends.org (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)

Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW ID (Friday 9am–12pm only) foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities

Friendship Place // 202-364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave., NW friendshipplace.org

Georgetown Ministry Center // 202-338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW georgetownministrycenter.org

Jobs Have Priority // 202-544-9128 425 2nd St., NW jobshavepriority.org

Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 Newton St., NW loavesandfishesdc.org

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 2114 14th St., NW marthastable.org

Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org

Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org

Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW // 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE samaritanministry.org

Sasha Bruce Youthwork // 202-675-9340 741 8th St., SE sashabruce.org

So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.org

St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-333-4949 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org

Unity Health Care // 202-745-4300 3020 14th St., NW unityhealthcare.org

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St., NW // 202-328-5500 legalclinic.org

The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

N Street Village // 202-939-2060 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org

New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

1-888-793-4357

Laundry Lavandería

Patricia Handy Place for Women 202-733-5378 // 810 5th St., NW

Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave., SE // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org

For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide

// 1 5

JOB BOARD Part-time Shift Assistant

D.C. Coalition for the Homeless Saturdays, Sundays // midnight - 8 a.m.

Assist with intake and assure the smooth running of the program. Make hourly facility rounds, complete log entries, and incident reports, and have the ability to interpret and carryout program policies, procedures and protocol. REQUIRED: High school diploma or GED, 1-2 years experience in human service programs. APPLY: tinyurl.com/dc-coalition-assist

Field Services Dispatcher

Humane Rescue Alliance // Washington, D.C. Full-time, Regular Receive phone requests, evaluate, and dispatch routine and emergency calls to Animal Control Officers (ACO) and Humane Law Enforcement Officers (HLE) in the field.

REQUIRED: High school diploma/GED; or combination of education and training that shows competency managing multiple phone lines, computer and radio and ability to learn city ordinances. Clean criminal record. At least 1 year experience as a dispatcher, telephone operator, customer service representative, or clerk responsible for receiving, evaluating, and responding to inquiries or complaints.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/humane-dispatch

Peer Support Specialist

People Encouraging People // PG County Full-time, some nights/weekends on-call Provide outreach services to clients in the community and coordinate health services between the Agency, community and home settings REQUIRED: Personal life experiences with mental illness, addictions or homelessness, that professional training cannot replicate. A valid drivers license, clean driving record and reliable transportation.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/PG-peer

Veteran Service Assistant

U.S. Vets // Washington, D.C. Full-time, hourly, full benefits Assists in the delivery of basic services (such as shelter, food, hygiene, etc.) to veterans served at the facility. Ensures harmonious atmosphere at the facility by maintaining communication with clinical staff and maintaining a therapeutic community environment and de-escalating altercations.

REQUIRED: Basic computer literacy. Must have a valid drivers license and clean traffic record. APPLY: tinyurl.com/US-vet-assist

Are you hiring?

If you want to share an opportunity with our readers and vendors, send details to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org

Apply for Discounts on Your Utility Bills Discounts are Subject to Income Eligibility Requirements

- Apply for Discounted Rates on Natural Gas

Residential Essential Service (RES) Program

Potential savings up to $276 during the winter heating season.

Electric

Residential Aid Discount (RAD) Program

Potential savings are between $300-$475 annually.

WWW.INSP.NGO

5.6 Million READERS

11,000 VENDORS

NOV. 29 - DEC. 12, 2017 VOL. 15 # 2 Street Sense Media 1317 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20005

Water

112

Customer Assistance Program (CAP)

STREET PAPERS

Potential discount could be over $450 annually.

35

COUNTRIES

24

LANGUAGES

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG Nonprofit Org US Postage Paid

Telephone

Lifeline Program (Economy II)

Annual discount on one land line service per household.

Washington, DC Permit #568

MAIL TO:

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

From your vendor

For more info call 311 or visit doee.dc.gov/udp

To apply for the telephone Lifeline Service (Economy II), call 800-253-0846.

These programs are for DC residents only.

H