Tent Village

Folks!

"Aint no Power like the power of the people cause the power of the people don't stop!"

This element of not stopping has been a very strong reality on our trip so far. Yesterday (Tuesday) we packed up from our hostel in Victoria, boarded a ferry, and were off to Vancouver. The ferry trip was beautiful, and it was so nice to see the scenery in the daylight, unlike our trip over to Victoria at night.

We got downtown to a housing co-op where some of our friends were staying to drop off our stuff, and then it was off to help prepare chili for our shift at the Tent Village (versus "City" to emphasize community) that was erected in the downtown east side of Vancouver to show solidarity with the homeless population, whose situation has been more difficult by development, of the downtown east side. Billions of dollars being funneled out of social programming, and into sport through the Olympic preparation period.

Here we met with a bunch of other activist-y types, and built community through cutting vegetables, and making food for the occupiers of the tent city. During this time, Jesse was cutting Onions, and with watery eyes, and blurred vision cut his thumb... Its still attached though, so everything is A-okay, don't worry.

After this we walked down main street which runs through the downtown east side of Vancouver, we stopped at the corner of Hastings, which is the location of a community centre whose main clientele is the large homeless population of this area. It was here that we saw 2 police officers with 2 homeless people in handcuffs, and patting them down. This is the daily struggle of the people here who are trying to live the life that they have been dealt, and struggle to get away from. The good news is though, that when we walked back, after getting our bus tickets, we saw both individuals un-cuffed, and going about their days.

Back at the co-op, diner was ready, and loaded up into the cars, and bikes, and we were off to the tent Village.

Upon arrival to the village, the feeling of community and respect for all was made very evident. All along the fence which surrounded the grounds, were signs that the community created to bring awareness, (see photos and videos for signs). There was a food tent that was staffed by “Food not Bombs” and they had large tubs of food, and it consisted of chicken, rice, and other salads. Everyone was welcome to take some food, in some recycled plastic tubs, and just be there in community, and share personal stories of where we came from and why we were there.

A short while later there was a community meeting, which was run by an elder from the women’s group who was facilitating the tent village initiative. People were given the opportunity to talk about everything from people’s concerns, how long people wanted to be there, general logistics, and how they wanted to interact with local media. This took place around a sacred fire, which meant that no garbage or any other waste could go into it according to Aboriginal custom. There were a few characters that stuck out. First and was a 17 year old guy who was advocating for the tent village to be a permanent thing because as an individual with a mental illness, he didn’t want to be “shoved into where the drug addicts and people with mental illness lived” he also said that he was only 17, and didn’t belong there. This was powerful because he was so close to our age, and neither of us could imagine being in his position.

Secondly was J*, who was an aboriginal man from Saskatchewan who joined the circle, and was very visibly sad and agitated. In the respect of the space the elders had created in the talking circle, he waited his turn, and gave his passionate testimony about it being a long time since he had participated in this ritual, and seeing as the fire is at the core of much aboriginal tradition, he had been missing a very important part of his culture. He claimed to “know the fire” which speaks to this connection. He also spoke for his other homeless friends in Pigeon park, and their suffering. Because of this experience, his mood changed drastically throughout the night, and he became a very important and influential member of the tent village community.

The night continued with dancing, and singing within the aboriginal tradition, and we went for a walk. It was here that we got a very real sense of the huge numbers of people that the 6 billion dollars that was pumped into the Olympics. We walked by one of the shelters, and saw many people standing out front without shelter for the night. Rachel’s observation that the people who stood out were not the homeless, but instead the “normal” people, which speaks again to the great poverty that is the reality of the Downtown East Side community.

There was also present at the community a faction of Youth independent media people called LOVE and we heard a testimony of how reporting on the injustices and the violence of the downtown east side was their way of coping with their pasts, which included suicidal tendencies, drug abuse, and sexual abuse.

From here we went back to David’s apartment to set up our beds for the night, and then went to sleep.

This was a long and very overwhelming, but also incredibly eye opening day for us. For me (Jesse) it was very amazing to experience in a more intimate way, the aboriginal culture and customs that I have heard through Rachel, and my involvement in the United Church of Canada. The respect and community that was a reality in the talking circle could definitely be used in different situations to enhance decision making processes, and ensure all voices are heard and respected.

Finally the moment you have all been waiting for, the “Jesse’s funny moment of the day” segment, and here it is. While waiting in the talking circle to voice my comment He was waiting patiently with his hand up, the facilitator make a speaker’s list, and pointed to be and said “ and number 3 will be that lady over there” after this Rachel burst into hysterics, and Jesse walked away to go see his therapist :P

In Solidarity,

Team Awesome (Jesse and Rachel) Signing off!

Update

Hey everyone,
just had a late night at the tent city, and then getting back to where we are staying... lots to blog about, and it should be there later on today
Peace,
Team Awesome!

Looking Ahead...

Folks!

So day 2 is upon us, and here is a little recap for all of you who have been following what we have been doing, and WELCOME to those of you who have just joined us.

We woke up around 7:30 am local time, after getting to bed quite late the night before, when Rachel crawled Jesse’s bed, and in her usual fashion was ready for the adventures that the day had to offer. We got up; got ready and headed off to the grocery store down the street to grab some breakfast food. The hostel staff pointed us to this little market about 5 blocks away, and we picked up some tea, some eggs, toast, peanut butter and some strawberries to start our day. We got back to the hostel, cooked up a storm in the Kitchen, and then had some downtime, Jesse went off to be inspired and read The Book of Negroes, and Rachel went and had some much needed naptime.

From here we got our cameras, and went down to the harbour in the daylight to get some pictures, and some video footage of the beautiful capital. Walking down the boardwalk we saw many signs for whale watching tours, as well as some seaplanes taking off, and landing in the water.

While we were walking with David to the grocery store to pick up a few munchies for tonight’s pot luck, we came across two street friends, John and Larry, they asked us for some spare change, but none of us had any and so we were friendly but just about to continue on with our trek, when John, noticed my (Rachel’s) wonderful looking poncho, and he commented on how much he liked it, so we started small talk he literally “invited us to sit and chat for a while” and so we shared where we were from, what we were doing, among other small talk. When about to say goodbye we mentioned we were off to the grocery store, and could pick something up for them, John got VERY excited about the thought of a “Turkey sandwich and a ginger ale”. So we doubled that order, and picked up one of each for both of our new friends. On our way back to them we noticed they were with two others and so delivered the food and apologized for not having enough, when Larry spoke up saying “ don’t worry we always share”. A reminder of something we often forget to do ourselves. We then handed off a package of pitas we had bought for ourselves. They were very thankful and stowed away their food for later on. When getting ready to leave John asked us to join him in a prayer of thanks. We all joined hands and he spoke of how he was thankful that we managed to take the time out of our “Olympics stuff” to go to the store for him. Larry also joined in saying a little something, but announced that he didn’t have to say much “God already knew what he was thinking”. At the end of the prayer we had a “team Canada chant” where we spent a moment praying for the athletes.

A little while after we met up with the group, and went to this cute little activist lounge café called Solstice. Here we had some time to check in, see how people were doing, and there was a general sense of fatigue in the group. Fatigue from lack of sleep or jet lag, on our end, and more deep frustration around treatment of protesters in general by the Vancouver police and the RCMP.

From there, we went to diner, a potluck at an activist bookstore, and looked at pictures, and videos of the protests in Vancouver from those who had already been here. These were some of the topics of conversation:

- Emotional toll of being in this atmosphere and headspace and how constantly talking about and being challenged by the Olympics is taking its toll on us.

- Talked a lot about people who have been critical of what we are trying to do here and general frustration about people who we have informed not taking seriously what we had told them.

- Local Vancouver woman shared pain of seeing the “battle” come to her hometown, and reflected on the cost of this for the city of Vancouver, the Province of BC.

- People coming to Vancouver forget that Vancouver is a city with a history that was, and will still be here after the Olympics, and that the Olympics have been used to give Vancouver a new face, and new image with all of the international attention. This got us thinking about how moving to new school when we were younger was an opportunity to redefine who we are, and what we stand for. In the same way Vancouver, under the guise of the Olympics is able to redefine itself as a city, and make the rules along with the International Olympic Committee of who can come along, or represent Vancouver on the forefront.

- Employees have been shipped in from across the country- white, middle class people while unemployment rates are HUGE in Vancouver, and completely ignoring those who are clearly looking for jobs, and homeless or at risk-of being homeless. (Ignoring the people who are standing in the lines vs. the statistics….)

Knowing that we are heading to Vancouver tomorrow, and the intensity of the dialogue today escalating significantly has made this experience all the more real, and the knowledge of what is at stake a lot more apparent. We are looking forward to being in the thick of things, and unlike our comrades we have been able to be submersed gradually in this environment, which has been most definitely helpful.

Until tomorrow,

Team Awesome (Jesse and Rachel) Signing off.

Nuit numero Uno

Folks!

Hey all, just writing here at the end of day number 1. It is hard to believe that we began this journey this morning because it has been a long day, full of travel, and meeting cool and interesting people and getting the down low on what our friends have been up to so far.

From the Vancouver airport we hopped on the sky train and from their caught a bus to the Tsawwassen Ferry terminal where we met up with Ro, David, Elly, and Chris... they have been here for a little while already and have a sense of what's going on... It was very enlightening to see their photos of the Military like hold that the police have on the downtown core of Vancouver. In seeing the pictures it brought back memories of my (Jesse) trip to the Middle East, and not even in the most contested capital in the world had as many guns and police as were present downtown, neither of us can wait to see it for real.

We are staying in Victoria for the next 2 nights, and will return to Vancouver on Tuesday. On the ferry we met Matt From Guelph, he went to Palestine for a month and a half, and worked with a Palestinian Solidarity group, and he is staying with people at the University here in Victoria and also been in on some of the action downtown Vancouver.

On the bus from the ferry terminal to our hostel in Victoria we met this couple Lance, and Kelsey, both of whom are originally from Calgary, and Kelsey is living here in Victoria. We had some deep conversation on the bus about what solidarity meant, and how we could most effectively do the work we are here to do in a way that is respectful, and not overstepping boundaries of speaking FOR the oppressed people. We decided to continue with an attitude of speaking out WITH, and not FOR others is the best way to be in solidarity, and that we are actually able to be more effective in showing support, instead of leadership, in terms of backing each other up, but remembering that it sometimes best to be culturally sensitive, and realize "our" way may not be the best/only way. It is with this new outlook that we will continue throughout the rest of our trip.

Finally, we are here at the hostel, and fancy enough our roomates are from Ottawa lol :P and are here just to get away, and see some more of this beautiful country we call our own.

And as for our "laugh at Jesse" segment. While writing some of this, I handed him a magazine I had been flipping through, and asked him to skim an article I looked out, about 5 minutes later he leaned over and said "am I supposed to be reading this from back to front, or front to back? How were you even reading this, and what do you want me to do?!" ... And as I glanced over, saw him flipping through the magazine mumbling, he cant even read anything right now.

Apologies if you do not find this funny, maybe our friends will? probably our mom's... or maybe we're just really really REALLY over tired.

That's all for tonight, and we are going to hit the hay, talk to you tomorrow

In Solidarity,

Team Awesome (Jesse and Rachel) Signing off!

No Turning Back Now!

Folks!

So Departure day is upon us, and we are very excited to go. We woke up at about 8:30 and got ready, finished some packing and had some breakfast with Jesse’s mom. We hopped into our cab, and hit the road to the airport. There Rachel got patted down because of her studded belt, and was groaning and glaring at the security woman the whole time for “violating her.” We grabbed a beverage and picked up “The Book of Negroes” by Lawrence Hill and headed to our gate.

In beginning to read The Book of Negroes, the first chapter held a lot of quotations that sparked again what we are embarking on this journey to do:

1. “My Grandfather says he bets you eat raw elephant…I eat what you eat I told her.”

Not knowing entirely what to expect on this adventure, and having preconceived notions of who we will be meeting, and the stories that we will be hearing, this quotation challenges us to cast these assumptions aside, and live the experience that will then inform our perceptions. This is the challenge of solidarity work, not to let your prejudices get in the way of simply being in community with the oppressed.

2. “But I have weathered enough migrations for five lifetimes, thank you very much, and don’t care to be moved again.”

This quotation speaks to the both of us firstly, because it reminds us of our own privileged lives in having the security of a home – in one place, as well as the comfort of knowing we can rightfully refuse to leave it. This summer, while working in Halifax for the GO project, I was personally able to be witness to many situations like these- people continuously being told to leave where they are currently sitting, attempting to rest, and with any luck, catch some sleep. On one particular night, I witnessed a man who was resting, listening to music, and appeared to be quite drunk, the only problem was where he was resting was inconvenient - on the steps of the church we were staying at. The police arrived, shut of his music, and told him he had to leave. I watched and listened to the police answer that they didn’t care where he went, just as long as he packed up peacefully and followed their instructions. Nothing was offered to him, not a drink, or a ride to a shelter, just a “friendly” get out of here. The people living in the “Tent City” in Vancouver are all victims of a similar situation, with nowhere to go, and not allowed to live in a place that feels like “home”

The Excitement is building, and hopefully we will be able to get settled in tonight, and rested up for a day of activism, solidarity, and community building… Here is a final anecdote to lighten the mood a bit. It is a story from on the plane:

We sat beside a very cute little baby girl named Amber, shortly after spilling a drink all over Jesse, her mom went away with her (for a changing im assuming) and upon return, I smelt poop. Jesse then leaned over and said “I farted.” Woohooo.

Team Awesome, (Jesse and Rachel) signing off :D

T'was the night before Vancouver....

Folks!

So we just thought that it might be a good idea to inform you all about what we are going to be doing and why over the next week of our lives. We also know that some of you may disagree, but we are hopeful that you will continue to check in, and perhaps understand further why we are going on this crazy adventure! God willing of course. (God being a womyn in this case :)

So there are a few reasons that we are going and we will be searching out the answers to these questions over the duration of our trip.

1. Homelessness: In Vancouver right now, it is illegal to be without a home, and therefore many homeless people in the downtown east side of Vancouver have been packed up and shipped out in order to make the city look "clean" for all of the international eyes that will be looking to Vancouver. (Help us help our homeless friends :D)

2. Indigenous Land Claims: The Olympics are being held on STOLEN native lands.

3. Exploitation of natural resources: Forests being clear cut, and mountains being blown up, in the name of the "most sustainable" Olympics yet.

4. MONEY! With the 6 billion dollar Olympic bill, also comes thousands of canceled surgeries therefore cut backs within the provinces health care system, are justified, due to the fact the olympics will stimulate the economy, its a trade off - the Olympics or health care.

5. Sexism: The Olympics are perpetuating these attitudes by not allowing female ski jumping to be part of the roster, even after they questioned the International Olympic Committee as to why this was the case.

6. Freedom of Speech: The city of Vancouver has made it illegal to post signs on your own personal property condemning, or criticizing the Olympics... There is no regard for difference of opinion or respect for private property! People are not allowed, by law, to think FREELY.

7. To make our mama/mooma proud... although they don't know it yet they will soon enough be proud, even if bail is needed to get out of jail :D We will return safely as promised!

So, that's all folks... off to pack and watch a movie before we head out at noon tomorrow...

In Solidarity,

Team Awesome (Jesse and Rachel) signing off!