Students deal with real life

Field placement in Christian Service puts U of A pupils' faith into action

- WCR photo by Ramon Gonzalez "It's not always about initiating change all the time, but being out in the community and making aware the presence of Jesus." - Anya McDonald

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

Anya McDonald cares about the needy and it shows. The 20-year-old University of Alberta student spends at least two hours each week volunteering in the kitchen of Women Emergency Accommodation Centre.

There she helps prepare and serve meals to women who are at the shelter trying to escape abusive situations. Whenever she has an opportunity, McDonald talks to the women and lets them know she cares about them.

Helping the poor

"I'm here because I'm interested in working with women and meeting them," she said. "I think I'm really living out my faith in a true way because I am helping the poor which Jesus asked us to do."

McDonald, a third year sociology student, is one of 10 University of Alberta students who are enrolled in a program called Field Placement in Christian Service offered by St. Joseph's University College.

Participants are required to do 25 hours of service over 10 weeks in an approved social service agency.

They also attend weekly seminars at St. Joseph's where they reflect on their experience in light of the Gospel.

"The idea is to give undergraduate students a chance to have an experience of volunteer service," explains theologian Bob McKeon, who leads the program.

"In the weekly seminars, we reflect in light of Scripture, we reflect in light of Catholic social teaching, and then we work with the students to try to connect what they experience in their placements with their other studies at the university."

Most of the placements are in inner city agencies such as the Bissell Centre, Operation Friendship, the Edmonton Street News newspaper, as well as L'Arche.

Seven out of the 10 participants are serving in the inner city. Students are already on their sixth week in the field.

"So week to week they meet inner city people and it helps them move beyond stereotypes," McKeon said.

"They get to know people by name and get to know some of the issues facing inner city people such as hunger and homelessness: They get to know how people live."

The program is in its fifth year and has 10 participants - more than ever. "It's not a big class because we have to work individually and find a field placement for every student.

"So it's not just filling a classroom and lecturing," McKeon said.

Most of the students come to the program with a strong social conscience, a strong commitment to serve and a strong commitment to change the world.

"Some of them already have experiences like this," he observed. "It is not new for all, but it is a chance for them to come face to face with what's really happening (in the inner city)."

McDonald said she decided to take the course "to get a better perspective on my faith, to learn more about society, get involved in the community and get to know more people."

She said the experience at the women's shelter and the weekly seminars have helped her realize one of her missions is to bring the love of Jesus to the women.

"I really try to reflect back on the Scriptures when I am at the shelter and now I understand that my presence at the shelter is a lot of what Jesus teaches - that you need to be a presence in the community to really make a difference.

"I guess the first thing I learned is that it's not always about initiating change all the time, but being out in the community and making aware the presence of Jesus."

Being present

Being a presence can take a variety of forms.

"If the women at the shelter need somebody to talk to, I am there to listen to them; if they need someone to give them a plate of food I hope to be there to do that," McDonald said.

"But it can also be something as simple as being there to help clean up. They have a lot of different needs."

Three weeks ago, program participants reflected on what it means for Catholics to have a preferential option for the poor.

"We looked at some Scripture passages, including the Exodus and the Old Testament passage about God's special relationship with the widows, the orphans and the refugees - the foreigners," explained McKeon.

"We reflected together a bit on what the Gospel says and on what some theological writers say about God and the poor and the special concern the Church has for reaching out to the poor.

"That got us into discussion of what they see happening in their placement sites; what they are doing, where they feel comfortable, where they feel uncomfortable.

"It's more in one sense to reintroduce themselves to the Scripture; reintroduce them, if they haven't been already, to the elements of Catholic social teaching and, at the same time, to be in a place where these social justice issues are lived everyday and to begin to think about how these come together."

"This is my favourite course," said 20-year-old Brittney White, a third year student who is doing her placement at the Edmonton Street News, a newspaper that focuses on social issues, especially poverty and homelessness.

Know their stories

"It has allowed me to meet the poor where they live, to know their stories and to write about them.

"And in the process, I have experienced a tremendous personal growth."

White went into her placement with a vision to change the world but is quickly realizing that the poor are changing her.

"People evangelize you; you can see Jesus everywhere in the inner city," she observes.

"I really think I'm putting the Gospel of Jesus into practice (through my inner-city placement)."

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