Atheists Helping the Homeless, DC
Music Teacher and Homelessness
Music Teacher and HomelessnessNika (name changed for privacy) was one of our clients on 12/11/2021. She explained that she is a music teacher who has 4 hours of work per week. Sometimes she sleeps unsheltered and sometimes she uses a shelter or shares a tent. It is difficult to get a job when she cannot wear clean clothes to an interview. But, she does have a cell phone and uses the Georgetown Ministry Drop-in Center as address. She was thankful for the cold-weather gear we passed out.
Nika wanted to talk about religion and god. She was not sure if there is a god or not. We suggested that she might be an agnostic. But the word she identified most with was Freethinker. She does believe in a concept like Gaia, but does not consider it to be god--more like a gentle aspect of the earth. She thought gaia might be watching over the earth, but she wasn't sure. She explained that some shelters expect her to pray communally, which she is not inclined to do.
She let us take her picture and agreed to let us use it in the blog because she was unidentifiable. Homelessness carries a stigma, and she didn't wan't to be identifiable.Joseph Shaw
Music Teacher and Homelessness
Music Teacher and HomelessnessNika (name changed for privacy) was one of our clients on 12/11/2021. She explained that she is a music teacher who has 4 hours of work per week. Sometimes she sleeps unsheltered and sometimes she uses a shelter or shares a tent. It is difficult to get a job when she cannot wear clean clothes to an interview. But, she does have a cell phone and uses the Georgetown Ministry Drop-in Center as address. She was thankful for the cold-weather gear we passed out.
Nika wanted to talk about religion and god. She was not sure if there is a god or not. We suggested that she might be an agnostic. But the word she identified most with was Freethinker. She does believe in a concept like Gaia, but does not consider it to be god--more like a gentle aspect of the earth. She thought gaia might be watching over the earth, but she wasn't sure. She explained that some shelters expect her to pray communally, which she is not inclined to do.
She let us take her picture and agreed to let us use it in the blog because she was unidentifiable. Homelessness carries a stigma, and she didn't wan't to be identifiable.Joseph Shaw