Caitlin Genord

Fi1170@wayne.edu
734-834-2224
Outsider Experience
14 January 2016

Wayne State University masters student Alani Letang said she traveled on a missionary trip to
Chicago during her spring break in 2013 when she was a freshman at the University of Detroit
Mercy.

Letang said the university refers to their missionary trips as Mystery Trips because the
location or additional information about the missionary trip is not given until the week before the
trip. She said she wanted to service any community in need of help.

She said the university planned for the students to stay in the Little Village neighborhood, a
Mexican-American neighborhood known as a port of entry for many incoming Latinos.

The Little Village felt like a scary and dangerous area because of all the abandoned homes,
graffiti and homelessness I saw, Letang said. I felt unsafe when we were driving to the church
we were staying at.

Letang said she immediately felt a cultural disconnect when she was driving through the poor
community that was suffering from urban blight.

Every morning, we made sandwiches for homeless people that were served out of a bread truck
around dinnertime, Letang said. The crew attempted to make sandwiches as often possible so
there was a lot for us to give away.

Letang said Hispanic mothers and children would arrive at the church in the late morning to sing
family songs and receive tutoring.

The mothers were taught English and other activities, such as sewing, Letang said. My
colleagues and I were responsible for tutoring the children in various subjects, particularly
English.

Letang said she experienced a cultural disconnect with a Hispanic child when she was teaching
the child how to play an activity.

The child could not understand English well enough to understand the directions to an activity,
Letang said. There was a significant language barrier and I wasnt able to describe to the little
girl how to play the game.

Letang said after lunch was served, the mothers and children left the church to attend another
school or go home.

Around dinnertime, we would load the bread truck with all of the sandwiches we made and
venture to different areas to distribute the food, said Letang. We traveled to many areas that
made me feel unsafe.

Letang said she spoke to many of the people that came to the food truck and gained a different
perspective of the people she encountered. I experienced a culture disconnect after I participated
in a picture with some of the children. One of the children made an inappropriate gang sign in
the picture and I couldnt understand how a child so young knew how to do a gang sign and
physically use it in a picture.

Letang said the people who came to the food truck were thankful for the food that was given to
them. I was told many stories and learned about the neighborhood culture. I ended up forgetting
about the inappropriate gesture and was enlightened by the future goals that the children had.