Tesha Sloan

Caleb Prusso
Humanities 1100
April 16, 2016
Civil Engagement
I attend and volunteered at the homeless shelter at 210s. Rio Grande at the kitchen they
call the soup line but I volunteered by preparing food, serving food and cleaning up in the
cafeteria after everyone ate. I volunteered twice on Friday and Saturday in the evening at both
times I worked about an hour and a half. The two learning outcomes I know ledged from
volunteering and in class work experience is getting a better understanding of the world that we
live in and acknowledging much perspective that exist around us, different issues and ideologies.
Record of the ten foot square hut by Kamo no Chomei is an article from our class text
book. He talks about the difficulties of the world and how he dealt with it. Which lead to him
retiring from the world and becoming a Buddhist Monk? His journey started living as normal
person owning a house, having crops and animals. The basic things a normal person would want
but he eventually gave up everything he owned because he couldnt handle the memories he had
in the house about his mother so he sold everything he owned and stared his journey in a ten foot
square hut. While he was re locating at different places threw out the city he started to gasp a
little bit more information about being poor and living a normal life where you have a home in
such. He never thought of all the things that would make him feel so angry and sad living in a ten
square foot hut. To Chomei living in a ten square foot hut wasnt being homeless but to other

people they saw it as a homeless person and treated him like one. Then later he found himself
living in the mountains and thinking about his life when he had a house and then lived a ten
square foot hut. The reason why I chose this story is because it is similar to the people who are
homeless and are trying to survive. As I was volunteering at the homeless shelter I thought to
myself every person has had to of had a life like Mr. Chomei and had place to live but then ended
up homeless. I dont know what their reasons are for being homeless but they had to of had some
kind of normal life before they became homeless just like Mr. Chomei. Before Mr. Chomei
became homeless he had all the things he needed to be able to live a good life like a house and
crops but the memories he had in the house about his mother made him reminisce too much so he
sold his house and lived everywhere in the city in his ten square hut that gave him a different
perspective of the world and people. From what I learned about this article is that if Mr. Chomei
never sold his house and went to live in the city he would of never learned about the world and
how people are when you have things and nothing at all. If Mr. Chomei kept his house he
probably would have just thought of the memories he had left about his mother and died a lonely
man. So I think it was very brave for him to explore the world because the outcomes lead him to
becoming a monk and a famous lute player and poem writer.
Yes my participation made me feel more of a responsible person by learning about how to
help others when they are need. I mean I didnt offer much but to help with preparation of the
food and serving it to them but it did made me feel like I contributed in some way to make a
person feel better by volunteering. Before I started this assignment I dont think I would have
went down to the homeless shelter ever to volunteer because I use to think homeless people are
homeless because they are either lazy or drug addicts and it was their own fault for being
homeless. But when I was there I saw so many different people that were there some were

veterans, senior citizens, immigrants, drug users and some disable people. There were so many
different people there that toke me by surprise. I mean there were kids that were running around
playing laughing and playing with other homeless kids. I dont even think they knew what their
situation was or the reason why they were eating there. I completely felt sad for them but then I
thought why should I feel sad if the kids dont even know that they homeless. Then I became
thankful of the services like the soup line and was thankful that were able to provide food for the
homeless.
Yes I enjoyed this experience because it gave a new perspective about homeless people and yes I
would do it again. I would do it again because it made me feel good and made me feel like have I
helped by being there to serve them. How did my experience relate to my pre-reflection and
expectations? It related to my pre- flection by me learning not to judge homeless people or judge
there life style because they are people too. I have learned by not judging homeless it was easier
to get involved and see how these people live their daily lives. I honestly thought that all
homeless people were drug addicts and lazy people. But when I got there saw so many different
people and I thought about some of the stories in our textbook, assignments and our open
discussion that related would relate to some of the reason to why they might be homeless. Some
people I saw there immigrants and black people and I thought of some of the mis-perceptions
people might have of them and started to wonder if there identity had something to do with being
homeless. I am very happy I had a chance to experience with volunteering because it had made
me change my thoughts about homeless people.