On Sunday September 12th, EYC members that had participated in the Birmingham Alabama summer mission trip hosted a dinner presentation for their parents, sponsors and other EYC members. The following reflection was shared by Andrew Fairbanks during the event.
Click here to see more photos from the trip.
Change of Vision
Birmingham Alabama was a life-changing experience. I will never look at homeless people the same. Before I went to Birmingham I would stare out my window at another human being living a total different way than I was. When I saw one of these people I never really wondered how it came to be that they were standing in that exact place at that exact time.
Getting to know many of these people changed my perspective on my life and hopefully theirs too. Sometimes you think of a homeless person making wrong decisions to be where they are but that is not always the case. Homeless men and women have a history of what happened to them or what didn’t happen to them. I was able to learn many of the stories of the people we helped during the Alabama trip.
The Youthworks mission trip was not only about helping the homeless, but helping everyone in the community. We did various activities to make Birmingham a better place. We went to a nursing home to spend time with elders. We played bingo and had fun with the men and women there.
I experienced Birmingham in a totally different way than many other people have. I believe I gained valuable information from this trip and we didn’t only help others but also helped ourselves by learning about some of our United States history by going to the civil rights museum. There at the museum there were numerous history facts, a hundred or more items from the actual events that happened very close to the museums location.
Most of the time I don’t really enjoy learning about history but there was definitely a feeling of being where something very amazing happened a long time ago that made me want to stay in Birmingham. If I had the chance to relive that experience I wouldn’t change one thing. Birmingham Alabama was by far the best mission trip I have ever been on.
Written and shared by Andrew Fairbanks, 9th Grade All Souls EYC member