Students serve those in need

University Ministry students immerse themselves in the downtown homeless community

Emma Goodman-Fish and Mayella Vasquez / Asst. Feature Editor and Contributor / The USD Vista

This year, the program took place over four days, from Jan. 14 to Jan. 18, and 10 first-year students participated. Students stayed in a space next to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, outside of downtown San Diego, which resembles an indoor airplane hangar. Here, they slept on the floor with no phones or showers.

 First-year student Marlene Putros used this experience to reevaluate her own life.

“It got me to reflect on myself,” Putros said. “I take things for granted while you see people who have almost nothing are sparked with joy and filled with faith.”  

Students like Putros found a renewed sense of gratitude after participating in the trip. Each day, the students spoke to people experiencing homelessness, trying to help in any way possible. Students reported that often homeless people exhibited positivity, and that many possessed a faith in God that created a sense of optimism and hope for the future.

Through this experience, students may have attempted to live in conditions similar to those who are homeless. However, through the conversations they had, the participants realized their experiences during the short trip could never fully replicate the daily toll extreme poverty takes on an individual. 

“One cannot feel the psychological and emotional burdens that come with homelessness,”  Putros said.       While placed in similar situations to the homeless, the students acknowledged that their experience was merely a simulation, and that they spent it knowing that they would all return to their safe, privileged lifestyles when immersion was over. Homeless people do not possess this luxury of certainty.

Awareness of the difficulty to combat both the mental distress and day-to-day struggles of homelessness was noted by students, further encouraging them to gain an understanding of these individuals.

In their attempts to connect with people, the students reached out to the community by walking or by using public transportation to navigate around locations homeless people commonly visit for support and resources. A few of these places included Chicano Park, Rachel’s Night Shelter, and Father Joe’s Village, all of which provide assistance to help people rebuild their lives.

It was in visiting these places that students heard the unique stories that allowed them to expand their knowledge and compassion. To some students, it became clear that the reasons behind the living situation of these individuals were different for each person.

First-year Dalia Gazallo shared the story of a family to whom she served food. 

“The saddest part for me was seeing the children, toddlers, and babies that don’t even know they are facing homelessness,” Gazallo said, referring especially to a little girl she served. “She doesn’t know the life she is living is a life she doesn’t deserve.” 

To Gazallo, this toddler is an example of how homelessness can impact anyone, and that the reasons are out of many individuals’ control in certain situations. First year Steven Dang echoed this sentiment. 

“They didn’t mess up–life messed them up,” Dang said. “To just get a job is not a simple solution. They feel excluded, and people look at them differently.”

While students can learn in a classroom the statistics of the homeless population in San Diego and the reasons behind homelessness, these students have shared that true empathy and understanding are difficult to attain without experience. For the students who attended the San Diego Immersion, their out-of-classroom learning opportunity not only taught them invaluable understanding but also connected them with individuals who are often excluded from society. In this program, USD’s Changemaker mission is taken to heart, connecting the university with the surrounding community and attempting to change the world for the better by gaining compassion for what may not always be understood.