wfn.org | MVSer confronts challenges in Seattle

[Beth Hawn]

Microsoft Mail v3.0 (MAPI 1.0 Transport) IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note
To:  'Worldwide Faith News'
Date: 1998-07-08 15:13
Priority: 3
Message ID: 43D09CC83A16D211AAB0006008075ABF
Conversation ID: MVSer confronts challenges in Seattle

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July 8, 1998
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
219-294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

MVSer confronts challenges daily in Seattle homeless shelter

KNOB NOSTER, Mo. (GCMC/MBM)--When Barbara Hahm found herself briefly in
charge of one of the largest homeless shelters in Seattle last Christmas,   
she
knew she had found the challenge she was looking for.

Hahm, from Dessau, Germany, a small town near Berlin, began a one-year
Mennonite Voluntary Service term last August, working as a referral and
information counselor at the Downtown Emergency Services Center in   
Seattle.

MVS is a program of the Commission on Home Ministries of the General
Conference Mennonite Church and Mennonite Board of Missions of the
Mennonite Church. Hahm was one of the first two workers placed with MVS
through a German-based organization called Eirene, which sends Christian
service workers to different parts of the world.

The Downtown Emergency Services Center accepts women, as well as men over   

50 and/or disabled and/or in drug or alcohol treatment. It is known as a   
"tough
and rough place," says Hahm. "If I tell someone where I work, they're   
shocked.
We have clients who have been turned out of other shelters. We're the   
last
resort."

Hahm studied social work in Germany and wanted "to do something related   
to my
studies and to live in a foreign country." In addition, says this   
Lutheran
"preacher's kid" (the pastor is her mother), "I went into social work   
because
I've wanted to serve people all my life. You don't do social work for the   
money."

She also wanted particularly to work with homeless. "We don't have many   
in
Germany. There's a different social/welfare system-it's pretty hard to be   

homeless. There's more low-income housing so there's pretty much housing
for everyone. The mentally ill are in institutions.

"It's a challenge, and I wanted to be challenged. I wanted a really tough   
job. I
thought it would be tough and I thought it wouldn't be fun. After a few   
months, I
realized it was fun-the people are so interesting. They have so many   
stories
to tell.  Everyone has a different history."

As a referral counselor, Hahm is part of a team of four who work set   
hours
during the day when people come needing all kinds of help--from food to
medical or dental care to laundry services to treatment for addiction.

The shelter can sleep up to 219 people, on mats on the floor.  Hahm   
estimates
there are 130 clients at the Downtown Emergency Services Center at any   
given
time during the day. "We usually see around 400 people a day. There are   
5,000
'registered' clients-those who have a shelter i.d. card."

Hahm is also a caseworker for about 10 clients, for whom the main need   
and
responsibility is to find permanent housing. "In January, I moved my   
first
client into housing, and I now have done three," she says. "Even if you   
get them
in, you don't know if they can maintain it. It's a big success to get a   
client
into housing but it's a whole new set of problems."

She gives "Ray" as a case study of what she does. "He needs a lot of   
attention.
He walks around the shelter annoying other staff. At first, he would show   
up in
my office four times a day, until I limited him to appointments. He's   
mentally
ill and has anger management problems. He used to live with his father   
and
stepmother until they kicked him out."

She recently moved Ray into housing, she says, right across the street   
from
the shelter. "All the low-income housing is downtown, which is bad,   
because
the clients don't get away from the drug scene."

She spent her birthday in January in the hospital with Ray, waiting for   
his
mental health caseworker, because he had threatened suicide. "He's
'suicidal' frequently, but sometimes it's just for attention. I've gotten   

to know him well enough to tell what he means when he says 'I'm
depressed,'" she says.

Her clients come from all over the United States, she says. "Seattle   
draws a
lot of homeless because of the climate [mild year-round] and the good   
social
services. If you're homeless in Seattle, you don't have to worry about   
food or
clothes--you can find churches or agencies or food banks everywhere."

She has learned a lot about homelessness, she says. "I realized how small   
the
step to homelessness can be [in the United States]--one car accident   
where
you can't pay the bills, and you are out on the street. In Germany, you   
can't
be without medical insurance.

"I had no idea about homelessness or homeless shelters. In Germany, if   
you do
see a homeless person, you automatically assume they are an alcoholic.   
Here,
the stereotype is 'mentally ill.' I was prepared for the worst. So even   
when
there are women fighting and men yelling and you wonder what you're doing   
here
I have never felt like I was in danger. I've never been scared. It wasn't   
as bad
as I imagined. If you know the clients, you know how to deal with them.   
But not
everyone can work at DESC."

Her experience of being "the boss" came last Christmas when she offered   
to
work since she wasn't going home. "It was just me, a supervisor and two   
on-call
staff. Christmas is pretty quiet. Then the supervisor got sick and had to   
go
home. So for about two hours, I was running one of the biggest shelters   
in
Seattle, until the next shift started."

Hahm finds some respite from the stress of her MVS assignment in unit   
life. "I
was a little worried at first because it was a 'big' unit--seven or eight   

people, all from different backgrounds. I thought there would be a lot of   

conflict about chores and different attitudes."

Happily, it hasn't turned out that way, she says. "We are a really good   
unit. We
are all introverts. I think that makes it easier to be more outgoing in   
the
unit. But it's hard to make decisions. One time we went on the ferry [for   
a unit
outing] and afterward we couldn't decide where to stop for dinner. So we   
ended
up coming back to the unit house and ordering pizza."

                   * * *
Melanie Zuercher is News Service editor for the General Conference
Mennonite Church.

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