Thursday, July 31, 2014

Rebuilding Together in Montgomery Alabama Day3

Not knowing exactly what you're volunteering yourself to do is difficult. It requires a certain breed of bravery, something we've learned a lot about so far in Alabama. Because whether its showing up at Mrs. P's home and clearing trash and painting, letting strangers read to you, or staying in your bus seat even though society says that you should give it to the white man, going at it alone and being brave is hard. 

This morning we arrived at the home of Mrs. P and five other generations of her family, we got a list of things to do from Dee at Rebuilding Together. We worked all morning scraping paint off of metal awnings and making enough noise to wake Little M, Mrs. P's six year old great-great-grandson. He was brave enough to let us know that we had woken him up. As the morning progressed and we moved on to painting and priming the same little voice asked through the window if we were coming back the next day. "No sir" we kindly replied. And as we readied ourselves to leave for lunch; we found the books we had planned on taking to the homeless mission and thought how nice it would be to give Little M a book. So the Americorps vista, Ashely, that was onsite with us, went inside and asked if he would like to come out and meet us. When he arrived outside we offered him two books and chatted with him for awhile. He mused about Transformers, talking vehicles, and being lonely. You could just tell that he was so happy to be paid attention to. And as I read to him from "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" I found myself becoming so happy that he had been brave enough to venture out and say hi. His visit became the highlight of my day, and it made finishing the painting of his home after lunch all the more satisfying. 

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Alabama Pilgrimage, Day 2- Birmingham



Our first full day in Alabama took place in Birmingham. This town contains, most famously, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, site of a bombing which killed four young girls during the Civil Rights movement.
Our day, however, started with a trip to Vulcan Park, which contains a large statue of the Roman God Vulcan, God of the forge. This statue is the largest Iron statue in the world, and was amazing to see. Usually people can go up to the top of the large tower on which he resides and see the whole of Birmingham beneath them, but we went early this morning, so that part of the Park wasn't open yet. There wasn't much to see in Vulcan park, so we left not long after our morning prayer.

Next, after a quick trip to the visitor's center, we went to Kelly Ingram Park, which contained a self-guided tour of several statues depicting scenes from the Civil Rights movement. It was a very beautiful park, and a nice, relaxing way to start our day.
The Kelly Ingram Park was right next to both the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institution, so next we went to the church. We learned a bit about the bombing, and also a beautiful stain glass window designed by a Welsh man for the church after the bombing depicting the way African Americans suffered during that time, but also containing religious connotations.
Once we had finished with the church we moved across the street to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institution. It was like a museum of the Civil Rights Movements containing footage, models, news articles, etc. The footage and news articles were from before, during, and after the movement and its laws were passed. The models were interesting displays, the earlier ones showing the segregation, and the way there weren't "separate but equal" as they were supposed to be, later were things like a full size part of a bus that was bombed, a model of a jail cell, etc.
The Civil Rights Institution was really interesting. Though it was a long self-guided tour, int was incredibly informative and interesting, containing mediums of information that could appeal to everyone depending on what they preferred.
Cameras weren't allowed in the museum, so we don't have any pictures.
After that we were done in Birmingham and drove to Montgomery. We've just gotten settled in our next spot for the night, St. John's Episcopal Church. We'll be staying here for the next few nights, and it's beautiful. You could fit about three of our church in here.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

'Bama Bound

Today was the first official day of our pilgrimage, a day filled with music, truck stops, astronauts, and kittens.  We arrived safely in Birmingham and we have plans to visit several historical sites in the city tomorrow.  After that, we will travel to Montgomery, where we will spend the remainer of our trip.  We will be posting pictures and blogs daily (facebook.com/christchurchpilgrims), but will be focused mostly on the pilgrimage itself.
                                                   

Sunday, July 20, 2014

The Final Chapter (of the preparations)

Today, we met in the library and went over the final itinerary for our week in Alabama.  In the coming week we have a lot of packing and prepping to do.  While we are there, we will be giving books to the homeless and we are inviting each parish family to donate a book. We are looking to pack light and we want books for every age range. We hope that you can donate and support us on our Pilgrimage. During the trip we will be blogging regularly at christchurchpilgrimage.blogspot.com please follow us and keep up with our journey. we woud love to hear from you in the comments. 

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Almost there!

With only a few weeks left before we leave for Alabama, we are starting to pull all of the little pieces together. This weekend, July 6, the pilgrims will be meeting for a BBQ to plan the itinerary. We are all very excited and anxious to go, stay tuned for more!