Project Kengikat

Time well spent

// November 24th, 2009 // Uncategorized

Sunday kicked off my week long outreach as part of my month long “Giving Thanks” celebration. With the help of my niece I was able to be of service to some residence on Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles who are battling low income in addition to HIV or AIDS. It was truly an amazing day.

The day started early after the night before ended rather late, but I managed to get some rest in and was up bright and early to get my day started. Just to make sure I was up, my niece called me to make certain I was awake and getting ready for her arrival.

My niece had picked up items for one of the residents who asked me if I was able to help him get some basic hygiene items……well I really asked him how were his hygiene items for the last time I did a full scale outreach. This is when he told me he needed many things. I then told him I would get him some things. Later that night while speaking with my niece and asking if she would take me to get some things for one of the residents, she ask who it was and I told her. Right away she said she would take care of it. From the very first time she met him, she had a connection to him. He is just that kind of guy. So thanks to her I was able to able to help him,

I have a microwave that I hardly ever use. I really want to try my best to eat better and use the over to heat things up and not a microwave. It also encouraged me to cook things for myself that require me to use the over instead of radiation. I also happen to think it will promote healthy eating habits for me because I will not buy things that are heat and eat. Since I would not be using it I wanted it to go to someone who needed it. Not an hour went by before I got a call from another resident asking if I knew of anyone that might have a microwave they could donate to her. I told her yes and I would bring it the next day.

When we got off the freeway in Downtown Los Angeles the very first thing we saw was a homeless man with a sign asking for food, as we drove into the heart of Downtown Los Angeles we could see the vast changes from the posh well kept buildings with plenty of blue suits standing guard to buildings with lots of homeless people standing around them and even some tents set up. It’s funny to me how the Downtown LA changes so fast block by block. It is a clear and sobering picture of the rich getting richer and the poor getting much poorer. It’s pretty damn sad.

Once we arrived we all visited in the TV room and then we went up to one of the residents apartment to give him his items. I was also able to give other residents some items that were donated by people from Las Vegas, as well as boots my niece gave, jackets and even a pair of shoes from me.

After visiting for a while where we shared plenty of laughs and had the chance to really sit and listen to the stories and experiences of a few residences as well as listen to ideas on how I could better be of service to them, it was time to leave, but not before more laughs and hugs.

On the drive back we talked about how cool it was to spend part of our Sunday trying to help others who are less fortunate then us. My niece told me that her husband told her that he was proud of her for doing what she did for the resident and she told me that she was proud of me for always finding a way to think of others instead of things that are going on in my own life and what I do not have. I smiled so big when she looked at me and said “I love you Uncle Louis. Thanks for letting me do this”

Later that night I got a call from the lady who I gave the microwave and other items to and she was so thankful. What was really cool was that I was also able to refer her to a support group for women with HIV and AIDS that she attended on Friday and she told me that she was so happy I told her about it and that she would be attending it every Friday. She went on to tell me that she was so grateful that she met me and went on to share some very private things with me and in doing so she made my heart just overflow and my tears began to fall. She talked about how she really needed someone to encourage her and she was so happy that I took the time. When I did my interview with the another resident he too made me tear up because he said I was unlike other organizations in the way that my approach is more personal and I am willing to take time with each person.

Sunday was filled with so much emotion and feelings and I had to step back and reflect on things in my own life, where my life is right now and how grace, mercy and the favor of God have been right there in the middle with me as I went through.

Monday was a day that I’ve been planning for a while now. It was the start of my week long outreaches to provide Thanksgiving meals to low income families, homeless people and people with HIV and AIDS and I was able to start it with someone I love and have so much respect for. I met this woman and her family while I was homeless and she is the inspiration for the start of my organization.

The original plan was to deliver to two families, but one family I was not able to get on the phone and after going by their apartment and getting no answer and not even a return phone call I have come up with a back up plan for the items that would have gone to them. If I am not able to get in touch with them the items will become part of the Thanksgiving Day outreach to feed homeless people. However every attempt to make contact and get the food to them will be made.

My evening ended by going through donations that my niece received from someone she knows. I knew he was a cancer patient that lost his battle, but after going through the donations it hit me that this man was dead. I was not going through donations that someone willingly gave, but were given by someone who knew them. That’s when it hit me right in the face that this man died alone. It made me think of my own situation and my tears really started to fall and I had to call my niece.

She got me to calm down and told me not to allow myself to get all worked up and that she would make certain that if I do get sick and I am unable to take care of myself that she would make sure I was taken care of. She told me not to worry about that. I cried even more when I thought of people who have to suffer alone with cancer or Sickle Cell, but by the end of the call she had calmed me down and before I knew it I was back to going through the donations and getting them ready to be washed today.

It’s now 2:53AM and I have yet another very long day on Tuesday. In addition to outreaches that have been added to the schedule of events, I also have someone coming by to take my picture for a magazine I am scheduled to be in, I also have an interview for Conversations with Kengi with my former nurse from the HIV clinic at USC. I also have to finish the shopping for the rest of the weeks as well as cut my hair and shave right after I publish this blog entry.

As I look out my window I am once again Thankful to God for blessing me with the gift of my life and humbled that he would allow someone so broke down as me to do what I am doing and be a blessing to people who are in need.

When I think of how I have spent my time and what I am now doing with my life I know it is time well spent. I am really loving what I have created and the people who allow me to keep it moving forward.

Please be sure to watch my youtube videos from today.

All love