America - Day 5
You can hear the gunshots as you pass by here. Yesterday I walked out North East from the city for around two hours, I was due to visit a Church project called Beacon in the town of Kensington. I had a map but I didn't want to walk round reading it, looking like a dumb tourist. For reasons which included vanity and safety. So I set off in what I thought was the right direction, but I got my easts and wests mixed up and I ended up doing a semi circular tour of the north of the city. Those people who have had the good fortune to be on a night hike with me will be familiar with this. But it was good to do, walking through different neighborhoods, seeing the changing sub-cultures. I passed by the community college where students were leaving after their studies, laughing joking or walking alone quietly.
I moved on into the poorer residential neighborhoods, locating myself by using the map when it seemed safe to do so. I came to Girard station, where the subway and tramway system meet South East of the city. The trams are like retro Blackpool trams - except they're not retro, they're just everyday trams. The subway architecture is pre-war and rusty, I love it. There is a buzz to this interchange and I people watch for a while. Some passers by give me a longer look, maybe I am just a dumb tourist.
I walk on to Fishtown. This has a feel of Didsbury about it; but rougher. There are some trendy looking bars, stylish junk shops and the occasional big second hand store. I catch the pungent whiff of something familiar as I pass certain doorways. Every now and again I pass someone leaning on a lamp post with a spliff stuck to their bottom lip. It's pretty blatant. The absence of police reminds me of home.
Eventually I arrive in Kensington. The colours have changed. People here are nearly all white, Irish Catholic descent I am told. The houses are like terraced back to back houses in northern England. But bigger, much bigger, with three stories and vegetables growing in their tiny front gardens. I pass a guy three stories up on a wooden extension ladder, pointing the side of a house. Interesting. I arrive at the Church, immediately I see something familiar - a celtic cross over the front door. I knock and a young woman answers "it's great to have someone from overseas come to visit us" she says. I mention the celtic cross.
The Church reminds me of St Barnabas, it's of a same age. The worship area is magical, in the centre is a huge array of candle lights over a central table and colorful hangings cover the facing walls. I love it, it feels celtic. Karen tells me that they have tried to keep the history of the building alive and I can see it. The beautiful wooden pews are still there, around the central table - but they're now on wheels so the worship area can be used for the many children's activities that take place here during the week. Local volunteers from the community have done much of the work in the church. It has a lived in, warm, stylish, authentic feel to it. And what's more Beacon do some brilliant work in the community http://www.thewordatbeacon.org/ This feels like a community church.
I can't stay long because I've arrived late and people need to leave. But I'm grateful to have seen this place and met people who are committed to working with the community around them. Karen gives me a token for the subway, so that I don't have to walk all the way back home. I'm blessed by so much generosity from the people I've met : )
I moved on into the poorer residential neighborhoods, locating myself by using the map when it seemed safe to do so. I came to Girard station, where the subway and tramway system meet South East of the city. The trams are like retro Blackpool trams - except they're not retro, they're just everyday trams. The subway architecture is pre-war and rusty, I love it. There is a buzz to this interchange and I people watch for a while. Some passers by give me a longer look, maybe I am just a dumb tourist.
I walk on to Fishtown. This has a feel of Didsbury about it; but rougher. There are some trendy looking bars, stylish junk shops and the occasional big second hand store. I catch the pungent whiff of something familiar as I pass certain doorways. Every now and again I pass someone leaning on a lamp post with a spliff stuck to their bottom lip. It's pretty blatant. The absence of police reminds me of home.
Eventually I arrive in Kensington. The colours have changed. People here are nearly all white, Irish Catholic descent I am told. The houses are like terraced back to back houses in northern England. But bigger, much bigger, with three stories and vegetables growing in their tiny front gardens. I pass a guy three stories up on a wooden extension ladder, pointing the side of a house. Interesting. I arrive at the Church, immediately I see something familiar - a celtic cross over the front door. I knock and a young woman answers "it's great to have someone from overseas come to visit us" she says. I mention the celtic cross.
The Church reminds me of St Barnabas, it's of a same age. The worship area is magical, in the centre is a huge array of candle lights over a central table and colorful hangings cover the facing walls. I love it, it feels celtic. Karen tells me that they have tried to keep the history of the building alive and I can see it. The beautiful wooden pews are still there, around the central table - but they're now on wheels so the worship area can be used for the many children's activities that take place here during the week. Local volunteers from the community have done much of the work in the church. It has a lived in, warm, stylish, authentic feel to it. And what's more Beacon do some brilliant work in the community http://www.thewordatbeacon.org/ This feels like a community church.
I can't stay long because I've arrived late and people need to leave. But I'm grateful to have seen this place and met people who are committed to working with the community around them. Karen gives me a token for the subway, so that I don't have to walk all the way back home. I'm blessed by so much generosity from the people I've met : )