{"id":3755,"date":"2013-05-30T10:00:47","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T15:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=3755"},"modified":"2013-05-30T15:32:38","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T20:32:38","slug":"voices-of-the-voiceless-homeless-teen-encounters-judgment-and-ridicule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2013\/voices-of-the-voiceless-homeless-teen-encounters-judgment-and-ridicule\/","title":{"rendered":"Voices of the Voiceless: Homeless teen encounters judgment and ridicule"},"content":{"rendered":"<style><!--\n\/* Font Definitions *\/ @font-face \t{font-family:\"\uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d\"; \tmso-font-charset:78; \tmso-generic-font-family:auto; \tmso-font-pitch:variable; \tmso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face \t{font-family:\"\uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d\"; \tmso-font-charset:78; \tmso-generic-font-family:auto; \tmso-font-pitch:variable; \tmso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face \t{font-family:Cambria; \tpanose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; \tmso-font-charset:0; \tmso-generic-font-family:auto; \tmso-font-pitch:variable; \tmso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}  \/* Style Definitions *\/ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal \t{mso-style-unhide:no; \tmso-style-qformat:yes; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmargin:0cm; \tmargin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:Cambria; \tmso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; \tmso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"\uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d\"; \tmso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; \tmso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; \tmso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; \tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault \t{mso-style-type:export-only; \tmso-default-props:yes; \tfont-family:Cambria; \tmso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; \tmso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"\uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d\"; \tmso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; \tmso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; \tmso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; \tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 \t{size:612.0pt 792.0pt; \tmargin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; \tmso-header-margin:35.4pt; \tmso-footer-margin:35.4pt; \tmso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 \t{page:WordSection1;}\n--><\/style>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3810\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3810\" style=\"width: 209px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shane-claiborne-EXPORTED.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-3810  \" alt=\"shane-claiborne-EXPORTED\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shane-claiborne-EXPORTED.jpg\" width=\"209\" height=\"314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shane-claiborne-EXPORTED.jpg 427w, https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shane-claiborne-EXPORTED-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 209px) 100vw, 209px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3810\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christian activist and author Shane Claiborne advocates with the poor so that their voices are heard.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/voices.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-3821 alignleft\" alt=\"voices\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/voices-300x200.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/voices-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/voices.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>By Carter Brooks<\/p>\n<p>At first glance, Shane Claiborne and Arika Fraser have little in common.<\/p>\n<p>Claiborne, 37, is from Tennessee, is a popular author, and is in demand as a speaker in Christian circles.<\/p>\n<p>Fraser, 15, lives in inner-city Winnipeg and sleeps under parked cars on nights when there is no better option.<\/p>\n<p>What they have in common is poverty.<\/p>\n<p>Claiborne&#8217;s experience with service to the poor is famously recounted in his book <i>The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical<\/i>. He spent 10 weeks living in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa. He made his own clothing and carried no possessions with him during that time.<\/p>\n<p>He has since become a Christian activist, a leading figure in the New Monasticism movement, and a founding member of The Simple Way in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>In a telephone interview, Claiborne said he re-learned the concept of true love from Mother Teresa, how she based all of her decisions on love, and love alone.<\/p>\n<p>Proverbs 31:8 instructs us: &#8220;Speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable.&#8221; Those living in the poorest areas of Calcutta can easily be classified as voiceless, but Claiborne challenges us to know someone at a deeper level before we write them off.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We think it is our job to stand up in their place, rather than standing with them and helping them project their own voice,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They are struggling, they have wants and desires too, but more importantly, they have needs. Shelter, clothing, food, and water\u2014that is what it comes down to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to Statistics Canada, about one in 10 Canadians live in poverty. Statistics show that 882,000 Canadians used food banks monthly in 2012. Thirty-eight percent of those helped were children.<\/p>\n<p>Fraser can occasionally be found at Agape Table, a soup kitchen in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She believes it is important for the voices of inner-city youth to be heard.<\/p>\n<p>She and her older brother, Jordin, have lived in the hardscrabble neighbourhood of Winnipeg&#8217;s North End for the past three years. Through intensely hot summers and chilling winters, Fraser and her brother overnighted in bus shelters, dumpsters, under trees, and occasionally, under parked cars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn&#8217;t bother us, really,\u201d Fraser says. \u201cI&#8217;ve learned how to tune out the noise and shivering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My momma died when I was born, and [my] brother is all I have left,\u201d she added. \u201cWe live on the streets, but no one seems to care.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fraser says she and her brother encounter judgment and ridicule every day.<\/p>\n<p>She has deep scars running across her forearms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes I used to cut. [It was the] only way I [could] deal with things sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When informed of Shane Claiborne and his work, Fraser says she appreciates having someone out there advocating with the poor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m really happy that someone is actually doing what we do and getting to speak out for us. This makes me happy. I want out, and want to talk, but [people] don&#8217;t like to listen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When she isn&#8217;t begging for money or searching for leftover food in the streets, Fraser can be found once a week visiting her mother&#8217;s tombstone.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do it to stay connected. I&#8217;m a person too, I have feelings. I miss momma.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Claiborne believes we are called to do what God did through Jesus, by standing with people like Fraser.<\/p>\n<p>As Mother Teresa often said, &#8220;Calcuttas are everywhere, we just need to have eyes to see.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><i>Shane Claiborne will speak at Canadian Mennonite University&#8217;s (CMU) annual Peace It Together conference October 18-20, 2013. For details, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/pit\">www.cmu.ca\/pit<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Carter Brooks is a student at CMU. He wrote this article as part of his work in the course Journalism\u2014Principles and Practices. \u201cVoices of the Voiceless\u201d is a class project that aims to chronicle the humanity of often-ignored people on the margins of our community.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; By Carter Brooks At first glance, Shane Claiborne and Arika Fraser have little in common. Claiborne, 37, is from Tennessee, is a popular author, and is in demand as a speaker in Christian circles. Fraser, 15, lives in inner-city Winnipeg and sleeps under parked cars on nights when there is no better option. What [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[156,376],"tags":[427,406,430,404,432,429,431,428,84,403],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3755"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3819,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions\/3819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}