The region of Appalachia includes sections of 13 states, and has a long history of exploitation and abandonment. Father Ralph Beiting was a member of the Catholic clergy assigned to the area, to his great reluctance. After a while, he fell in love with the area and decided that he would make a major goal of his life to help improve the lives of the impoverished and disenfranched of Appalachia. My place in this scheme was a member of WorkFest-a blitz week of manual labor on damaged or insufficiently build homes, all done by non-paid volunteers. My role was to help shingle a roof for the family of the wonderful Emily Blackburn, a breast cancer survivor. I spent a week reconnecting with nature, my spirituality, fellow honors students, and the delicate balance of life.
I was assigned to a group of fellow workers from campuses around Ohio, including Ohio State and one of its satellite campuses. Our group leader was one Victor Byrd, a man of incredible faith and patience for our lackluster abilities in terms of repairing roofs. We all had opportunities to share our life stories for others during the course of the week, and I shared the details of my life and my struggles. I even had the opportunity to share my thoughts on suffering and joy to the greater group of people at WorkFest during an open mic session, to positive reviews.
Appalachia is a place of faith, and this camp, Camp Caleb, was exceptionally evangelical. I am not traditionally religious, especially given that some of my personal beliefs are very different than those of many established religions. I had wonderful discussions with the theologians and believers of the area, one night in particular staying up talking about the Christ figure and the meaning of love. This was an extremely impactful experience and caused me to re-examine my own beliefs.
"Warm and Fuzzy" letters were one of the last impressions I have had the pleasure of having at this experience. They were statements from my fellow workers about my positive traits and impact on others. Some of the more impactful statements I have received have been offers to discuss shared concerns about faith and God, appreciation for speaking to a girl about her difficulties with depression, as well as a praise of my ability to display humor despite recurring challanges. These were all extremely humbling. The most significant part of these conversations is the setting in which they occurred, the unadulterated nature around me. And I thought I had religion figured out.
Upon reflection, there is much more to Appalachia than the academic study of it. Despite this, I do feel as though I should mention some of the readings I undertook in preparation for this trip, and others that I did afterwards. I began my studies through the Christian Appalachian Project's analysis of the area, which served to document many of the difficulties people in the area face. The most surprising for me was that of addiction of prescription medication, which for some reason always seemed like an urban problem to me. There was a video of a man carrying a bag of coal back to his home-an image that was actually fully realized by members of my group while on the trip in the guise of a father and son walking home from a coal field. When I returned, my reading was focused on "What It All Has to Do with Us", an article highlighting the struggles of Appalachians in the Cincinnati area. This reading served to put my adventures in perspective, and help me realize that my experiences in Flatgap Kentucky are not fully isolated to one week in my life. There are festivals celebrating the faith and pride of these people in Cincinnati, as well as multiple grassroots organizations that serve to help Appalachians in an urban setting. I discovered that Appalachians rival the African American community in rates of poverty and homelessness. Though race makes no difference in the efforts we should be making to combat the issue of poverty, my very isolated experiences with the impoverished were given a wider perspective.
The group of honors students that I workedith were a huge part of the influence the event had on me. I knew some of them before the project even began, but I learend much about tolerance, faith, happiness, and balance from themIt was a pleasure to have worked with them. Much of what I learned about human interaction and community engagement came from these people, but the effect that the students from Ohio State had on me, namely the value my story can have on others, cannot be understated.
Above is an image of the shirt I wore for a majority of the event. The design is quirkily based off of the "Ale-8" soda brand that is extremely popular in the area.
I was assigned to a group of fellow workers from campuses around Ohio, including Ohio State and one of its satellite campuses. Our group leader was one Victor Byrd, a man of incredible faith and patience for our lackluster abilities in terms of repairing roofs. We all had opportunities to share our life stories for others during the course of the week, and I shared the details of my life and my struggles. I even had the opportunity to share my thoughts on suffering and joy to the greater group of people at WorkFest during an open mic session, to positive reviews.
Appalachia is a place of faith, and this camp, Camp Caleb, was exceptionally evangelical. I am not traditionally religious, especially given that some of my personal beliefs are very different than those of many established religions. I had wonderful discussions with the theologians and believers of the area, one night in particular staying up talking about the Christ figure and the meaning of love. This was an extremely impactful experience and caused me to re-examine my own beliefs.
"Warm and Fuzzy" letters were one of the last impressions I have had the pleasure of having at this experience. They were statements from my fellow workers about my positive traits and impact on others. Some of the more impactful statements I have received have been offers to discuss shared concerns about faith and God, appreciation for speaking to a girl about her difficulties with depression, as well as a praise of my ability to display humor despite recurring challanges. These were all extremely humbling. The most significant part of these conversations is the setting in which they occurred, the unadulterated nature around me. And I thought I had religion figured out.
Upon reflection, there is much more to Appalachia than the academic study of it. Despite this, I do feel as though I should mention some of the readings I undertook in preparation for this trip, and others that I did afterwards. I began my studies through the Christian Appalachian Project's analysis of the area, which served to document many of the difficulties people in the area face. The most surprising for me was that of addiction of prescription medication, which for some reason always seemed like an urban problem to me. There was a video of a man carrying a bag of coal back to his home-an image that was actually fully realized by members of my group while on the trip in the guise of a father and son walking home from a coal field. When I returned, my reading was focused on "What It All Has to Do with Us", an article highlighting the struggles of Appalachians in the Cincinnati area. This reading served to put my adventures in perspective, and help me realize that my experiences in Flatgap Kentucky are not fully isolated to one week in my life. There are festivals celebrating the faith and pride of these people in Cincinnati, as well as multiple grassroots organizations that serve to help Appalachians in an urban setting. I discovered that Appalachians rival the African American community in rates of poverty and homelessness. Though race makes no difference in the efforts we should be making to combat the issue of poverty, my very isolated experiences with the impoverished were given a wider perspective.
The group of honors students that I workedith were a huge part of the influence the event had on me. I knew some of them before the project even began, but I learend much about tolerance, faith, happiness, and balance from themIt was a pleasure to have worked with them. Much of what I learned about human interaction and community engagement came from these people, but the effect that the students from Ohio State had on me, namely the value my story can have on others, cannot be understated.
Above is an image of the shirt I wore for a majority of the event. The design is quirkily based off of the "Ale-8" soda brand that is extremely popular in the area.