What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared
to what lies within Us

Pastor Patricia wraps up for us her experiences working at WISH during the Olympic games in Vancouver.

My volunteer time at WISH, the drop-in centre in Vancouver for women in the sex trade, was not as daunting as I had expected. It was an eye-opener as I provided a hot meal and cleaned in the kitchen for the women who found reprieve from the street.

The first night of my shift was a day after the government cheques were issued. "There aren't as many as usual", one of my kitchen-mates said. "That's too bad", I replied "because the food here is awesome".

The 'Olympic village' chefs had passed on a tasty supper of mushroom and veal sauce with breaded chicken and a vegetarian dish and salad that looked delicious.  Desserts looked even better! Lemon pie and squares, brownies and tarts. The 'Olympic Village' crew were generous over the course of the Olympics. This was one benefit to the women of the lower east side.

I chuckled quietly to myself as the girls tried on the various donations of clothes that had been dropped off at the centre and recognized that many pieces had been donated by 'Aritzia' a very trendy store in downtown Vancouver.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of food that did not get eaten. It appeared many had used the money they had been given to score themselves a high. I say this without judgement or prejudice.

The environment in the lower east side is difficult and dangerous and although I realize there are certain choices that are made, the reality is that there are factors beyond saying yes or no that play into the lives of these women. Abuse, neglect, abandonment... lives that I can't possibly understand or recognize that they have endured since childhood.

I didn't encounter any of the women as I wandered the downstreets of Vancouver. I was told that the women in the sex trade were told (and others taken) to the suburbs of the city where men could buy and exploit women and children.

What I did see were various shops on Granville and Seymour Streets that had store-fronts that advertised 'peep-shows' and 'adult videos'. These are the places that pose as 'middle-men' for the johns who are seeking out sexual gratification.

In an article, I believe I read on the 'Not for Sale' website, it was estimated that more than 10,000 women and children were brought into the city of Vancouver to service men attending the Olympics. You didn't see them, but you knew the availability was there. You just had to look at the classified section of every newspaper and publication on every street corner.

Toward the end of the Olympics you would see more and more homeless men and women sleeping on the street and in door entrances. The city had tried to keep them away from the business sections of town and the tourist haunts, however, nearing the last few days there were more and more panhandlers and people pushing shopping carts filled with cans and bottles. One man stated on TV one evening that he felt he had found the 'mother-load' these past few weeks as he couldn't fill his cart fast enough due to the diluge of empty beer cans and bottles and liquor bottles he was finding on the street and in the recyling bins.

The city of Vancouver certainly had a high record of revellers indulging in their habits l during these past few weeks during the Olympics!

The homeless and the destitute of the lower east side see themselves as a community. Even if they are making their way to other areas of the city to collect cans or beg for money and food, they return to the lower east side for company. During the Olympics many of them took pride in the fact that the Olympics was being held in their city. Some commented, they had never seen the lower east side so clean. I'm hoping the city workers continue to make the effort to clean the streets the people of the lower east side inhabit so their pride in their city continues.

I think that's what any of us wants. To be thought of as important enough to be seen and to be cared about unconditionally.

I wish I had more of an opportunity to get to know some of the people I met on a deeper level, but then, maybe God has other people he wants to put in my path closer to home.

The Olympics was certainly an experience, from a spectator point of view and from the other side... the lower east side of downtown Vancouver. Both will be part of two different experiences I will never forget.