Who do immersions help: the participants, or the community?

By Brooke Boniface

Every morning, six days a week, Maria wakes up at 2:30 am — about the time that many of us, as college students, go to sleep — and begins to make a delicious breakfast for the 55 men currently staying at the Guadalupe Homeless Project.  

From there she goes to mass, then to various community groups such as Caminos Seguras. At Caminos Seguras, mothers and grandmothers from the community walk the children of local schools from corner to corner to protect them from gang violence.

Maria is just one example of the many extraordinary members of the Boyle Heights community in East Los Angeles. This spring break, 11 Santa Clara students, including myself, were fortunate enough immerse ourselves in the Boyle Heights area for one week.  

The experience was beyond words, but I will try to do justice to the strength, kindness, and love that we encountered during our time there. While in East Los Angeles we tutored children at the Dolores Mission School, helped with the after school program, took a tour of Homeboy industries, talked to kids at Juvenile Hall, and helped Maria make breakfast for the men one morning.  Each of these experiences was equally meaningful and enlightening.  

Tutoring the kids helped me realize the problem of the achievement gap between poor and rich areas and how that can be rectified with hard work and determination.

A tour of Homeboy Industries made me question my preconceived notions of gang members as hardened criminals and begin to see them as human beings.

Talking to the kids at Juvenile Hall made me question the wisdom of treating people like animals as a form of punishment rather than treating them as human beings in order to facilitate rehabilitation.  

But the lesson I learned while helping Maria was probably the most impactful.

I learned that it really sucks to have to wake up at 2:30. I learned that cooking for 55 people requires a heck of a lot of food and really big pots. I learned that some people eat beans for breakfast, and every other meal. But most of all I learned that immersion trips benefit those who attend, much more then they do the people who are "helped."  

When we were done making breakfast for all 55 men, Maria applauded us and thanked us for our help and support. In reality my presence in the kitchen probably caused more havoc then it lent any sort of assistance. I wanted to cry because I was so overcome by the kindness, gratitude and strength of all the people I had met that week.  

Upon my return to home and then to Santa Clara everyone who I discussed my immersion trip with was so impressed with me.  

"Oh my goodness, how nice of you to give up your spring break to help out down there," they would say, or, "wow that is so impressive."  

What I wanted to say in response was, "no its not impressive, I wish everyone could go on this trip, to witness the power of community action, to learn about the cruelty of the juvenile prison system, and to see the inequities in resources and education that people have to deal with on a daily basis."  

Immersion trips are an amazing opportunity and I would recommend that everyone participate in one during their time at Santa Clara. But they are not just a week where you deign to help the less fortunate. They are life changing learning experiences that teach you solidarity, respect, and tolerance. I will be forever grateful for my time in East Los Angeles and the friends and knowledge I gained there.  

Brooke Boniface is a junior political science and history double major and editor of the opinion section.