Did you see any sad living conditions in Field Service...?

Casper

I’m sure all of us at one time or another witnessed homes that broke our hearts…here are a few of mine…

Some of the homes I had been invited into out in service really left an impression on me. Call it naive or whatever, it was a real eye opener in some cases.

One in particular that I remember was a poor family with 8 little girls, stair step in age, the oldest no more than 9. This was an RV of the Sister I was with...

Very nice people, but the living conditions were appalling. The floors were down to the bare sub-floors, you could actually see the ground underneath in places. The girls were thin, with long stringy, matted hair. They would climb all over you for attention. They reminded me of puppies. I felt so sorry for them, you just knew they had head lice and such. It was heartbreaking. I wanted to touch them, hug them, but on the other hand I was hesitant.

The reasoning for so many children... They wanted that elusive "Son" and couldn't wait to try "Again".... We lost track of them, as they moved away.

Another return visit was also in a run down house. You did NOT take your book bag or purse into this house. Also had to check your shoes before getting back into car. It was over run with roaches. The couple living there had just had twin baby girls. Preemies. They were in a crib in the living room and were so tiny and helpless looking.

I went into the kitchen to speak with the mother, she was mixing formula and storing it in empty 7-up, 2-liter bottles. The kitchen was yellow and the walls were covered in black sheets of mold. Not just spots, black sheets from ceiling to counter top.

With the mold, and roach problem, I often wondered how the twins survived. they too eventually moved away.

I also had an RV with a single young mother with a 2 year old son that lived in a single wide trailer. Area seemed ok, close to the road tho. I was shocked when I was invited in and noticed that where the wall and floor met across from the couch....I could see outside......??? There was a open space between wall and floor approximately 2 foot wide...you could literally see outside. The floor slanted and anything would have rolled out. I often wondered how she kept her son from escaping...

Those are just a few of my experiences, I really don't live in a bad neighborhood, and looks can be deceiving. Not until you step inside do you really see what is behind the door.

I really felt sorry for these people and the conditions they were living in... What did we offer them…? A set of magazines !!! Seems so silly to me now. Kinda like "Snake Oil" men of old, "Here just take this and all your problems will be solved." And to think most of us believed it.

Would really be laughable now, if it wasn’t so sad.

Anyone else have any experiences like these...?

Cas

RR

I lived in the South Bronx, I saw the worst. Even lived in Jersey City, NJ and witnessed in the projects. Hallways and elevators used as public bathrooms, crack vials shrewn on the ground. Of course they all blamed the "white man" for it all.

Alpaca

Hey there Cas,

Your experiences reminded me of some of my own. Very similar...dog poop on the floor, roaches, squalor, fleas, etc. Not that I didn't have experiences where people were living relatively normal lives in clean surroundings. But, you know it does make you realize that there did seem to be a disproportionate number of exceptionally poor people who were studying or having return vistits made on them.

Perhaps, it is just a reflection of the types of people the Borg preys on. There is nothing like a "pie-in-the-sky" message to appeal to someone who has little vision (or maybe even desire/ambition) about how they are going to lift themselves out of such dire circumstances. It has been noted on JWD numerous times that most of the worldwide growth of the Borg is in countries where the education level is low and poverty is widespread.

One good thing that did come out of the time I spent in the Borg is that I helped several adults to learn to read, which hopefully had some enduring effect on their earning potential and quality of life. I feel good about that.

Cheers,

Alex

Fadeout

Once an old one-eyed man answered the door. My partner gave his presentation and the man said, "There's someone in here you can talk to." He showed us into a small plain bedroom.

Lying in the twin-sized bed was a quadriplegic man who could communicate only by a slight movement of his hand. He was no older than 35. He basically just watched TV all day... not even cable as they were obviously destitute.

My partner went through his little spiel, showed him a brochure, and asked if he would like us to come back. The man emphatically gave the "yes, yes, yes," gesture, and even at the time I wondered how much of that enthusiasm was due to our message and how much was simply joy to talk to anyone at all.

I don't know if my partner ever went back there... I didn't, and sometimes I wish I had.

dinah

Fadeout, that is sooo sad. Most of us now would go just to visit with someone like that instead of trying to convert him.

It's been over 20 years since I went door to door. I never saw anything as awful as what you guys have seen. I did meet alot of really lonely elderly people though.

Casper

All these experiences are so heart wrenching...

RR.... I never experienced anything to that level... Just amazes me how people can survive at all in such conditions.

*****************

But, you know it does make you realize that there did seem to be a disproportionate number of exceptionally poor people who were studying or having return visits made on them.

Hey to you too, Alpaca...

I agree with your comment... that's they way it is around here. Seemed only those that really needed help, would allow us to return, but then what could you do..???? Hope from the Bible.. (errr... I mean Mag.) only went so far.

*********************

Fadeout...

Now that is just incredibly sad. That poor guy.

wondered how much of that enthusiasm was due to our message and how much was simply joy to talk to anyone at all.

You know I often wondered that myself. Mostly the Elderly tho. I really enjoyed talking with them, heck half the time I came away agreeing with them and wishing I had faith like they did.

Cas

Hope4Others

I have never been to a home in those conditions except one and it was just pure filth by choice, I think you cornered the market.

Boy, is that ever sad what families endure.

hope4others

Balsam

Over my 30 years as a JW I had a few that really stood out as a sign of human misery.

In Lexington, NC I was in the door to door when I came to a house with boards nailed to the outside of the windows. The front door had a big pad lock on the front door and side door. I could hear children inside playing so I went ahead and knocked. All got quite then I heard a womans voice from the side of the run down wood frame house. It was a black woman locked in the house with all her children. She was swollen and beaten looking and she begged me to get away from the house before her husband came home and saw me and beat her and the children some more. I could not even leave a set of magazines with her because he would know she had talked to someone. This was in the 1970's and I was horrified by it and everyone said there was nothing we could do about it. We should have called the cops right then. I still wonder what became of that poor woman. She said they were starving because when her husband got angry with them he would not bring them food. It has haunted me from 30 years. Back then woman had no rights, and men were allowed to beat them all they wanted and the law did nothing.

In a little community of Black Ankle, NC a 89 year old woman lived in what was left of a pantry of her old home place, no toilet, no running water, no electricity, she used wood heat. She had no family and lived alone and if it wasn't for some of the neighbors coming to check on he and bring her food she would have died. The entire house had fallen down and was in ruins and she would just weave around into the pantry where she slept on the floor with an old wood stove in the 8 by 10 foot room. I asked her why she didn't leave and let someone get her into a nursing home. She didn't want to sell her property several thousand acres because it had been in her family for centuries and she was the last one. No amount of talking to her would change her mind. It made me sick to see this elderly woman hauling water from a well and eating food that had been sitting for several days in a frying pan. That was also back in the late 1970's. It was apparent she was mentally incapable of taking care of herself.

There are more but those two were the worst and most disturbing.

Ruth

Casper

Balsam,

I was horrified by it and everyone said there was nothing we could do about it

I sympathize with the helplessness you must have felt at the time. I too, felt it at times in service......but was at a loss as to what to do. The witnesses I was with, always told me, we've done what we could... "We gave them Hope"... (unreal, now that I look back on it).

I think today... calling social services is the more accepted thing to do....maybe not to the JWs, but to me personally.

Cas

jaguarbass

I remember a family living in the dump and an old man living in a shack, this was the Cleveland area back in the 60's

Did you see any sad living conditions in Field Service...?

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