Monthly Archives: April 2019

Hello friends! I am Nathan, a first-year student in the faculty of arts. Though my first year at UBC was overwhelming as I adjust to my new life in Canada as an overseas student, participating in UBC’s community outreach program TREK was one of my most fulfilling experience in my first year of university.

Volunteering as a tutor at an organization in Kunming that works with youth from migrant working families in China has given me a heart for the youths living in the inner-cities in Canada. Though the two countries are culturally different, volunteering as a tutor at the Britannia Homework Club (BHC) made me realize that youths from Canada and China experience the same kind of challenges and difficulties: there exists a lack of resources to support their emotional, physical, and academic wellbeing between the inner cities of Kunming (where I grew up) and Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). When offered the opportunity to participate in TREK, I was very hesitant since I had a shift scheduled on that day as restaurant server but I at the same time, my heart wanted to learn and care about the youth living DTES. That decision made a difference that deeply impacted my future direction.

Every Tuesday, I would commute to BHW for 2 hours and tutor math, socials, and English with the secondary students who come for help. Setting up the homework club space, sitting down and going over physics problems, suggesting outlines for essays for reports on football players, and most importantly socializing with the students that I helped was one of the most rewarding time I spent compared to studying at UBC. Helping out these students’ secondary journey helped my journey of post-secondary school than more I ever anticipated! While I was struggling with more course load, drowning in the stress of my part-time work, and burning myself out with social activities with my friends, I was helping these students and telling them exactly the same advice I needed to apply for myself: “Here’s how to write an outline for your essay. You should plan out how much to write each day, so you don’t have to cram it last minute.” “All the answers are in your readings. You just have to highlight the important concepts.” “Writing down the deadlines for all your assignments is a great way to keep track of your work”. I was such a hypocrite. Yet, at the end of the day, as I commuted back to campus, I was so encouraged by the youth’s aspiration and hard work to succeed that it impacted me to seek to do more for their wellbeing and their community.

Participating in Map the Systems (a competition) gave me the opportunity to research the poverty and challenges youths in the DTES faced, giving me a broader perspective of the youth’s background and a deeper personal connection with the students that I tutored. Hearing their stories about growing up with many kids in their family, talking with my supervisor to learn about the problems the youths face from the DTES, and building relationships with these students have impacted me my life trajectory to seek work in the education sector with nonprofits or as a secondary teacher. My life passion is to help improve the well-being of the students that I worked with at BHW and to do more for youths in the DTES. With much appreciation to TREK, I want to fully utilize my time at UBC to gain skills to expand my impact in the lives of these youths.

1. Which requires more work, discussion or trek?

I would argue that the two options depend on who you are and what sparks your passion. If writing a long paper is your forte, go for it! But if you’re interested in getting involved first hand in understanding real social issues in Vancouver, engaging in the solution process, and building future career and social networks for you future in Vancouver, I believe that Trek will prepare you for the world beyond university.

1. Is volunteering in the Downtown Eastside safe?

I believe from a sociological standpoint that safety is a social construct derived from our cultures, values, and beliefs. There is no such concept as a place being “safe” as long as human nature remain unpredictable and obscure. I can walk in the downtown of any major city in China such as Beijing at 3 am in the morning and feel absolutely safe, while fearing for my safety in the US due to crime and gang activities in Chicago and Los Angeles. I believe that as you get to know the communities we are surrounded by, we will be able to assess the risks and safety of our surrounding communities. As a word traveler of 65 countries, I believe that as long you travel with a group of friends, anywhere is “safe”.

2. Will I miss out on anything in discussion?

You will miss out all the fun stress the discussion students have to go through piecing their 2,500-word research paper together. Every course in CAP will require students to write research paper in their classes, and as long you remain in the faculty of Arts, you will be required to write papers for the next few years of academia.

3. Is Trek rewarding?

Participating in Trek solidified my major, career, and life direction. There is nothing more rewarding then learning from life experience than books.

Hi! My name is Allie Price, and I’m writing to offer some insight on what I learned and experienced by choosing to do Trek rather than a discussion section for SOCI 100. For the first two months that I lived in Vancouver, I was shocked by how little poverty I saw. Being from outside of Los Angeles, I was used to a steady stream of homeless people wherever I went, and after a couple weeks here, I thought that no poverty in Vancouver would compare. And for a while, I was convinced.

This changed on the day of my Trek orientation. I saw Trek as a way to get involved in volunteering again (which was transformative for my high school career) and get to know Vancouver a little better by breaking out of the “campus bubble”. My placement was Saint James Music Academy (SJMA), an after school music program for at-risk children and youth.

On my first trip there, I typed the location into google maps, and walked to get on the 4 bus and take it the 42 stops to Main Street. The 4 is interesting in that it runs all the way from the mansions of Point Grey to the Downtown Eastside, and you can feel the entire transformation between the parts of Vancouver. On this bus route, I saw my first (and second, third, fourth, etc.) homeless person in Vancouver, and saw hundreds of people living in poverty. I didn’t feel unsafe (and for the most part, the Downtown Eastside isn’t really that dangerous); rather I was struck with confusion about how and why poverty had become so concentrated and limited to one section of Vancouver.

With these thoughts in my mind, I walked into SJMA. The first thing I noticed was the use of space; every area possible was used for storage, check in, etc. or had a student and a teacher at it. During the orientation, I got to meet some of the kids, and watch how the teachers interacted with them. The juxtaposition between walking from East Hastings into such a loving and tight-knit environment left me even more conflicted. I wasn’t sure how to feel.

I returned a week later and started my position as assistant teacher in marimba (like a wooden xylophone) class, and immediately became best friends with a young girl who was super excited that we had matching white shoes on. She is fairly shy, and would get really frustrated when she couldn’t get her part down and would stop trying. With a little convincing, I would get her to let me teach her, and when she mastered a part she had the biggest smile on her face. When I switched from volunteering on Tuesday to Thursday second semester, I would always arrive 20 minutes early so that I would still get to see her before class.

Seeing the students relationships with the staff and other volunteers was very special as well, and I could tell that SJMA was a safe space for these kids despite their less-than ideal circumstances. From providing things like transportation to and from school, a healthy afternoon class, and music therapy to struggling students, I saw how SJMA was trying to make a difference in a community struck with poverty, and even more amazingly, that it was working. These are just normal kids, and SJMA recognizes that and uses what the community has available to make their lives a little better.

My heart is so full whenever I get to spend the afternoon with these kids, and getting involved in Trek completely changed my perception and experience as a Vancouver newcomer. I would highly recommend that anyone new to Vancouver that has an interest in volunteering in some capacity gets involved. It was a very positive and eye-opening experience for me, so much so that I even plan on volunteering with SJMA next year separate from Trek/SOCI.

To finish, I’d like to leave you with some answers to questions that are good to consider deciding between Trek and discussion.

1. Which requires more work, discussion or trek?

I would consider the overall workload to be very similar, just at different times and in different forms. Trek can be more of a time commitment per week, especially if you commute to your placement by bus, but requires much less writing first term and the beginning of second term. At least for this year, we got to choose what we did for our final project, and although it was a lot of work, we got to choose our topic and had more creative freedom in the matter (plus it wasn’t a giant term paper).

1. Is volunteering in the Downtown Eastside safe?

Yes, absolutely. There was not one time all year that I felt unsafe– maybe slightly uncomfortable, but not unsafe. In fact, I think that getting involved in the Downtown Eastside is extremely important, and the stigma that it’s unsafe is part of why poverty is so concentrated there and conditions aren’t improving. I would strongly discourage you from choosing against Trek because of safety concerns or worries about comfort; instead, be a part of the education of Vancouver on the Downtown Eastside and get involved with a program that is trying to change it.

1. Will I miss out on anything in discussion?

The biggest concern I had was about not learning how to craft a research paper or getting feedback on exams. However, you will write and conduct more research than you want to for your ASTU class, so don’t worry about that, and our SOCI TA’s were extremely on top of providing office hours and meeting times to allow discussion and review after exams.

1. Is Trek rewarding?

Yes absolutely. I know a lot more about Vancouver and went to an area that I likely never would have otherwise, and I absolutely loved working with all the kids at my placement. I’m going to miss them over the summer. It’s an extremely good way to get away from campus and school for a little and contribute to something that matters.

Thanks for reading! I hope you’ve found this somewhat helpful in your decision. I had a very positive experience in the Global Citizens stream, and learned a lot of lessons from Trek and Sociology that I know I’ll carry with me.

Hello everyone! My name is Andrea, and I’m a first-year student in the Global Citizens CAP Stream. If you are reading this, you’re probably trying to decide whether TREK is a good idea or not. I’m here to share my experience with you as a way to show that taking TREK will probably (and hopefully) be one of your favorite experiences in your first year of university. The opportunity in working with a community-engaged program was a once in a lifetime experience, especially given that the other choice was participating in a discussion group, learning through more texts and readings. The TREK program taught me numerous things about the realities in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, as well as it allowed me to constantly apply what we were learning in our SOCI 100 class, and all of it was based on first-hand experience.

I volunteered at the Writers’ Exchange program at Queen Alexandria Elementary School, where we worked with kids from low-income families, typically with trouble with reading and writing. We helped them practice these two skills by doing fun, interactive activities, and we additionally helped them further develop and strengthen their self-esteem. Although these sound like simple tasks, the impact on the kids and their own learning are tremendous. We were able to become a sort of support system for them, as they began to feel comfortable enough to share their personal stories with us, and created a strong relationship with most. I am thankful for this experience, as it helped me grow as a person. Once you dedicate time to help someone else, you learn the importance of opening up and sharing your own knowledge with the ones that might need it the most. This program helped open my eyes in terms of the privilege I have. It made me consider how lucky I am to have the education my parents were able to give me as well as my quality of life, and showed me that people come from different backgrounds and go through different experiences. By connecting that to my Soci class,  I was able to understand why that is, and how everything connects back to the development of our society.

It doesn’t matter how much we read about other communities, we are unable to understand the extent to which issues are actually affecting its population until we meet people that teach us about it. After taking TREK, I decided to continue working with these types of communities in the future, which lead to my decision of majoring in Social Work with a minor in Sociology. It’s a truly enriching opportunity, so I 100% recommend you take TREK. Get out of your comfort zone! As a first-year student, especially if you’re an international student, it’s an incredible opportunity to get off campus and learn more about Vancouver. You will not regret it!

Hello! My name is Amy and I just completed my first year at the University of British Columbia. This year I was able to take Sociology 100, which is taught by Dr. Kerry Greer. This class requires you to take a discussion section that meets once a week, but Dr. Greer gave us the option of doing Trek instead, where you volunteer once a week and go to a discussion once a month. Trek appealed to me because I have to do discussion sections in almost every one of my other classes, so I thought it would be interesting to switch things up.

The process of signing up for Trek was very easy, and there are lots of options to choose from. I was able to volunteer at my first choice, the Saint James Music Academy. This is an after school program located in the Downtown Eastside, which teaches elementary school children how to play musical instruments, sing in choir, dance, and learn music theory. Many of these kids wouldn’t have this opportunity if it were not for the Saint James Music Academy. As a cellist, I have volunteered in orchestras before, so this placement was perfect for me.

Volunteering at SMJA was extremely rewarding, as I was able to make connections with the kids, who all have such different backgrounds and stories. Every week the kids warmed up to me more and more. Building relationships with the staff and the kids was rewarding and I was able to learn about the Downtown Eastside while at my placement. Trek forced me to go off campus, and being on the bus allowed me to become much more familiar with Vancouver.

One moment that struck me was at my orientation when I was first starting out. The woman who was showing us around said that if we have to miss a week we have to let them know very far in advance so the students can prepare. She said that these kids need stability in their lives and need to know that we are coming every week so they can build trust, because many of them have limited stability with people in their lives outside of music school. The SJMA provides a space where the kids can socialize and learn, while also giving them the stability and trust they need. Trek taught me about the Downtown Eastside and the inequality in Vancouver. Many of these kids face hardships and don’t get the same opportunities we do. Trek has exposed me to these inequalities, something I believe everyone living in Vancouver should be aware of. It’s important that we are aware of these problems, because without awareness, no change will happen.

I highly recommend Trek. You not only get volunteering experience, but it forces you to get off campus and learn about Vancouver. Volunteering at Trek placements allows you to apply the knowledge you learn in Sociology 100 to the real world. As an international student, I found Trek very rewarding as it allowed me to become more familiar with the city in addition to learning the inequalities and the stereotypes that go along with the Downtown Eastside.

When we were first introduced to the Trek Program as an opportunity instead of having discussions, I remember feeling very excited with the idea of volunteering but also being extremely nervous with what I would encounter if I took that chance. Being an international student, not really knowing much about Canadian culture and never having taken the bus by myself, taking part in Trek was a big step. For you to have an idea of how nervous I was, the first day I took the bus to my placement I ended up getting lost, walking in the opposite direction for 2km while using Google Maps and being more than one hour late when I finally reached my destination. Through the research, we were asked to do in one of our workshops and through talking to people about the region where my placement was located, I had painted a dark picture of what the region and people would look like, dominated by poverty, crime and need. After my experience volunteering, getting to know the community and its people, I can tell you that those challenges are real yet the picture I see now is vibrant and hopeful.

The placement I took part in is the Boys & Girls Club at Grandview Elementary School. An afternoon volunteering at the after-school program would generally look like this: I would leave UBC at about 1pm and I would take the 99 for about an hour; I would reach my placement at around 2pm and would wait for the staff to arrive; we would get started preparings the snacks for the children and once they got to the program, they were given some time to eat; we would then move to the activities such as going to the playground, arts and crafts, playing sports at the gym, tech time and more; the children would leave at around 5:15pm; after they had left we would clean the lunch room and leave by 6pm. It might look like a busy schedule, but I can tell you how important it is as a university student to take some time not to think about work and actually engage in building relationships.

One of my favorite moments was having a conversation with a kid while pushing him, gently, in the swing. He told me about his pet bees and the cat he had at home. Simple moments like that make you remember how being a child felt like and despite our different realities and cultures, imagination is something that truly transcends borders. However, some times listening to these stories is challenging but know that you will have a support system to help you out. In addition, a lot of the experiences you will have will highlight concepts learned in class such as social norms, gender performativity and much more. After all, sociology is the study of society and the only way to truly understand a society, in my opinion, is to get to know it outside of books and articles.

Therefore, the last thing I have to say is while at university seek discomfort because what you will gain from it outweighs what is keeping you back, resulting in real personal growth!

Hi! My name is Tania Nainani, and today I am writing about my TREK experience as apart of the global citizens CAP stream. When given the choice of either participating in the sociology discussion or being apart of the TREK program and being able to work with students for 2.5 hours a week, I opted to participate in TREK, and I’m so glad I did! From this experience, I expected to learn more concerning my sociology theories that I had learnt in a classroom into practice by observing and educating the kids. Although this is what I had expected to learn, I was able to get much more out of this experience, being able to develop myself as a person, and give back to the community. I was able to make strong connections, and even friendships with a lot of the kids, who I soon considered to be very close to my heart. The children have made me mature as a person, as well as become extremely patient with the kids. The program has helped me learn more about others, as well as my community partner. Most importantly, I feel I learnt the most from myself. I went into the program with an open mind, and put in a lot of effort in order to get a lot out of it. I made an important effort to form friendships with the kids, and provide them with a safe space and a person they felt they could confide in. This learning connected to my studies through sociology, and I was able to observe the effects of socialization within a schooling environment. Learning about sociology in a  classroom is one thing, but being able to apply it and fully observe people who abide by these theories is entirely different. It truly does make you learn concepts better and get a taste of outside experience.

Concerning the sociology write ups throughout the year, and ultimately at the end of the placement, I was extremely excited to be able to share what I had learnt with others. I was eager to be able to look back on my time with the kids, and reflect on what I had gained from this experience. From someone who has gone through being apart of the Trek Program, I strongly suggest opting for this decision instead of the discussion. Not only do you get to get off campus each week and get a change of scenery, you get to make true connections with students, people you work with, and other volunteers, even getting to hear personal experiences from the people you are working with. The connections you make will likely be able to benefit you in the future, and possibly make you realise what you want to do in the future, and My advice to anyone going into this program would be to keep an open mind, try new things, and try to gain as much as you can from this experience. These opportunities don’t come across often in first year, and being in TREK and having the opportunity to gain experience and add something to your resume is something I strongly would recommend.

By: Tania Nainani

Hi! My name is Azumi and I am in my first year in the Faculty of Arts in UBC. Since I have been taking the Introduction to Sociology course in the Global Citizen stream of CAP, I have been able to get involved in the Trek Program this year. Instead of attending regular discussion sessions, Trek students get involved in community engage programs and volunteer in their respective placements throughout the year. My placement was at YWCA Crabtree Corner in Vancouver Downtown Eastside, and I participated in the Saturday Family Activity Program there.

YWCA Crabtree Corner is an organization which aims to support marginalized women and their families in Downtown Eastside. In the Saturday Family Activity Program, families can get hot meals, donated items, and can attend afternoon activities such as swimming, skating, visiting the Christmas market, or so on. As a volunteer, I helped making the hot meals, enjoyed arts and crafts with children, and supported the families in the afternoon activities.

Ice-Skating-day

Visiting-the-Conservatory-day

Hot Meals: from Chinese New Years and from Birthday Celebrations

Since I had lived in Japan for 19 years before I came to Canada, interacting with the local community definitely had a positive influence on my sense of belonging. Basically, we get to know the people, the area, Vancouver, (and how to cook) by helping the kitchen, eating good food, going out, and playing around with children. However, more than that, this experience made me think a lot about communities in marginalized society both in Japan and Canada, since I have volunteered a little in a Japanese food bank as well. Generally speaking, the culture of volunteering and acceptance towards NGOs are much more developed in Canada compared to in Japan. Personally, I feel Japan is super humble and attentive, which is indeed an important thing especially when working with vulnerable people, while it can create an uncomfortable community which prevents people to participate in it. Whereas, the community I experienced in YWCA Crabtree Corner was much more dense, relying on each other, and people were sharing their personal issues much more than I expected.

On the other hand, the reality and people’s perception towards drug use and addiction was one of the tough things to accept for me in terms of cultural difference. In Japan, stigma around drugs and the restriction towards drug use seems to be stronger than in Canada. Thus, seeing people’s lifestyles in Downtown Eastside and hearing people talking about drugs as a normal thing there was shocking for me, and it took quite a bit of time to deconstruct my narrow-minded idea of intolerance towards drug use. Whereas, it made me confused when I noticed that the prevalence of drugs and addiction in the area was allowing people to accept them and help each other, instead of stigmatizing it and imposing the responsibility to individuals. If people are warmer when issues are prevalent, what is a correct society?

From my experience in Trek, I began to think community construction by the organization is playing a biggest role in the society, while the organization also provides physical aids such as foods or utilities. Even if we had the same money and time, conducting a family activity program instead of merely giving away food and money has been contributing to people’s mental wellbeing and children’s healthy development. Even though us volunteers don’t have special skills to help people to get out from their situation, we could support them by making the community a better place, and we will benefit from the community as well.

While the community is so dense, heartful, and willing to live with hope and kindness, I got surprised how the whole area of Downtown Eastside is hidden, and is easily ignored by the rest of the society. When my friend and I get on the 14 bus to commute to YWCA Crabtree Corner, it is pretty clear that the passengers on the bus changes completely before and after we arrive at East Heisting. I also heard many stories of misses and losses in the area, which never gets covered in news. I get so scared imagining that if I hadn’t attended this program, I could have become one of them who ignores people who live there while knowing their existence.

This involvement to my placement made me think a lot, including what we learn in sociology classes. Indeed, learning in practice is helping my learnings for sure. But more than that, I feel it is suggesting the way how we can learn to contribute to change the society. Merely learning sometimes becomes so depressing for me because I don’t know what I can do to fix the messy world. Of course, attending to volunteers can’t fix the root causes of what people are suffering for, but learning the fact as a firsthand experience has allowed me to contemplate these issues in UBC as well.

While I am going back to Japan for two months for vacation and my Trek program has officially finished, I am planning to come back for my placement personally to continue my volunteer work from June. I am hoping to gain more from my experience and get involved to the community. I really recommend future students to choose to do Trek!!

*All the photos are taken by Suvi Hoo

Since joining Trek, I have had many rewarding experiences that have guided me to move in the world aided by the sociological lens. In my First Year of University, being in the Coordinated-Arts Program, specifically Global Citizen in the SOCI 100 year long course allowed me this opportunity. I have always felt passionate and inspired by the role that service learning can play in your life and create new, guiding perspectives. So I knew it was a given when I was given the option to choose between the Discussion section of our course or the Trek Program. Volunteering 3 and a half hours a week on average, I was able to connect and tutor students in the after school program.

This immersive experience for me instigates immersive learning, eye-opening exposure and critical thinking in terms of the positionality and active scholarship one must take on as a scholar. Many people think that the university experience is concerned with just the attainment of a degree and transition to the “real world” yet I believe to undergo fundamental change and an educational shift in your own personal knowledge, it is through exposure and interaction to new environments through the lens of your educational knowledge. For myself, moving through a new community/society knowing and understanding how set back they were in the North American society they live in racially, economically and socially made me limit my normalcy and appreciation of a group of people, initially.

But with the interactive and cultural immersion you learn as a contributor and ally to a community, you humanize the theories, case studies, examples and social implications that just happen to limit REAL people. To almost put a face to the issue allowed me to appreciate the knowledge, values and adversities experienced by the staff, students and volunteers. To understand that each and everyone of us had the same desires and intentions yet to believe that we were limited due to many uncontrollable factors forces you to think of your unconscious and not purposeful contribution to the support and perpetuation of a “bottom class” or marginalized/oppressed group of people.

Other than volunteering to help eighth to twelfth graders do their homework, it was also by the space where I could connect and value the anecdotal stories and connections that were build over the course of the academic year. I felt as though it was necessary to devote energy in being a representative of what these high school students could be. As a woman of colour and as a person that has functioned in many different levels in society, my relatability and connectability was utilized and unique compared to my volunteer peers and well as staff. I was someone that was in their likeness as well as age. I felt as though, with the help of the other staff and volunteers I was able to contribute as a mentor and tutor meaningfully. As well as overcoming other obstacles that I faced as a young POC, woman and volunteer. An outsider looking in is to be a participant and contributor to that community you are immersed in. Not the other way around and also not for the intention of “giving back”, because as a volunteer you are the one doing the true learning. To understand the receiving end, to understand how people lead their lives amidst the setbacks society has to give.

By Maia Wallace

Hi there, my name is Suvi and I am a first-year international student at UBC. During my first year, I enrolled in the Coordinated Arts Program (CAP) and took courses in the Global Citizens stream. One of the courses that I took was Sociology 100, which was instructed by Dr. Kerry Greer. Within our first month of attending lectures, we were given the option to either participate in the TREK program (where we only had to meet once every month) or to attend regular discussions every week. Obviously, this appealed to me because not only did I want to volunteer at a community program and do some social work, but I also thought I’d be getting first-hand experiences that other students might not have the opportunity to do. Hence, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to learn more about the community in Vancouver and get to be more engaged by interacting with the community. Also, due to the fact that my future goal is to open my own social enterprise business related to doing social work, I thought participating in TREK would give me a good foundation to understand how a non-profit business (in this case, an organization) runs and the factors I have to take into consideration when working with specific vulnerable communities.

Self-Taken Photograph of Kids Painting for our TREK Final project

Self-Taken Photograph at our outing to Britannia Ice-Skating Hall

For my TREK placement, I volunteered at the YWCA Crabtree Corner in the “Saturday Family Activity Program” which is located on East Hastings in Downtown Vancouver. Today, YWCA is known as one of the largest and most diversified non-profit organizations in Metro Vancouver. Crabtree Corner provides a range of programs and services in one location to help marginalized women and families residing in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, in hopes that they will feel healthier, more connected and empowered to make positive choices. The Saturday Family Activity Program aims to target families living in the Downtown Eastside by providing them with resources to engage with family activities. When working with YWCA Crabtree Corner, I noticed that they provided this program because families in the Downtown Eastside often don’t have the resources to allocate towards family activities, we get a chance as volunteers to help cook these families a hot meal, and provide them with opportunities to take part in fun and enriching activities. Some of the fun and enriching activities we do at the program include; Trick or Treating during Halloween, birthday parties, going to the Bloedel Conservatory Centre, going to the Hillcrest Swimming Pool and many more. I was really interested in the Saturday Family Activity Program because not only did it give me incentives to explore what Vancouver has to offer but I was able to spend time watching over and playing with the kids in the families who were a part of the program.

Self-Taken Photograph of our outing at Bloedel Conservatory Center

In a nutshell, the normal routine of my Saturday spent at TREK looks a bit like this, I arrive in the morning at 10AM and I head to the kitchen to help out with the breakfast and lunch we are prepping for the families. After doing some breakfast meal prep, if the arts and crafts aren’t distributed out in the dining hall area for the children, I would go looking for the arts and crafts and distribute the different crafts/games/books evenly amongst the dining tables. If the back doesn’t need help with meal prepping for lunch, I would spend time with the families who have arrived. Most of the time, I spend time with the kids and help them with whatever arts and crafts they would like to do because their parents are usually busy occupying themselves. Sometimes if there are board games or interactive games available, I would play with a group of kids and we would spend time getting to know each other. Often near lunch time I’d have to rush back to the kitchen to help out with meal prep again to prepare the lunch for the families. We work collectively at the back with other volunteers and our chef supervisor. I have actually grown to really enjoy being a part of this program because not only has it taught me so many kitchen skills that I wouldn’t have learned on my own, but I also get to spend time with the families and learn more about their background because they often talk about their daily experiences and encounters with other people in the Downtown Eastside community.

Self-Taken Photograph of the birthday parties we host every month

Before I came to Vancouver, I was unaware about the conditions and historical background of the Downtown Eastside. All I heard about Vancouver was that it was a beautiful city to live in and that I would blend in perfectly because of my cultural background. However, as I was strolling around Vancouver I accidently stumbled upon the Downtown Eastside because I was making my way to Gastown. Walking around the Downtown Eastside, I felt unsafe and wasn’t sure if it was an area that I’d want to spend my time being in. Coming to UBC, I’ve heard several stereotypes and labels of the Downtown Eastside being an “unsafe, dangerous” or “shady/sketchy” area where people with mental health issues, prostitution and drug addicts are prevalent. Even though some of these stereotypes may be true, throughout my time volunteering I learned that there are individuals who are trying to have a better life, even though they are struggling with issues in their everyday life, they are trying to look for help and guidance in places like the YWCA Crabtree Corner in hopes that they will make better decisions and provide better lives for their children. Another thing that I noticed was their support and concern for each other, they had quite a close-knit community and they worked on encouraging each other. It was particularly interesting because even though they all had different experiences and some were from differing cultural backgrounds, everyone had their own fair share of struggles and each narrated a different life story. They were all unique in their own way but continued to support each other during their happiest and saddest moments. The families who attended the Saturday Family Activity Program had a cohesive community and even though some of them had weak ties, they were open to sharing information and resources with each other.

Volunteering in the YWCA Crabtree Corner has been beneficial to my learning development in UBC and especially useful in my sociology course. Not only was I able to integrate my experiences in my TREK placement to the content and concepts we were learning in the sociology course, but I was able to apply it to enhance my understanding of how what we learned in class is reflected in society. Thus, because I have become more knowledgeable and aware of my surroundings, it’ll increase the chances of me thinking of ways to implement strategies to improve or alleviate some issues which are prevalent in our society. For instance, being in a sociology course has allowed me to view the world through a different lens also known as the sociological perspective where I observe the general patterns instead of unique events or attempt to debunk the stereotypes that are placed upon a group of people and how that could affect their behavior towards society. I was also able to integrate my ideas of strong ties and weak ties by observing the relationships between family members and how they use these strong or weak ties to interact with each other in order to benefit from one another when exchanging resources/information or form closer relationships. Furthermore, I was able to apply the importance of family and how family functions as an important private function between family members to show emotional support and shared responsibility for the household and financial support. This is also related to the changing of family structures over time as nowadays there is a rising rate of divorces and more women are entering the workforce to support their children’s needs. Lastly, I think the concept of intersectionality and stereotypes was especially important when working with these vulnerable communities because most of the individuals are facing multiple forms of inequality and social injustice which causes them to be left out by society as they suffer from marginalization and social exclusion.

Self-Taken Photograph of our first Turkey Dinner for Christmas

Overall, I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to be able to work with these vulnerable communities in the Downtown Eastside as I learn more about their supportive community and I am able to place myself in their situations and the struggles they face on a daily basis. Joining the TREK program has definitely helped me to integrate into university life because I have become more aware of the environment and the society around me and that’s essential to understanding my social context and what kind of role I play in society. It gave me the opportunity to interact with others and step out of my comfort zone in hopes of becoming more open-minded which I personally think is an essential mindset and skill to have continuing university.