Seeing God at Work: A Vocare Reflection

For my Vocare experience, I served in community outreach for the Franciscan Peacemakers... I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Franciscan Peacemakers because they’ve come to our school to speak or to sell products. They serve women who have been or are being sexually exploited or trafficked and help them on their path to recovery and healing.

One way they do this is by going out on outreach, which means driving a van through areas in Milwaukee where prostitution is actively occurring—and has been for a long time—to bring bag lunches, hygiene products, and warm clothes among other things to women they see in need. When I had the amazing opportunity to go out on outreach, I was surprised to recognize many of the places we drove past. We went through areas that I drive through to get to soccer practice every week and past the Domes where I had been many times as a kid.

Also, the Franciscan Peacemakers are located at 3333 W. Lisbon Avenue in Milwaukee. This is eight minutes from my house. This was my community and yet I had no idea how deep the issues of sexual exploitation and trafficking ran through it. I found myself looking at places I had seen many times before in passing with a completely new perspective.

On outreach, I remember we drove past one woman sitting on a bench at the bus stop and I thought: She’s just waiting for the bus. But the driver of the outreach van turned around and went back and called out to her offering supplies. She was so grateful she almost started crying and she told us she hadn’t eaten in two days. I saw God at work at this moment.

In the compassionate eye of the driver to recognize this woman's need. In the woman’s gratitude and persistent faith, asking God to bless us. In my own realization what we see on the surface and dismiss isn’t the full story–suffering may be silent and stay silent unless someone reaches out a hand.

I had known that the Franciscan Peacemakers serve women who are often forgotten and neglected. What I hadn’t realized was that this is because so many people are simply unaware of and uneducated about their struggle, as I myself was. My experience on Vocare taught me the importance of educating ourselves on the issues our community faces and going out to where people need help and offering it, rather than waiting and only responding to what impacts us personally.

I would like to pass on some of the advice I was given during my experience. First from Ms. Cynthia, the Outreach and Recovery Assistance Specialist: "You cannot take care of others unless you take care of yourself." Self-love and self-care are crucial for our health and our ability to show others compassion.

Second, from Rose,* a guest I was fortunate to meet in the Franciscan Peacemakers’ hospitality center: "Don’t be so hard on yourself!" Forgive your mistakes, accept you won’t always win, and never let fear of failure be the reason you don’t try.

A third piece of advice comes from me: Buy Franciscan peacemakers products! They have an online store, and I recommend the coconut lime things.

*Names have been changed to protect participants' identities.