F EATU RE S
NOVEMBER 14, 2014
ES3S
Church Under the Bridge: homeless ministry
BY NICOLE ZELNIKER
Senior Writer
Stepping out of a black Volkswagen Beetle
into tiKe crisp October night, I took in my
surroundings for the first time. An old brown
bridge looming over Spring Garden Street.
Hundreds of people crowded aroimd a table
full of food.
I went to Church Under the Bridge for my
first time in October 2013.
"I didn't really have any expectations," said
senior and Glen Haven Project Coordinator
Christie Loubet-Senear, who went to the
Church for the first time in August 2014.
"Before the semester started, I didn't know it
existed."
For those of any religion, a service held
under a bridge is an unusual concept.
"I was really curious to see how one could
hold a church service under a bridge," said
sophomore Kate Rich.
Although the premise is to provide a space
for prayer, the real purpose is community.
"It wasn't really focused around religion,"
said Ardsley High School junior Rachel
Barnard, who visited Church in March 2014
while at Guilford College. "It was more of
a community which I could relate to, even
though I'm Jewish."
While Church is certainly different from
what most Greensboro residents know, it is
modeled after Church Under the Bridge in
Waco, Texas. Greensboro's Church Under the
Bridge was founded by Kevin Carter.
"I was at college (at Southern Wesleyan
University) and got started with a friend of
mine," said Carter. "We went to a homeless
ministry in South Carolina and met people
(experiencing homelessness) for the first time,
really eye to eye."
After gaining experience through the
homeless ministry. Carter and his friends
began dishing out meals to the homeless on
their own.
"It started with serving meals out of the
back of our cars," said Carter. "Eventually,
(we realized) we could have a church right
imder the bridge. We started planning and
organizing, and next thing you know, we had
Church Under the Bridge."
For the past year, Guilfordians have been
reaching out to others, encouraging all to
experience it.
"It's important to get out and be aware
of your surroundings," said sophomore
Leah Whetten-Goldstein. "Church is our
community. It's good to explore and be aware
of other parts of Greensboro."
This year, Guilford students have the
opportunity to integrate themselves further
in the church community through providing
dinner there.
"A different church hosts each week, so
they do the service and provide the food,"
said Whetten-Goldstein. "Guilford is going
to do (that) in March. We're teaming up
with different food providers and Guilford
students. IT s going to be the most interactive
that Guilford has gotten with whurch."
Under the Bridge is a completely different
world.
"It gets us outside of this bubble of
Guilford that we're^in,,and you get to see a
totally different side (of Greensboro)," said
sophomore Connor Pruitt. "I feel a sense of
community and a connection to the people
that are there."
For me, the best part of Church has always
been the people.
"There's ^ways something to learn from
everyone's story," said sophomore Mara Stem.
Today, fellow Project Coordinator and *
senior Noelle Lane and I work to get others to
experience Church.
"We wanted to work on building a bridge
from Guilford College to the bridge here, (at
Church) Under the Bridge," said Lane.
Kate Rich* 17 and Kat Kaltenheuser* 17 attended a church event.
Montagnard community struggles to acquire health care
BY AiPERI lUSUPOVA
Staff Writer
A majority of undocumented immigrants become
captives of daily fear and stress once they leave the
borders of their own land to pursue happiness and well
being in another country.
For many immigrants in the U.S., beginning a new
life as foreigners is a challenge. They are condemned to
constant discrimination, violence and prejudice, all of
which negatively impact their physical and mental health.
In addition to these issues, socioeconomic barriers
and disparities within the U.S. public health hinder their
access to health care.
"The Montagnard people don't want to go to the
hospital because they fear that they cannot afford to pay
the bill," said junior and Bonner scholar Lek Siu, who
immigrated with her
help them understand why they are sick," said Andrew
Young, Bonner Program coordinator and research fellow
at the Center for New North Carolinians. "When we hear
community members complaining about their health
issues, such as stress, we bring research to find solutions.
The community is not trained to cure themselves, therefore
we train institutional expertise to find out the causes."
CNNC provides services necessary for improvement of
immigrants' standards of living. They have established
the Montagnard Health Disparities Research Network to
address issues related to immigrant health care access and
health inequities.
"Since my background is public health, I started
investigating health issues of Montagnard community,"
said Dr. Sharon Morrison, CNNC research fellow and
professor of public health education at UNCG. "There
is a growing prevalence of chronic illnesses within this
"Regardless of age, ethnic, religious background, socioeconomic conditions or gender,
adequate access to liealth care must be granted to all in the event of illness, emergencies,
or in the normal life cycle of an individual."
Kyung-wha Kang, South Korean diplomat
family from the village
Bong Bao in the Gia Lai
province of Vietnam to
Greensboro. "Most of
them are jobless."
In 2002, around 900
Montagnard refugees
fled to North Carolina
to seek asylum from the
Vietnamese government,
which did not tolerate
any religious activity
outside their control.
"The police would get drunk, wake me up and question
me and beat me, " said an anonymous Montagnard
immigrant, persecuted in Gia Lai, Vietnam for standing
up for his religious beliefs, in an interview with Human
Rights Watch. "They used electric shock on me every time
they interrogated me. They would shock me on my knees,
saying you used these legs to walk to the demonstration."
Today, the Montagnard population constitutes more
than 10,000 people, who have been resettled in Raleigh,
Greensboro and Charlotte. Nonprofit institutions in
Greensboro and humanitarian activists in the Triad area
have established programs that provide human resources
to minority groups.
"We are working with the Montagnard community to
community. Diabetes and hypertension are (the) main
ones. These folks don't understand the causes of their
health issues. They lack of a lot of tools and resources to
integrate into our society."
Public health experts have long acknowledged that
language and cultural barriers are the most important
issues in health care.
"While trying to access medical services, many
immigrants face language barriers," said senior Branda
Mlo, public health education major at UNCG and
Montagnard descendent. "There are over 10 dialects
within Montagnard community, and most places do not
offer translation and are not aware of their language
skills."
According to the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, access to health care is an inherent right to
the best standard of living possible. It is a set of freedoms
and entitlements thqt should facilitate the individual's
health and social conditions.
"The full enjoyment of many other human rights strictly
depends on the right to health," said Kyung-wha Kang at
a scientific session on Health and Human Rights at the
World Medical Association General Assembly. "Regardless
of age, ethnic, religious background, socioeconomic
conditions or gender, adequate access to health care must
be granted to all in the event of illness, emergencies or in
the normal life cycle of an individual."
The absence of culturally and linguistically appropriate
services in most health-care institutions violates the core
principles of fundamental human rights.
"I noticed that some people in my community who get
checked don't get at all what's in their prescription," said
sophomore \Ying Ksor,
Montagnard descendant
and Bonner Scholar.
"They need someone to
guide them. We need
interpreters or educators
that can provide
information about the
health-care system
and available human
resources."
The right to health
is an international
human right treaty that should be protected through
governmental legislation and policies. However, state
legislatures have merely recognized the urgency of the
U.S. health care reforms.
The health care delivery should become more available
to underprivileged Americans regardless of their race,
culture, religion, political belief, economic or social
condition
On a campus dominated by privileged students and
faculty members, we do not often come across many cases
of institutional health care inequality.
As a community dedicated to fighting social justice
issues, we must commit ourselves to addressing this
systemic issue. So, the question is: how can our institution
accomplish this? •