WHEN I WAS A VOLUNTEER, Part 1

THE STORY HIDDEN BENEATH THE DIRT
by Bianca Alice Walker

'So do you have any family in Houston?' I asked him.Cedric didn't answer. He didn't even elevate his eyes to look in my direction. He continued to stare at the grass though he showed no fascination with it. His right leg flopped over his left like a thick, rotten branch. Nothing happened to the blade of grass he fixed his eyes on, and neither was there movement by him or me for at least 20 seconds.


'He doesn't have family, they died in a car accident,' my friend whispered to me, her eyes confirming the grave unsuitability and potential impact of my opening question. For a moment I stared at the same blade of grass because my heart sank as low as his, but I was determined to make him smile.


Cedric is one of many homeless people that led a normal, successful life, until a traumatic turn of events shattered his world, and their minds-irreversibly.Cedric was a Chemistry professor with a beautiful wife and children. One day he got into his car with his entire family, unaware that later that day he would be the only one to get out of the car, alive. He was driving.That day he lost his family, his sanity and would soon lose his job. 


Cedric is now homeless and visits the park below the highway every Sunday, where he sits with his legs crossed, staring at the grass, eating the food that a few volunteers so kindly made for him.What can be more startling, more heart wrenching, more mind boggling, more devastating, and more touching than this story? 


If I hadn't had the opportunity to volunteer to serve food to the homeless, I would continue to live my life in scorn of the dirty man lying on the pavement, chatting an incomprehensible chatter to himself.


In America there were a bevy of opportunities to volunteer, and tons of organisations that helped you through every step.In Trinidad, there's VCTT. Don't stay ignorant to the trials of others and don't keep your hands to yourself. Stretch them out to others. Become a volunteer or member of VCTT.