Jennifer Polzin

One morning as we were getting ready for the day, we began to hear a loud argument outside. As we looked out the window to see what was going on we noticed a large crowd gathering outside the church. At first, the argument was in front of the store next to the church. Then, the arguing got some distance and the people involved were yelling and swearing at each other from opposite ends of the street. This made the yelling even louder than it already was. It was getting a lot of attention and several began to gather around. Soon after this had started, a police officer drove by and saw what was going on. He pulled over and walked up to the people that were arguing, but after little success of getting a word in he finally yelled at the top of his lungs, “Shut up!”

After several more minutes of arguing another police officer pulled up to give some assistance. Then, the arguing finally began to quiet down. One of the women from the neighborhood told me the next day that the whole argument started between two girls because of a boy at school. The guy supposedly was cheating on one of the girls with the other. For this reason, one of the girls and her friends were going to jump the other girl. That is when the family of the girl that was going to get jumped stepped in to protect. Oh, how quickly an argument can escalate!

The children are always bringing joy to this ministry. Just last week, there was a ten year old boy from the neighborhood that came to Prime Time (the children’s ministry), but he had never been to our church before. As he was walking with me through the neighborhood to pick up more kids, he turned to me and asked, “Do the helpers for Prime Time get paid for their work?” I said, “No, everyone volunteers.” After hearing this, he thought about it for several seconds and then responded, “You mean people walk in the ghetto to pick up kids because they want to?” I continued to explain that the helpers enjoy spending time with the kids. He said, “Well, I think they should get paid like $5 per kid for doing that”.

On another day, as I was walking the pre-teen girls home after 180 (the pre-teen ministry) there was a seven year old girl that started walking with us. She asked if I could walk her home too. I said that I would be able to and as we were walking there were several people outside that I waved or said hello to. After a few times of this, the girl turned to me and asked, “Does everyone go to church?” I smiled, and continued to explain that there are lots of ministries at church besides just the children’s ministry.

The time with the people has been so rewarding. You can’t help, but smile when you spend time with them.  God is definitely using them to make a difference in my life!

There are many memorable experiences from spending time with the people here in Lower Price Hill, but one of the memories that continues to make me smile happened when a couple of our friends came to meet some of the kids that we talk so much about. After they got done working, they drove to the neighborhood and we all went to the school playground to play games with the kids that were enjoying the cooler evening. We started with a game of basketball. Then, when several younger kids wanted to join we began a game of freeze tag. After several minutes of this, our two friends taught the kids a name game that was a combination of clapping and singing. The kids loved this game and soon the circle grew to about ten kids. One parent came near to listen and watch what was taking place. He just continued to smile with the enjoyment that the kids expressed. Others were watching from a distance. When it was getting late, we walked the children home and they clung to us in any way possible. Some rode on our backs and others held on to our hands. One began to cry as we were walking away. Their lives were not the only ones to be affected that night, however. The joy that came from them will leave a lasting imprint in our lives too!

            While I have lived here in Cincinnati, I have been trying to learn as much about the inner-city culture as I can. Most of that learning comes from spending time with the people. My eyes often get opened to several surprises.

            There was one time when I took a struggling, single, teenage mother to go get food stamps and extra cash from the job and family services building downtown. As soon as I stepped through the doors, my eyes got big with surprise. The sight was something that I did not expect. Just to enter the building we had to go through security. We had to send our purses through a security belt, where a police officer was able to examine their contents on a computer screen. After that stage was accomplished, we had to walk through a censored doorway where a police officer stood with a metal detector. What I just described, is the exact security that you will find at an airport. All of this was done simply to get into the building. What a start to the day!

            Once we got through security, the area was crowded with people. There was only standing room left. People also had to begin to gather in the hallway to find space. All of these people were there to get help from the government and this was just one day out of the week. I could not believe how many people were there to ask for assistance. After taking a deep breath, the teenager and I went up to a desk to get some direction on what to do next. They gave the teenager some paperwork to fill out. After just a few minutes, we were called to walk to the back office area where she was able to sit down and finalize the paperwork with one of the employees. Next, we were directed to the other side of the building where we waited for about three hours. I thought that the workers had forgotten about the teenager that I was with. As we were waiting, there was another mother who walked up to the front desk and complained how she had a set appointment time and it was now about two hours past the time that it was set for. She had her one and a half year old daughter with her too. Patience was something to be learned that day.

            As we continued to wait, I noticed that every door had to be unlocked before people could walk through. All of the employees were guarded behind locked doors while three or four police officers were spread out among the crowd of people. It was shocking to see what measures they had to take at this particular office, but with the number of people that come in and out every day and the attitudes that arise with the long waits it is completely understandable.

             People say that the neighborhood changes when the weather gets warmer. That has already been evident even though the weather has just started to improve. One night Jessica and I heard an argument between several people outside the church building and after a few minutes had passed, a woman started to get frantic because someone had a knife. With the drastic turn of events, Jessica and I continued to listen to the words that were exchanged expecting to make a phone call to the police, but nothing ever resulted from the argument.

             On another day, we heard multiple gun shots as we were sitting in our apartment. The shots sounded close as they were loud and distinct. Our hearts started to race, as sirens were heard shortly after. The fire station is the first responder to any accident and the fire station happens to be right down the street from the church. We tried to compare the direction of the sirens to the direction of the gun shots and they seemed different, but we will never know for sure.

             Then, several days later we were at JP and Chloe’s house for a team get together and heard quite the commotion outside. We all heard a big crash and turned to look out their living room window. Their neighbors that live across the street had their big front window broken by someone. After a short while several police cars surrounded their neighbor’s house and the police officers began to search the yard with flashlights. I was nervous to leave that night, but JP and Jade watched as we left to make sure that we would be alright.

            There is always potential danger here, but there are so many people protecting us!

I have not been living in Cincinnati for very long, but one thing that has been evident during my time here is that life is difficult for those living in poverty.  As I talk with the mothers and children in this area, one of the main topics of conversation is how hard life is. I have been told numerous stories that bring light to how challenging life is for these people. They mention how their dad got jumped the night before, how their younger sister is trying drugs and cigarettes, how their mom cussed them out as soon as they got home. The stories are endless about the violence, addiction, and poverty. When I ask about the good things that happened during the week, they become silent. After a lot of thought they tell me that they cannot think of anything good that happened during the week.

          It is heartbreaking to imagine that kind of life; a life without hope, without joy, and without value. However, there are things that make them smile. Hope shines through when someone takes the time to listen to their concerns, when someone shows sincere care for their lives, and when someone simply takes the time to be with them. What a privilege it is to share His hope with several people here in Cincinnati. There are hard times, but from those hard times hope emerges. Just look at how the Spring flowers grow after the cold Winter or how a rainbow appears after a storm. The hard times will come, but so will hope and peace.

            The warmer weather has allowed more relationship building with the kids outdoors, so once school was out for the neighborhood children, a couple of the preteen girls and I started a game of kickball. Within a matter of moments several kids joined the game.

            This game of kickball definitely became a cultural experience. The rules varied from what I had learned growing up and I soon found out that someone needed to be the referee. At first, some of the kids wanted me to be the referee for the close calls. That did not last long though. Whoever could vocalize their opinion the loudest made the call. Plus, everyone wanted to be on the kicking team while those out in the field were limited. As a result, many children began to get frustrated. As the numbers increased, the conflict did as well.

            One of the preteen girls that started the game of kickball with me kicked the ball and it happened to go straight back to the pitcher, hitting the pitcher in the arm. There was an older preteen girl that was pitching at the time and after the ball hit her, she got in the face of the girl that kicked the ball and said, “If that would have hit me in the face, I would have hit you in the face.” With those words spoken by the pitcher, the kicker took a couple of steps back in fear that a punch to the face was sure to come.

            As the game and the arguing continued, I finally had had enough and headed back to the church. On my walk back to my apartment, I kept thinking about how this was all for a simple game of kickball.

The culture that a person comes from, teaches him or her a lot about the way he or she should live and behave. Someone that is raised in the inner-city learns hidden rules that are unique to the inner-city. They know where the bargains are and they know how to be creative with the limited resources they have. There are several other hidden rules, however, one of  them is often visible to those that do not know the culture. People from the inner-city know how to fight when someone “messes” with them. With this being a learned behavior of the culture, the children and adults tend to appear as argumentative and bad tempered.

          There is something much deeper beyond this hardness though. These people have a desire to be loved. Everyone has a desire to be loved, but there seems to be a deeper urge for that love to be felt by those living in the inner-city. The children that come to the ministries want to ride on the backs or shoulders of the leaders, sit on the leader’s laps, be hugged, be carried, and have someone pay attention to them. Then, the preteen girls come to church and several go up to the leaders with open arms, wanting to get a hug. The moms in the neighborhood smile when you talk with them, make them feel important, and lend a helping hand. Simply put, they all have a desire to be loved and how great it is to share Christ’s love which is perfect and unconditional!

           Jessica and I left Wal-Mart after paying for all of the items in our basket. As we were leaving, the employee at the door said that he needed to check our receipt, because we were carrying an item that wasn’t bagged. After finding the un-bagged item on the receipt he said, “Have a nice day.” When he looked up to say his farewell he took a closer look at Jessica and me. After doing so, he said, “Those hats look good on you girls.” Jessica and I became embarrassed after being complimented by an elderly gentleman and just replied with “thanks.” At that moment Jessica and I started to walk out the door, but the man proceeded with small talk. He asked, “Can you even hear with those hats on?” What kind of question is that? Of course we can hear with our winter hats on. The things people ask us always amazes me.

           There was a Christmas program at Christ’s Church in Mason, Ohio that the State Avenue women’s group went to. Upon Arrival, we were all awed by the size and extravagance of the church. From the outside, it slightly resembled a hospital. There was an overhang that people could drive under to drop off passengers as well as multiple floors and a complex building design.

            Once the program started, we were all amazed with the music and props. The women were really enjoying themselves. After the intersession, a play about the birth of Jesus began to take place. At one part during the play, there were a couple of women that walked through the back doors where we were seated. As they started to walk up the isle carrying a basket of flowers they shouted, “Flowers anyone? Flowers?” When one of the women from the group heard them say these words, she swore loudly and was about to bolt out of her seat. She thought they had shouted fire! After she realized that there wasn’t actually a fire, she felt a little embarrassed and started apologizing for the swearing. The rest of us could not keep from laughing. There was also a family of three seated in front of us and they began to laugh as well.

            Then, as we were leaving, one of the women who was given a wheel chair left the wheelchair next to a young girl that was greeting everyone on the way out. She turned to Jennifer and said, “That girl is going to put it away for me.” Jennifer knew better though. That girl was simply telling everyone thank you for coming to the show, so Jennifer walked the wheel chair back to its proper location. In addition to this, Jessica was making sure that no one got lost in the big crowd, but when she looked around she could not find one of the older women. After getting a little worried that this woman was lost, she heard a little voice behind her say, “You keep pushing through. I am right behind you.” This brought a smile to Jessica’s face.

             After this day, we both realized that we find laughter and joy wherever we are and whoever we are with. There is never a dull moment!