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Civic Imagination

Muriel: Love in abundance for Bournemouth's homeless people

In the weeks preceding my arrival in Bournemouth my new church (Lansdowne Church) had lost a lady who truly left her mark. I never met her but when I think about ways to serve the homeless in my community I think of the stories I have been told about her. When it came to caring for the homeless and in need, Muriel Hawke’s efforts were remarkable. She was the figure head of the church’s outreach to these groups, called In Touch, and an absolute force to reckoned with. Nobody messed with her because everybody know that she was on mission to bring light into the lives of those who may have not felt it in a long time, if ever. In Touch ran three times a week during her lifetime but if Muriel had her way it would have ran every day. She was the first to arrive and the last to leave. During these times a meal would be served to whoever needed it. They were able to clean up, get a clean change of clothes and any essentials they may need, such as toothbrushes or sleeping bags. Leaders would also share a message from the bible before the meal.

One of the reasons for Muriel’s commitment to serving the homeless and needy was because at one stage in her life it was her in the position of needing a hot meal and help. Muriel had herself been homeless and battled addiction for several years. Her life had been transformed and the only way for her life from then on was to help those who were in the situation she had been in.

I think it was the first or second service that I attended at Lansdowne Church that I learnt of Muriel as the thanksgiving service for her life would be the following week. That evening after the service a friend took the time to tell me about her and the amazing work that she did. I had been struck by just how many homeless people there were in Bournemouth when I had moved to the area a week previously. I had not long been a Christian and Muriel’s story gave me an inspirational example of what it meant to live whole-heartedly for the Lord, doing his will and loving those around you.
A few weeks after that a friend and I felt we should go along to In Touch to see if we could help. We soon got stuck in; serving food, having conversations, taking an interest in their lives, cleaning up unidentified spillages, whatever there was to do we wanted to help. When you see a homeless or intoxicated person on the street it can feel quite frightening when you are alone. The local authorities say not to give them money but in the winter I feel compelled at times because otherwise they may not be able to get a bed in a hostel. Sometimes when I am by a shop I will buy them some food and drink. Sometimes I stop and have a conversation with them and pray with them if they want to. However, sometimes I just mutter an apology and walk on, unsure of what the best thing to do is. Being involved with In Touch meant that I could do something but still feel relatively safe because of the rest of the team and from getting to know the visitors over the weeks.
Many people across Bournemouth know Muriel’s story, especially Christians but I think many need reminding of the amazing humility and servant-heartedness she displayed.

Muriel's story is of massive inspiration and one that I pass on to others when thinking about how we can radically love and care for those in society who we often awkwardly avoid, not knowing what will be the best course of action. Whilst In Touch is a Christian group, Muriel's actions and the actions of others that continue the work, are ones that we can all learn from regardless of belief system. We so often are concerned with our own little worlds that we don't stop to think of how much we have. To share a meal and conversation with somebody who for most of the day may be ignored or stared at by almost everyone they see is a precious thing to do because it's reinforcing the fact that they are human's who deserve love and care.
This story, I am sure, would be a lot better told by someone who knew her personally but I don't think it should be limited to this, hers is one that inspire us all to break down the barriers that we put up and reach out to a fellow human being who needs practical and/or emotional/spiritual support.

http://lansdownechurch.uk/community/reaching-out/in-touch/

Bournemouth, love, homelessness, Christian, Lansdowne Church,

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8. Maus: A Survivor's Tale
10. The Lion King
12. Sailor Moon Sailor Moon is a young teenage girl that learns that she has magical powers that allows her to fight against the evils of the extraterrestrial world. She finds the Sailor Scouts, Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter. Each of them have powers that relate to the symbolism of their planet and a specific superhero outfit that they wear. Based in Neo-futuristic Tokyo the story was released in the 1990’s as a manga and then a television anime came out. It became very popular among teens especially young Asian-American girls because of where it was based although the characters were many depicted as white skin tone.
14. Chef "Chef is a film released in 2014 that was written and directed by Jon Favreau who was inspired by his own career in film and love of the culinary arts to create a movie about a popular chef who needs to find his creative spark and fall in love with cooking once more. The film begins in California where Chef Carl Casper lives and works. After receiving a brutally negative review from a well regarded food critic, Carl reevaluates his job at a fancy restaurant in California. He realized that sticking to a strict menu has taken away a lot of joy from the profession he used to love. After he quits his job, Carl heads to Miami, Florida with his family because his ex-wife, Inez, needs him to watch their son, Percy, while she works.
16. How the tortoise got cracks in his shell
19. The colonial city
20. My Dad
23. Sanjay's Super Team This is an animated short film from Pixar directed and written by Sanjay Patel who based it off his experiences as a child. The story revolves around a young boy, Sanjay, and his father, an Indian-American migrant. Sanjay is watching his favourite superheroes on TV while his father is praying by the shrine in the same room. His father urges him to join in the ritual but Sanjay refuses so he switches off the TV and takes his toy in order to force him into it.
28. Freedom Writers: Bridging Racial Divides Through Writing Freedom Writers (the movie) is based on a true story of a school in Long Beach, California. The main character, Erin Gruwell, is a new teacher at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School and placed with the students who are considered at-risk and unteachable. These students were almost entirely comprised of minorities, with the exception of one student. With such a diverse class and a group of students who had no apparent desire to learn, the film explores the real-world challenges that Gruwell faced trying to get her students to come to class wanting to learn, if they would even want to come to their classes at all. The class divides itself based on race, and fights and arguments breakout regularly. The class later finds common ground on their feelings and discussions around The Holocaust. Her students become inspired to break free from the things that originally divided them, most notably with one character speaking out against someone who she was being forced to lie for during a trial. She tasked her students with writing in a diary and then compiled those journals and writings into a collection of them all in “The Freedom Writers Diary.”
32. Michelle S
34. Simba and the Maasai Warriors
40. A Leader
46. The Myth of the Mansfield Hanging Tree
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56. Roaring Lion
61. Fox's Creek On a hot summer night a community of animals were chased out of their home by a growing wildfire which started to burn down their forest. Mother Deer grabbed her young ones while the other animals rushed to cross the great river. Everyone showed their human instincts, pushing, kicking, and growling desperately on their way to safety. Mother Deer made it to the other side with Fawn but Mother Rabbit forgot one of her many young ones so she asked her for he
62. Train of Hope
63. Emmeline the Suffragist
69. How I "Eat, Pray, and Love"
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77. Nour H
78. Nina N.
79. Out of Balance
80. Sandokan: A Post-Colonial Coldwar Hero The plot of the novel revolves around the adventures of Sandokan - a Bornean man who lost his status, home and family to British colonialists. Embittered by his experience, Sandokan sets up camp at the island of Mompracem. From there he leads a gang of pirates under the flag of the Tiger. Together they destabilize the colonialists’ authority through robbery and violence. Steeped in the colonial period in which it was written, Salgari’s novel pitted indigenous populations against the colonial powers in ways that highlighted the evils of imperialism and celebrated resistance. As Maria Bianca Gerlich (1998, 34) observes, “Sandokan, Mompracem, and the flag of the tiger are allegories in the fight for freedom.”
83. Equilibrium Equilibrium is set in 2072 in Libria, a city state established by the survivors of World War III. “Equilibrium” is an action/thriller movie following John Preston (Bale), an enforcement officer in a futuristic world where a regime has decided to eliminate war by suppressing emotions using a certain type of drug. Books, art and music are strictly forbidden and "feeling" is a crime punishable by death.
85. Nora S
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138. A Tale of Traveler's Past A 28-30 year-old man boards a train and sits in an empty compartment. He is a weary traveller who has spent countless days trying to find transportation to reach his destination. While en route, he falls asleep and is visited from travelers from past and present journeys of who had boarded this particular train. The first visitor is Alexander Hamilton; a migrant from the Caribbean who traveled to the United States in the 1800's. He recounts his experience of traveling to a new country and achieving his dream of creating something that would outlive him. The second visitors are Art and Vladek Spiegelman; a father and son who share their story of how they migrated to a new country after the Holocaust events of World War II and their struggles of adapting into the culture of a new nation. The last visitor is a woman who comes from the Middle East who arrived in Vienna a year ago. She tells her story about the journey she experienced to reach her new home as well as the issues she's experiences now as an outcast from a land that she's still not fully settled into yet.
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Contents of this tag:
2. Maus: A Survivor's Tale
7. How the tortoise got cracks in his shell
10. My Dad
11. Sanjay's Super Team This is an animated short film from Pixar directed and written by Sanjay Patel who based it off his experiences as a child. The story revolves around a young boy, Sanjay, and his father, an Indian-American migrant. Sanjay is watching his favourite superheroes on TV while his father is praying by the shrine in the same room. His father urges him to join in the ritual but Sanjay refuses so he switches off the TV and takes his toy in order to force him into it.
12. Freedom Writers: Bridging Racial Divides Through Writing Freedom Writers (the movie) is based on a true story of a school in Long Beach, California. The main character, Erin Gruwell, is a new teacher at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School and placed with the students who are considered at-risk and unteachable. These students were almost entirely comprised of minorities, with the exception of one student. With such a diverse class and a group of students who had no apparent desire to learn, the film explores the real-world challenges that Gruwell faced trying to get her students to come to class wanting to learn, if they would even want to come to their classes at all. The class divides itself based on race, and fights and arguments breakout regularly. The class later finds common ground on their feelings and discussions around The Holocaust. Her students become inspired to break free from the things that originally divided them, most notably with one character speaking out against someone who she was being forced to lie for during a trial. She tasked her students with writing in a diary and then compiled those journals and writings into a collection of them all in “The Freedom Writers Diary.”
16. The Diary of Anne Frank
17. A Leader
25. The Light at the end of a Dark Tunnel
27. Train of Hope
29. Emmeline the Suffragist
30. How I "Eat, Pray, and Love"
31. The doctors' team of the Aegean sea
34. We are all Martín Fierro
42. The Help
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Muriel