The realities of the Downtown East Side
I had been wanting to walk through Crab Park for a while (being so sensitive to people’s pain means that I have a really really hard time spending any time within the Downtown East Side, DTES). Up until today, I hadn’t been able to walk through the DTES for more than 3 minutes. I am not kidding you… if I spend any substantial amount of time (e.g. more than five minutes) in the DTES I start shivering, having goosebumps and I’m almost reduced to tears. Those friends of mine who have had the misfortune of having witnessed this know very well that I should not be allowed within the DTES.
However, this afternoon I wanted to challenge myself and see how much could I take it, since I know that Crab Park is a beautiful walk as it is close to the Port of Vancouver. Unfortunately for me and my unusual sensitivity, it is also very close to Main and Hastings, so walking around this area I risk feeling really sick to my stomach. Anyhow, JT and I went for a walk there this afternoon. It was a very nice walk despite the fact that I shivered through about 70% of the entire time I spent there.
I wanted to explore a bit (and test my resilience further) so we walked from Main and Alexander to about Railway and Dunleavy. I joked with JT about the fact that this area looked secluded enough to come at night and perform non-pure acts in a car. He laughed at my comment and said “well, how did you know? maybe you saw the two already used preservatives lying on the street?“. I was shocked. I hadn’t seen those, and they were clearly used.
Now, knowing that I’ve lived in Vancouver for over a decade, you might be somewhat amused at the fact that I was so shocked. In fact, the DTES has a reputation for being one of the locations where most of the carnal trade takes place, so being as it was that I was walking in the DTES, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
But bear in mind – I walked through this area at around 4.30pm. I didn’t expect to see that stuff that early during the day. And truth be told I probably wouldn’t venture in the DTES later than 6 pm anyways. But seeing that stuff on the street and witnessing poverty and pain so close made me reflect on how much more work needs to be done in the DTES.
I do feel as though I contribute a tiny, tiny bit to addressing this problem (I volunteer my time and support a number of charities that provide meals to HIV positive people and homeless persons in the DTES) but I wonder what else can I do to help. I realize that in trying to protect myself and my unusual, unique sensitivity to pain and suffering, I sometimes have been shielded from seeing the realities of the DTES first-hand. I am, however, happy because I challenged myself to see how much pain I could take and that gave me at least a bit of a better picture of the sad state of this area. I hope that through my blogging, raising awareness and other efforts, I will be able to help some of these people, I really do.
SIDEBAR – I actually live in Mount Pleasant, and even though I had argued before that this neighbourhood has changed quite a bit and it has improved a lot, I also found a couple of used preservatives half a block from my house. The movie Mount Pleasant, which I reviewed a year and a half ago, is a depiction of how this neighbourhood used to look like. And apparently, even though I thought much had been evolved, not so much… you can still walk around here and find used preservatives and sometimes, syringes.
FOOTNOTE – You may have noticed that I linked to the Wikipedia description of the DTES. The neutrality of this Wikipedia entry is heavily contested, and if you are interested in issues on the DTES, I find the discussion page a very telling source around the controversies. I find that sometimes people are so overwhelmed that they don’t take enough time to look at all sources, so I find that this discussion page has provided me with another perspective on the DTES.
ADDENDUM – And if you want to hear another story about this troubled area, you can mosey over to Keira’s post. Her account of her experiences while walking her dogs around Crab Park is quite touching.
Related posts:
I volunteer in the DTES at the Salvation Army Drop-In center. It is difficult at the best of times, but I find that I have a bit of an affinity for the area, and the people it inhabits. I know a couple of people who now live in the DTES; one was a girl I was in treatment with( she relapsed, had no support and is now back on the street). Sometimes I take walks through the alleys, stopping and talking to those who will talk to me. Everyone has a story, and most are happy to be listened too. Also good for you for challenging yourself to take a walk through the neighbourhood.
Also I had no idea that Wiki had a discussion page. Now I do.
[...] Park (at 4:30am on Thursday I think), in the Downtown East Side. As I have mentioned before, the realities of the Downtown East Side (DTES) are very complex, and homelessness is not an easy issue to tackle. If it were, Vancouver wouldn’t have any [...]