Who I Am Matters

In LA, the number of homeless people have increased exponentially from approximately 32,000 to 58,000 in just 6 years. In America, an estimated 553,742 people are experiencing homelessness on an average night. That is the reason why we found this non-profit organization called This is Home. Our Mission Statement: “To build a sanctuary for the homeless, both financially and spiritually, building a foundation for their future with endless possibilities" My passion in serving the community—in particular the homeless people—stems from my past experiences in giving out dinner boxes to the homeless people in Hong Kong. I believe This is Home embodies my vision perfectly, effectively alleviating societal problems through constructive action. My organization will be more than just a sanctuary for the homeless in the literal sense. We aim to protect the health and safety of the homeless on top of providing necessities, not to encourage permanent dependency on our organization but ...

Back in high school, I gave out dinner boxes to the homeless people on the streets of Central, Hong Kong regularly. Gradually I developed a deep-rooted awareness for this issue that is not only local but is prevalent around the world. If it wasn’t for the experience of doing on-site volunteer work, I think I would not have been informed about the severity of the issue. People in LA are no stranger to this issue either. I have sighted numerous homeless people on the metro and particularly downtown--the situation is quite alarming. Although I have not conducted study in this area, there are obvious reasons as to why this might be a common problem in our society. Firstly, I believe unemployment might be the root cause. People roam the streets because they cannot afford housing and are not able to make a living. This might be due to their limited knowledge and skills, which arises from lack of education. Therefore, all of this boils down to education as a foundation for mitigating the...

“What does it mean to be white when black bodies are under attack?” “How would you define you manhood if it didn’t mean oppressing women?” “Who does America belong to?” These are some of the many questions posted on random walls across America by a special group of artists. Last month, I attended an event sponsored by USC Annenberg Institute for Diversity and Empowerment and Visions & Voices. The movement “When Women Disrupt” is a collaboration between artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, muralist Jessica Sabogal, and filmmaker Melinda James. Together they created outdoor public art installations that brings issues of racism, sexism and xenophobia to the forefront. From their self-introductions, I could get a sense of the reasons and the driving force behind this creative concept. Being an immigrant herself, Jessica talked about how she had faced problems of feeling isolated by the “white supremacist”, xenophobic society. Tatyana talked about how she feels that gender inequality ...