DELPHOS — The United States has long been referred to as a “melting pot.” Perhaps this is no better exemplified than in Los Angeles.
Jefferson High School graduate Kyle Rode will be a senior at Bluffton University in the fall. He was one of 18 students to spend most of May in Southern California. Most of his time was spent in L.A. but he also visited San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.
Rode tasted foods from several Asian cultures, fed the homeless on “skid row,” toured the Museum of Tolerance, visited Beverly Hills, Hollywood and more.
“We stayed at a college in Pasadena and drove to L.A. every day. It is very diverse. We (Caucasians) were the minority in L.A. It has the second-largest population of Latinos outside of Mexico and the second-largest population of Koreans outside of Seoul. We got on a bus and drove through Chinatown and Koreatown, then we ended up in Hollywood,” he said.
In addition to seeing tapings of “The Price is Right” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” television shows, Rode saw the Cincinnati Reds lose at Dodger Stadium and visited Venice Beach.
“We went on a day that was too cold to go swimming. There were a lot of homeless people on the boardwalk, which was kind of run-down. The only beach I had ever been to was Myrtle Beach and this was nothing like that,” he said.
The L.A. homeless population is most visible on “skid row,” a section formerly known as Central City East. Rode served breakfast at Union Rescue Mission.
“We took a class before we went down there and were told what to expect. The cooks are guys who used to be homeless and ate there themselves and have come out of it and are now in culinary school,” he said. “One of the guys we talked to said he ended up homeless because of drugs and his family didn’t want anything to do with him.
“We saw one homeless guy come in talking on a Blue Tooth, so maybe his house or apartment burned down and he didn’t have anywhere to go. The majority of the homeless people we talked to were very grateful and upbeat about life. I don’t know if I’d be like that if I were living on the street.”
The Dream Center is an outreach of Los Angeles International Church. The center offers food, clothing, job training, shelter, drug and alcohol rehabilitation and more. Rode participated in a children’s ministry held in a public park.
“One day we went and handed out flyers to kids when they got out of school, then we set up in a park and did a puppet show to teach the kids about God,” he said.
Rode took a guided bus tour through San Diego on the way to Tijuana to take lunch to orphans.
“We didn’t speak the same language but we learned to communicate with hand gestures. We took them to a zoo and we could tell what they wanted to do even without speaking,” he said.
Rode was not used to being in a non-English-speaking environment.
“I felt out of place at first but I got used to it. We took a tour through the city and it can’t be the nicest part of Mexico. We also visited a place where people can stay for a while when they get deported from the U.S.,” he said.
Rode said the group went through no security when entering Mexico but passed through various checkpoints in the process of re-entering California.
In an upscale area of Los Angeles, the group toured the J. Paul Getty Museum, which exhibits various art and more.
“They explained how they design buildings to withstand earthquakes, which takes several years to complete,” he said.
Another museum Rode toured was the Museum of Tolerance, a multi-media center of exhibits on racial prejudice with a focus on the Holocaust.
“They took us through an actual gas chamber they put people in during the Holocaust. They also had exhibits on other hate crimes and the KKK. I had always read about stuff but seeing the videos and displays was almost like going through it. It really opened my eyes and it was definitely a worthwhile educational experience. I’m glad I went,” he said.
In addition to getting stuck in heavy traffic every day, the group stayed in Pasadena for a walking tour of the city’s urban neighborhoods, looking for “signs of hope.”
One of them is a school affiliated with Harambee Ministries, which was created by Dr. John Perkins more than 20 years ago with the intent of being “change agents,” according to the organization’s Web site.
“We tutored kids after school; most of them were African-American or Latino. We helped them with their homework and played with them until their parents came and picked them up. It was an after-school program at Harambee Preparatory School, which bought three houses that used to be used for prostitution and dealing drugs. They bought them to turn things around in Northwest Pasadena, so that was a sign of hope,” he said.
Rode was struck by the stark differences in American ways of life exhibited in its second-largest city. It was not what he expected.
“I had never been to Los Angeles; I thought all of it was just like Hollywood but it’s not like that. It’s not all glitz and glamor,” he added.