Homeless: Motel Kids

If you ever get a chance to watch this documentary, DO IT. I got the chance to watch this last night and it hit me hard close to home. I couldn't believe the conditions these kids live in and the things they learn in school.

Basically the documentary is about families who live in a motel in Orange County California, across the street from Disneyland. 4, 6, 8 people and pets crammed into a room. Sadly, it reminded me of the way many of my old friends in the Dells live, and how the Dells is known to everyone else as a tourist attraction where those who visit have a hard time realizing people live there let alone live in motel rooms as families with 4 or 6 people crammed into a kitchenette unit.

Its the same way here... people picture Orange County as a tourist location with Disneyland and the beaches and stuff, but probably have no clue these families and kids are right there across the street from their playground.... where the city streets and parking lots for these kids is a playground.

The video goes on to show about Project Hope, which is a school for homeless children funded by the government, but at the end they stated due to budget cuts they had to let two of their teachers go, including one who was in the video. I also couldn't believe that these kids were learning about legal and illegal drugs in 3rd and 4th grade! Is that due to the decay of society or how much drug activity there is in California compared to Wisconsin? I don't think I even began hearing about drugs at least til 7th or 8th grade, except cigarettes.

There were a few things that made my heart melt tho. Just shows how these kids are so different... an 11 yr old boy was asked what does home mean to him? And he replied he really doesn't know what that means. He lieved in a room with 3 or 4 other children and his mother and 4 dogs.

A 6 yr old in the classroom, when they were talking about living in America and the "rights" Americans have, this 6 yr old said "I have the right to remain silent." He's 6!!!! And I'm sure he didn't learn that from watching the tv show.... This is the same 6 year old when asked what he wanted this summer, replied "a mansion and all the guns in the world."

The one thing I DIDN'T like at all is when the interviewer asked the kids why they thought God would let them be homeless. I don't remember exactly what the kids replies were, but it just bothered me that she would ask that.

Anyways, go check this out if you haven't seen it. I wound up catching it at 2 am on HBO Signature channel this morning and I looked for it on demand and couldn't locate it... but its a good flick. Moving and heartbreaking. It made me want to go there and help these kids, even though I have no clue how.