Nope. This isn't South Africa. Nope. It's not New York. It's not even Chicago. It's Grand Rapids. (Well not this particular picture). I was biking home from Kalamazoo and 36th today, and I ended up having to take some detours. Evidently Construction season in Grand Rapids, means that every street downtown has some sort of construction on it. Which always leads to a dead end.
On my bike home, I biked all the way down Kalamazoo until the construction hit. I then took Alger, and hit up another street called Oakdale. As I was biking down Oakdale, I noticed that a lot of people were out on their porches. I also noticed that out of all the people that I passed, no one was happy. There was an argument going on on every porch. This set the tone for the rest of the ride. As I continued down, I hit Madison, which was mostly large buildings. As I am thinking about what I just biked through, I ended up hitting a side street which lead me to Buchannan. As I headed down Buchannan, I thought to myself "I'm in the clear now." I thought to soon. Buchannan dead-ended into the railroad tracks. This part of town is just very very eery. I kept my head up and continued. I found a side street, which also dead ended, and then ended up on Ionia. I thought I was good now. And I was. I had to walk my bike through some more construction, but at least I knew where I was. I jumped back on my bike, and started to head back home. And not 2 minutes later, saw what you see in that picture. I felt very out of place, but it allowed me to realize that I don't have to travel far and wide to see poverty. I don't have to travel for a missions trip. It's ironic because I cut through a church parking lot on my way to Kelly and Marks, and the exit sign said "Mission field ahead."
Thank you for reading this.