Our first learning experience on the trip was a “prayer tour” that Pete, the coordinator of T.O.O.L.S. lead us on on the Friday night when we got to Toronto.  On this tour, we learned about some very major issues that we usually don’t talk about that are happening in big cities like Toronto but also in our own cities and towns although they may not be as prevalent.  

After each stop on the tour we each took turns praying about these issues.  It was a very thought-provoking and eye-opening experience.

At our first stop of the tour, we stood at an intersection on Yonge St. and Pete told us how on one side of the street there is a live a community of people who are extremely rich and on the other live people who are extremely poor, mostly new immigrants, who never even interact with each other.  There, we prayed and asked why most of these rich people get so caught up in their own lives, trying to obtain as much wealth and power as possible, that they don’t even notice or care about the people living practically next door to them that are suffering in extreme poverty.

We then walked a few blocks, and stood beside a building that was a hospice called the Casey House for people dying with AIDS.  There Pete told us about the many homeless people who had acquired AIDS after having to go into prostitution to survive, and sadly this included children, as well.   At this place, we prayed for the people who were being treated inside the Casey House, and that people wouldn’t have to go through the disgusting ways of prostitution just to survive.

After this, we walked a bit and went into a part of Toronto where a lot of people of the LGBT or Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transexual community live and where they are very openly accepted.  There were a lot of shops that had the rainbow flags on their windows.  There we talked about, how we as a society and as Christians need to be more accepting of people with different sexual orientations and how there is nothing in the Bible that says that homosexuality is wrong, but Jesus does say to love your neighbour and that everyone was made in God’s image.

Our final stop on the prayer tour was at a church just outside the Eaton Centre where there was a memorial for all the homeless people who had died.  It was very sad to see that a large portion of the names were simply John or Jane Doe, meaning that no one even had known who they were when they died.  Pete told us how quickly people can end up on the streets, simply by losing a job, losing a loved one or having a physical or mental disability.  He explained to us that it could happen to anyone and we need to treat them with respect and kindness, not just ignore them or accuse them of being lazy.

From this night and from the whole weekend, the main thing I learned is that we need to care and acknowledge those who are less fortunate or who are different from us, not only in the streets of Toronto but in our own communities and the people we may see in our day-to-day life.  We learned that even though it may be easier to do nothing like most other people, we need to challenge ourselves to make the effort to notice and help people that are in need.