Since the first day...

of volunteering, I noticed that the majority of the patients that step in the dental clinic are African American. This made me think about the racial statistics of homeless people in Houston, and I realize that the black population dominates the homeless community. Many of these patients feel like they were forced into their current situation that snowballed until it got even worse. There was one 22 year old black man who was kicked out of his house by his dad when he was just sixteen, trying to get a job at various places in order to pay for food and shelter. After a while, jobs became so scarce that he resorted to buying and selling cocaine in order to pay for what he needed, and he ended up a cocaine addict. Now he is in a faith-based drug rehabilitation center, and when he came to the clinic, every single one of his 25 teeth were so decayed due to drugs that they all need extracting. Talking with someone who is around my age in this type of situation is eye opening, knowing that he was living the hard life at such a young age only to be saved through his devotion to his faith. Learning to never give up is key to moving forward, and at such a young age, he managed to roll with the punches and always work hard. You can learn more when you talk to someone who has less.

-Duc Lam