SPC Bryan Camacho on Saying Thank You

"I knew from the age of eight that I wanted to be in the Army. I had an uncle who was in the military who I really looked up to. He said that I had to find my own motivation and couldn’t join just because of him. As I got older, I realized that there wasn’t anything else that struck my interest like the Army did. I looked at colleges, but they didn’t appeal to me. 

"My senior year of high school, September 11th happened and then one of my best friends from high school, Giovanni Maria, died fighting in Afghanistan a few months later. People thought that his death might push me away from the military, but it didn’t. I remember talking to Giovanni before he passed and telling him to wait a few more months for me to graduate, so we could be over there together kicking some ass. He died before I could get over there. He was 19 and I felt like I owed it to him to join the Army. I joined at 18 and it still feels right eight years later, even after my injury. I plan to stay in for the full twenty.

"During my third tour in Iraq, my Humvee was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) on December 21, 2007. We were out on patrol when we heard that another Company had been hit and one of my buddies, George Howell, was killed by an IED. We were on our way to help them when my truck got hit by an IED. The vehicle flipped over and I was thrown from the Humvee. I remember the explosion and the orange fire ball and then the next thing I knew I was on the ground and couldn’t sit up. I figured that when you are wearing 60 pounds of armor and you get knocked on your back, you are like a turtle who has been turned over and can't turn back. When the other guys came to me, they wouldn’t let me sit up because they knew that I was in trouble. They put me on a board and onto a helicopter. I blacked out and woke up in Germany. I broke my back, most of my ribs, and my right lung collapsed. Now, I am completely paralyzed and will be in this chair indefinitely. Most of the other guys in my vehicle got some rather significant injuries, too. One kid lucked out and didn’t have one scratch on him.

"The most difficult thing about the injury was being in a hospital so far away from my buddies. Even though I was injured, I wanted to go back into the action. I kept fighting with the people who were trying to help me and telling them to send me back. They obviously didn't for good reason. From Germany, they sent me to do my initial rehabilitation at Walter Reed and then I was transferred to the Kessler Institute in New Jersey where they specialize in spinal chord injuries.

"I just recently finished my therapy and now I am going back to work. There was a slip up in my paperwork for my first assignment after rehabilitation. I was given orders to join an infantry brigade headed to Afghanistan. I told them I would go, but obviously they couldn't send me with my injury and assigned me to work with wounded warriors and their families at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Now, I will do what I can to help those in need.

"My one big thing that I want to tell people is to say, 'Thank you' to soldiers and veterans. You don’t have to like what is going on, but those two words mean more to us than you all realize. I remember lying in bed at Walter Reed and people came by to say, 'Thank you,' and it made me feel like people actually cared about what we do and what we go through. Sometimes people say, ‘I’m sorry’ to me because they realize that my life is difficult now, but I wouldn’t have done anything differently. I have told countless people that I am glad I took most of the physical damage rather than anyone else. Of all of the guys in the truck, I had the most combat time. Even though some of them outranked me, I still called them 'kids' because I had been all over that country and served three tours.

"Today, I am at Arlington Cemetery to see my friend, George Howell. I have been in-and-out of hospitals for the past two years, so this was my first chance to come and see his grave. I lost nine friends over there and I eventually want to get out to see their graves, too."

Support the Wounded Warrior Project here.

Noble on Staying Connected to Foreign Places

"My Mom came up to D.C. with the Carter White House to work on urban revitalization. She knew Carter before he got into politics and worked on his campaign. I was about four when we moved here from Atlanta. I did most of my school here and then started doing development work in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.

"In 2003, I got a call on a Sunday night, asking if I could go to Iraq that Monday for three weeks to work on a Department of Defense development project. I went and ended up staying for a year. Before I left, I didn't realize that I was pregnant. While I was in Iraq, I was pretty sick, but thought that I had worms. The food was so bad and everyone was losing weight, so I didn't think anything of it. Five months in, I went to a local doctor to get checked out. He told me that I was six months pregnant. I was shocked. 

"At the time, the Americans did not know. I had pre-natal vitamins sent to me through my Army Post Office (APO) address, but someone opened my package and found out that I was pregnant. I finally had to inform everyone and they were definitely not happy about it. They were angry about the liability and resource issues given that we were in a war zone. But they said that I could stay in Iraq if I signed a release saying that if anything happened to me or my baby, the military would have no liability. I loved Iraq and the work I was doing. It was still during the time when people were optimistic and I thought that we could fix things.

"Three weeks before I gave birth, the Judge Advocate General (JAG) decided that he wanted me to leave Iraq and go to Frankfurt to have the baby. They were in the process of negotiating the arrangement when my water broke while unloading some cargo. My colleague took me to the Green Zone where the JAG and most of the doctors were upset about having to deal with this. They started bringing in U.S. military specialists from around the country to help with my labor. Right before I came in, the hospital got a call that there were wounded soldiers coming in. I ended up having a cesarian and was in-and-out in five minutes. With Alex, my baby, they had to modify everything. They put her in tupperware and jerry-rigged a ventilator out of someone's popcorn maker. All they had were death certificates, so they had to modify things to make a birth certificate. 

"Amazingly, everyone there rallied around Alex. When she was a a little stronger, the nurse took her around to see the wounded soldiers. The whole place was packed with people with side arms passing her around. It was really surreal. When I got ready to leave the hospital, the JAG came by to tell me that it really upset him that I was going to have a baby there, but at the end, it really changed the morale of the place. He even asked to take a picture with me, Alex, and the birth certificate. She was born on an American base, so she is American, but her place of birth is Baghdad. That has put her on the no-fly list three times already as a six year old. I was the first American to have a kid like that, and I don't think they have allowed it since. 

"We got evacuated a few months later when the security situation got much worse. From there, I went to Jordan and then came back to D.C. Since being back, we have travelled a bit, but have stayed mostly in D.C. I think that traveling is a great way to raise a child, but Washington also has so many great opportunities to keep that connection to foreign places and cultures." 

Noble is pictured with Alex. 

Ajaé on Her Wish for D.C.

"I am 32 and was born in SE, Washington, D.C. The city changed a whole-whole-whole-whole-lot since I've been around. I have seen SE fall and grow. I have seen the projects change and people move in-and-out of neighborhoods. Things were torn down and condemned and they brought in a lot of new stuff. They say it is for the better, but I am not certain. In the political aspect, yes,it is better, but for the city people, no. 

"I want peace, tranquility and kindness in my neighborhood and for the city. I mean, a lot of stuff has calmed down. SE used to have a high rate for killings. Years ago, we wouldn't even be able to sit out here and have this conversation, but now the streets are safer. I am proud of the change here. Still, there is a lot stereotyping that they give SE, but there is also a lot that comes out of here. I contribute to the city by doing sexual outreach, things like handing out condoms to the community. That's how I try and make this place better. 

"Now, I do home health care work. I work with seniors, people with disabilities, or people who just need a home nurse. I went to several trade schools to get certified and I was impacted by Marion Barry's summer jobs program when I was 14 to 21. That program gave me something to do and helped my job training skills at an early age. As a teenager, you can't always depend on your parents, so it was also nice to have money in your pocket.

"Of course, Marion Barry is the longest serving mayor in D.C. He is well loved in the SE community because he did a lot and brought a lot to our communities. In terms of this new mayor, Adrian Fenty, he hasn't really stepped up to the plate. It may be because everyone is looking for another Marion Barry, but there will never be another Marion Barry. If I had a wish, I would bring him back. I don't see it happening again because he has a lot of controversy behind him, but I think that you will get a lot of positive feedback from the people in SE if he does."

Cyndee on Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive

“I was born in Utah and then traveled around the country with my folks while my Dad was doing graduate school. I moved to the D.C. metro area when I was 8. I left for college and then ended up back in D.C., but did not plan on staying here. Bikini Kill, a band that I was really into, did a benefit concert for Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS). Throughout my life, I had really close friends who chose to do informal sex work because working the graveyard shift at 7-11 sucks. In doing that, many of them got into abusive situations and did not have the resources to get help. HIPS seemed like the right place for me to volunteer at the right time. I started as a volunteer in 1994 and have been here in different capacities every since. I became the executive director in 2001. 

"At HIPS, we are working to improve the health and welfare of sex workers rather than trying to 'save them' from what they were doing. We work using a harm reduction strategy. At HIPS, we work with sex workers to help them decide what is and is not working in their lives. It’s all about self determination. There are few people who we interact with who are doing sex work in whatever capacity for a new purse or a $600 pair of shoes. Most of the people we work with are trying to feed themselves and their families or pay the rent. Some have chosen to do this over other forms of employment. More often than not, they are doing this because it is a last resort. Some are also supporting drug habits and some have not had access to education or job counseling. It is very hard to live in this city on minimum wage. The myth about upward mobility in employment does not play out all that well. As much as we work with job training, it is challenging for many of these people to find regular employment. 

"The more we push sex work underground, the more dangerous it gets. Since the institution of the prostitution free zones in D.C., which are similar to drug free zones, and gentrification, sex workers are working increasingly in poorer, more dangerous neighborhoods. Now, we are also seeing how technology is changing sex work. When I started at HIPS, it wasn’t really safe to stroll without working for an established pimp or manager. In some ways, technology gives sex workers more ability to work independently if you have the access and knowledge. Yet, in some sense, it has made sex work less visible and more underground. Now, you don’t have that person on the corner who is going to make sure you get back from your date alright. We do outreach to both those on the corners and online to help them stay safe and informed. 

"We have varied interactions with the powers that be in Washington. We are funded publicly by the health department for HIV prevention, needle exchange and victims services. Thanks to their support, we are able to make sure that our clients, sex workers, have the tools they need to reduce the public health problems normally associated with this work. Obviously, our goal is different than law enforcement and sometimes, we can be at odds. Our goal is to help empower sex workers. The only real tool that the police has is mass incarceration, which is a success story to them, but in our view is not a success story in the long run. 

"Our approach is that we want to live in a healthy community that is free of violence, coercion, and disease. Unfortunately, those in sex work get the brunt of those things. By working with that population to address their health and wellness, we are raising the bar for this city. Because we make those conditions less miserable, sometimes sex workers have the ability to do something different. We find that the less coerced and dependent people feel, the more they are able to make informed decision about sex work. The more we can improve their lives, the more they will settle on a job that they like that gives them agency." 

Cyndee Clay is the executive director of HIPS.

Nora on the Nation's First Certified Organic Restaurant

"I was born in Vienna. In Austria , there is a lot of emphasis on fried foods, heavy sauces, and desserts. My parents were unusual in that my mother cooked very light and my father was into yogurt and fruit. He was also very much for outdoor exercise, which is typical in Austria . He always said that health is the most important thing that you have and you need to preserve it. From a young age, I was taught that food is important and you need to combine it with outdoor activity.

"I came to D.C. with my French journalist husband as a young bride in 1965. Here is where I first became conscious of what the food situation was like in America . I always say that D.C. was a culinary wasteland in the 60's and 70's. My first exposure to how awful food here was going to a supermarket. There were shelves and shelves of Wonder bread. When Pepperidge Farm bread finally came around, it was like a gourmet statement! The produce department was the smallest department. The biggest department was frozen foods. There were the same fruits and vegetables all year-round. Nothing seasonal or local. It was a shock to realize that this country, which was supposedly the richest country in the world, had no food culture.

"In response, I did a lot of research in the Yellow Pages and found ethnic markets and local farmers to get healthy and fresh food for me and my family. I read a lot, too, especially Elizabeth David and James Beard. Those books really inspired me. I also became interested in American agricultural practices. I remember finding a farm in Virginia where you could buy sides of beef. The woman there proudly told me that they fed the cows corn, so that they would fatten up. Then she went on and told me the cows were kept inside and regularly given hormones. That was the first time I realized that chemicals were used in agriculture. Then I learned about pesticides in fruits and vegetables. Things like this were not happening in Austria when I was growing up.

"At the time, I was cooking a lot and we were having people for dinner once or twice a week. A lot of people really liked my food and friends asked if I would teach them what I had learned through my little culinary journey. At the beginning, it was informal, but I also realized that I needed to make some money. I eventually opened a cooking school in my home in the evening. On the weekends, I did catering. It was very simple. I cooked something at home and brought it to someone's house, and they pretended they cooked it.

"I did that for about three years. Then one of my students asked if I would be interested in opening a restaurant in a small bed-and-breakfast in Dupont Circle called the Tabard Inn. First, I was a little scared, as I had never really committed myself to being a professional, but I realized I had to do it because my husband and I split up and I needed to support myself and my kids. The restaurant started off with only lunch and became very successful. We served natural meat, and I picked up vegetables from farmers in the area. The word got around that I was purchasing fresh and local items, so farmers starting coming to me. At the end, I was one of the first to do the farmer-chef restaurant connection. This was back in 1976. At that time, if you said organic, no one would come to your restaurant. It sounded like a biology class and people thought it would taste disgusting. It is only in the last ten years that people stopped associating health food with bad food.

"Two colleagues from the Tabbard and I opened Restaurant Nora in 1979. We found this location through pure chance. We wanted to stay south of Dupont Circle, near the Tabbard Inn, because there was already a group of people who supported us, but we couldn't find anything affordable. This space used to be a Yugoslav restaurant run by the father of some of the kids who were in school with my children. Sadly, he was ill and ended up selling us the restaurant. We all worked 24/7 and lived off of the tips. My kids would come here after school and do their homework, so I could watch them while I was cooking.

"For the first 15 or 20 years, people thought I was completely nuts and the whole organic business was not true. Restaurant reviewers criticized me for telling people how to eat. Still, people came to eat here because the food was good. When environmentalists became prominent was when I started to get more serious support for what I was doing with health and food. Things also changed when Fresh Fields came to D.C., which is now Whole Foods. The supermarket did a lot to educate people on where food comes from. We live in a very chemical world, and there are so many chemicals in our society. I think that people need to take responsibility for their own health. Now people tell me that they can't afford organic food. I tell them that they can't afford to be unhealthy. Would you prefer to spend your money on food or the doctor?"

Restaurant Nora became the nation's first certified organic restaurant in 1999. Nora Pouillon is the author of Cooking with Nora.

Ann and Mike on the Reagan Assassination Attempt

Mike - "I was in the press pool the day of the assassination attempt on Reagan. We had four people at the Associated Press covering the White House. We would rotate and it just happened to be my turn that day. I was sitting in the basement listening to his speech, which did not divert from the release given to us beforehand. Reagan spoke for a few minutes and then went to the VIP suite and holding area, which had an unmarked door that exited onto the street where his motorcade was waiting. I was standing with the rest of the press pool in a rope line outside of the VIP entrance.

"The story of the moment was the Solidarity Movement in Poland and whether the Soviets were going to clamp down on them. There had been some development in the story, and I wanted to get the President's comment. When the door opened and he stepped out, I shouted at him, 'Mr. President. Mr. President.' At the same time, I turned on my tape recorder to get his answer. I had barely said 'Mr. President' the second time when there was this loud pop,pop...pop,pop,pop,pop. Just like that.

"I knew it was gunshots, but I didn't see Reagan get hit. The Chief of Detail, Jerry Parr, grabbed Reagan and hurled him into the limo. Another agent slammed the door and the car took off. When I saw the wheels of the limo start to spin, I realized that now that the President was leaving, the story had stopped happening. I ran into the hotel to find a phone to call into work. I then went on to report that, 'Several shots were fired at President Reagan today as he left a downtown Washington hotel. There was no indication that the President was hit.' 

Ann - Mike, my husband, called me and said, 'Get over to George Washington University Hospital. That's where they are taking him.' When I got there, the Presidential limousine was in front and there were gunshot marks on the window. There were quite a few people outside and people were arguing about whether he had been hit or not. Some said Reagan was carried in and some said he walked in. Both were actually true. While we were waiting, I went running down Pennsylvania Avenue and took the microphone out of the closest phone booth and put it in my pocket, so no one else could use it. After 30 minutes, I saw Shelia Tate, who was Nancy Reagan's Press Secretary and yelled, 'Sheila, get someone out here to tell us what's going on! The stock market is going up and down. We need to know what's happening.' A few minutes later, Lyn Nofziger, one of Reagan's aides, came out and said, 'The president has been wounded. He is not in surgery at this time.' Meanwhile, the gurney was racing to the operating room, so he was technically right, but still misleading. I went running back to the phone booth with my microphone in my pocket. There was a drunk in the booth, so I went to a bar and screamed, 'Telephone!' I dictated a story that President Reagan was shot today and would be going into surgery. Mike and I were first on the story and we were right. I was especially pleased that my bulletin beat Sam Donaldson's.

"After Nofziger spoke, they informed us of additional briefings that would take place. I remember running down G Street with the other reporters because we wanted to get a good seat for them. The thing is that none of us knew exactly where we were going, but everyone was running in the same direction. We could have been running into the Potomac River! We eventually went into an auditorium at George Washington University Hospital, and they started briefing us on his developing medical condition. By that time, the most exciting part of the story was over and you had to fill it in with the boring little details. But so much of a story like that is about the stakeout and waiting for things to develop.

Mike - "I was still at the Hilton while this was going on. At the time, I knew that Jim Brady and a secret service officer had been wounded, and was telling a colleague what I knew. As I was describing this to her, an FBI agent asked me to come with him, as I was going to be held as a material witness. The United Press International guy, Dean Reynolds, who was our arch competition at the time, saw me being escorted into the building and followed me because he didn't want to miss anything. He also ended up getting arrested! After I was released and eventually got back to the office, I was told to write a first-person account of the story. We had computers at the time, but I was not yet comfortable using them. I was just about done writing, when everything disappeared from the screen. There was nothing to do, but start over. I got home about 2 a.m. By then, Reagan was out of surgery and there was a statement made that he was out of danger and things he said like, 'Honey, I forgot to duck.'

"As Reagan's recovery began, it was one jolly briefing after another. No one gave any clue as to how close he was to bleeding to death. Months later, we found out that we almost lost him on the operating table. The very dramatic story was of Jim Brady, Reagan's Press Secretary, because he was seriously injured and suffered brain damage. He was really well-liked by the press and had a good sense of humor. He survived and didn't lose his sense of humor, but, sadly, he was never the same again.

Ann - "One of the things that has always bothered me since that time is Jim Brady has a son who was the exact same age as our son. It could have been Mike who had been hit and not Jim Brady. It was just dumb luck. I know how this kid has been affected all of his life. Jim Brady is still alive, but has had a very tough time."

Mike - "By sheer dumb luck, we were so often in the right place at the right time during our careers in journalism. From Vietnam to Watergate, to the Reagan shooting to Reagan having cancer, to going to Moscow just as Gorbachev took power and the Communist Party was beginning to lose control, we were there and reporting. It made for a very exciting career!"

Ann Blackman is the author of "Seasons of Her Life: A Biography of Madeleine Korbel Albright," "Wild Rose" about Civil War spy Rose O’Neale Greenhow, and co-author of "The Spy Next Door," about the traitorous FBI agent Robert Hanssen. In her long career as a news reporter with Time magazine and the Associated Press, Blackman covered American politics, social policy, and the powerful personalities that make up Washington society. Mike Putzel covered the war in Vietnam, Watergate, the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and the fall of Communism during an award-winning career with The Associated Press. He also served as Washington bureau chief of The Boston Globe, covering the Clinton White House.

Sherri on Hair-Flair for Hope

"My family goes back three generations in Washington, D.C. I went to Florida for college, but couldn't take the heat and lack of culture there, so I moved back to this area. I transferred to the University of Maryland and got a job as a DJ. At the time, I was all rock and roll and had a pink mohawk. After school, I cleaned up a little and took a job at IBM. I started off in administration and ended up as a systems engineer, which is something that none of my friends know because I don't have a cell phone and people think of me as a technophobe. I was actually a Unix systems engineer.  

“All through my working life, I was always searching for this really creative career. I worked at a number of big organizations, but always felt like a fish out of water. Then I got sick a number of years ago and had to leave the work force. I spent ten years flailing around and had no focus. I was spending a lot of time at home and started making colorful wigs out of yarn because I always dressed slightly out of the norm. I started making them for my friends who were in the arts and began holding wig-making workshops. 

“At the time, I lost a number of people to cancer who meant a lot to me. One in particular was Kimberly ‘Kaihea’ Rupp.  She told me that she wished she could come to one of my workshops and make a wig, as she had experienced hair-loss at the time of chemotherapy. At the time, I hadn't figured out how to attach the wig to a bare scalp. I have always regretted that I didn’t figure out how to make her a fabulous wig, but I named this project in her honor. Now we make wigs on bandana-shaped wig-caps. 

“Cancer is a really frightening thing, and I wanted to find a way to make women and children feel like rock stars. I think that people who lose their hair to medical treatments go through a period when they are grieving about their own loss, especially after chemotherapy.  We are all walking canvases of art. I have always believed that the face deserves a proper frame of hair. More than anything, our hair is a simple representation of what our attitude is on the inside. I hope that on the days when people who are ill feel like they don’t have a lot of light, these wigs will help them illuminate their beautiful inner colors.

“Now I wear my wig most of the time. Originally, I did it because I thought it looked cool. I wear it in solidarity with people who have gone through something more terrifying than I can imagine. This project has given me something to identify with after feeling so devoid of life for so long after I had gotten sick. With this project, I feel plugged into life again.” 

Learn more about Hair-Flair for Hope, Sherri's organization, here. To donate money, materials or time, email Sherri at info@hairflairforhope.org.  

Councilmember Tommy Wells on Getting the Love Back

“I first came to Washington in 1983. I was about 27 years old and was just graduating with a Master's in Social Work from the University of Minnesota. I couldn't figure out where I wanted to go, but I knew that I didn't want to go back to Alabama where I grew up. I went to talk with a professor whom I thought very highly of to ask what he would do in my situation. He said, 'I would go to Washington. Washington is the most exciting place I have ever lived.' Being quite easily influenced, I worked a little bit that summer and then sold my car, a little Honda station wagon, and bought a one-way ticket to Washington. As I walked out from Union Station on September 6, I just fell in love with Washington that very moment. It was a beautiful day and the buildings were such heroic structures. My heart raced a little bit then and hasn't ever stopped.

“In 1985, I took a job as a child protection social worker for D.C. That early experience taught me a lot about Washington and the neighborhoods that most people had never been in. Starting in 1985. the city essentially went broke and that was the beginning of crack and the AIDS epidemic. That led to an explosion of kids coming into foster care. At the same time, because the city was going broke, there was a hiring freeze on social workers, so the caseloads were exploding. I had over 40 kids and families in my caseload, but had colleagues who had from 200 to 500 kids.

“I remember that there was a young man in my caseload who tested positive for HIV at 15. I needed to find a home for him, but group homes would not take him. I found a gay AIDS activist in the city who said, ‘I will do it.’ I took that information to the government, but the city never paid him or did its part to support him. We had a crisis and the government could not respond. The system wasn't there to help kids with HIV and AIDS. These kids ended up in group homes, which are essentially orphanages, instead of foster homes. In response, when I ran the Consortium for Child Welfare, one of the first things I did was to write grants to create a recruitment program for people who were willing to be foster parents for children affected by HIV. That was a powerful experience because I was just moving a couple of gears and it changed the whole machine. Now kids were going directly to families. Some of those kids were even adopted and most went on to live healthy lives. Experiences like this made it clear to me that I was more drawn to systemic change rather than helping people one at time.

“There are two things that ultimately impacted my decision to run for political office. One is that, with time, I was providing more of a leadership role to social workers in the city, which made me more of a public person. The other thing is that during the late 80's/early 90's, D.C. became the murder capital of the world. I would read the paper on Monday morning about the egregious things happening in my ward and didn’t want to leave the house. I would feel so dark, gloomy, and fearful that these awful things were happening.

“I wanted my neighborhood to be better, so I ran for Advisory Neighborhood Commission. Even though it is only Advisory, I really felt like I was making a difference. It introduced me to a lot of public policy issues that affect our world. Because of my concern about kids, I ran for School Board and won in a District that was over 75 percent African-American. It gave me hope that if people recognize they want a better future in D.C., they will give you a chance regardless of your race. I love Washington and to get the love back was just an extraordinary experience.

“At the school board, I mandated that all students had to be fully immunized. At the time, 20,000 out of 60,000 kids had not gotten their immunizations. It was a powerful feeling to see how you could have an impact on a child's life through elected office. When Sharon Ambrose was not running for reelection in Ward 6, I saw an opportunity to continue to make major systemic changes. I felt good about electoral politics and ran to be a member of the Council.”  

Councilmember Wells was first elected to the City Council in 2007. He is the Chair of the Committee on Human Services and currently sits on the Committee on Economic Development, the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs, and the Committee on Health. Tommy is also Chair of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Human Services Planning Committee, Chair of the DC Safe Routes to School State Network, and the incoming Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Local Government Advisory Committee. Learn more about Councilmember Wells here. 

Raymin on Standing Together

"I’m 33. I was born in the Dominican Republic and came to the U.S. in December 1983. My family first came to New York and then we settled in Hyattsville, Maryland. I have been doing construction since I left high school in 1995. I did general labor, demolition, asbestos removal, whatever. Being out there in the field, I was exposed to a lot of the injustices that people in the work force deal with, things like poor or no pay and mistreatment. I am fortunate because I am bilingual, so I could speak up for co-workers who didn't speak the language. There were a few times when I would be let go for speaking up, but the way I look at it, I am not going to let anyone disrespect me or my co-workers.

"My whole time in construction, I was never in a union. I don’t have a pension or insurance, none of that. With my health, I always just crossed my fingers. I got hurt a few times and always had to pay out of pocket. Back then, I didn't know about the unions. It’s not like contractors were telling us about our rights. Their bottom line was making money. The last thing many of them wanted was for us to have the knowledge that if we joined with our co-workers, we could have what they had -- a contract. No job gets done in this city without a contract, yet we never had one. Part of that may be that union density in D.C. is not like New York. Here, there isnt' that mentality where your Dad and Granddad were in the union.

"When I was given the opportunity to be an organizer, I said, ‘Heck, yeah.’ Now I'm able to give back. I spend a lot of my time in the field talking with people. I have been in their shoes, so I know how to relate to them. I think that it's important to even the playing field. If you want your community to thrive, you need to give your community the resources and options. Without options, people unfortunately turn to other means.

"With Small businesses, Minority contractors, and Advocates for Reform Today (SMART DC), we represent workers, whether they are black, Hispanic or white. The problem is usually the contractors who aren't held accountable. A lot of these construction companies get a contract and claim to want to boost the local economy and hire local labor, but we find that many of them get the contract and pull out the rug from under D.C. workers. Right now, one of our projects is holding Clark Construction accountable for their development of the new Homeland Security building in the old Saint Elizabeth's Hospital in Ward 8. Each project and contract is different, but there are terms that discuss the percentage of local workers to be employed. A lot of times, though, these contractors sub the work out to people in Maryland or Virginia instead of hiring directly from here. In the past, part of the reason was that some companies hired undocumented workers and brought them to construction sites. Look, if the contract said hire D.C. residents, hire D.C. residents. There are plenty of folks here who want to work; they just need an opportunity to do so. As a community, we need to stand together on this."

Learn more about SMART DC, including their work to bring more jobs to D.C. residents, here.

Daniel on Sleeping at the End of the Day

"I came to D.C. in 1996 because of the political situation. I was a member of the Ethiopian Constitutional Assembly. I was active in the Parliament and became a victim of the current government. They threw me in jail. After I was released, I managed to come to this country as a political asylum case. Now, I have all of my family here. I personally believe that Washington is the capital city of the world just like Addis Ababa is the capital city of Africa. 

"Before I came here, my expectation of America was different. I thought things were no hassle and everything was easy. My first shock was seeing the homeless and those struggling to survive. But the longer I stayed, I became familiar with things here. Now if you ask me, I like the system here and the work culture. Many newcomers from Ethiopia have trouble settling in and experience depression, suicide, or end up on the streets. We have very strong family values in Ethiopia. We live with family and friends. When you came here, you miss your family, your neighbor, and your country. 

"I had the idea to open the Ethiopia Community Services and Development Council when I moved here. In 1996, there was a lot of snow and I heard that two Ethiopians died because of the weather. When these two Ethiopians died, it was not a big issue. The next year, a Hispanic guy died in a similar situation and it was a big issue. The newspapers wrote about it and the city opened a shelter after his death. I said, 'This happened because we are not organized. Our voice is not heard by city officials.' Those experiences paved the way to start this center. After I graduated from university, I gathered known people in the community to develop a strong organization to provide our community with what we need. 

"Now, we offer a variety of services for the community. We have a training center that offers pharmacy technician courses, computer training, dental assistant program training, and English as a second language. We also help people find jobs, do counseling, help with immigration issues and offer free health services. Once a month, we have a program about how to live in this country, things like what you can and can’t do. Let me give you one example. There was a guy who was shot by the Virginia police years ago. In Ethiopia, when the police tell you stop, you can either stop or run. Many times, you can outrun the police and they leave you alone. Here, when the police ask you to stop, you should stop whether you do wrong or right. This person did not have the same information. He didn’t stop for the police and tried to outrun them. The police eventually shot him. They thought he had drugs or something, but he was innocent. As a community, we teach people about their rights and the rules and regulations to live in this country. 

"This job helps me to understand people. Here, I meet different people. People who are not rich or successful, but people with situations. Some people come here with a one year old baby and no place to go, no family, and thinking about kill themselves. When they come here, I talk to them and change their mind. I show them a better future than what they see at that moment. Helping people gives me great pleasure. I sleep at the end of the day, nice good sleep."

The Ethiopia Community Services and Development Council is located at 1901 9th Street Northwest. 

Craig on Wheelchair Rugby

"I'm 32 and work for Lockheed Martin in information research. I started using a wheelchair when I was 21. I have a neurological condition where I can't really feel pain. I used to walk, but my legs have been getting weaker and weaker with time. My doctor said that I should start using a wheelchair, as I get really tired from walking. Now, I use the wheelchair 95-98% of the time to save my energy and legs.

"About three years ago, I started playing wheelchair rugby. The team started in about 2006 with support from the National Institute of Health. I started showing up for practices and eventually got my chair, which is custom made out of aircraft aluminum. This chair is only 25 lbs and costs $3,000. The chair is made specifically for wheelchair rugby and designed for a lot of impact. In this sport, you are trying to hunt down people and hit them.

"I tried out wheelchair basketball, but rugby is more active and high contact. It is kill or be killed. It is like football, almost. We have about 12 people on our team. You only need four people on the court at a time. I was born hard of hearing, which makes this sport even more interesting. In wheelchair rugby, everything is about communication and yelling: go left, go right, pick, he's coming up behind you, stuff like that. I can't hear well, so I have to be constantly paying attention to everything.

"Most of the guys on the team have their injuries from car or diving accidents. Fortunately, I'm on the higher end as I can take care of myself, but there are guys on the team who need help getting in-and-out of their chairs. But, we don't really look at each other as being disabled. We are just normal people who get together to play rugby. That's all it is."

Jan on the Vietnam Memorial

"I was born in Washington, D.C and spent my childhood in Bowie, Maryland. When I got out of high school, I volunteered for the draft. There were certain advantages to the draft at the time. It got your military commitment over with sooner and you could choose the time you went in as opposed to the Army just picking you up. I went in at age 18 and ended up in Vietnam at 19. I was trained as an infantrymen with a speciality in heavy weapons, the 81mm mortar, and a couple of other weapons. My unit was first placed in charge of the defense of Saigon in 1969. There wasn't much enemy activity, so they moved us Northeast to a place called Swan Loc. In May, we had our first encounter with the enemy and I had twelve friends die at the same time. I was there when it happened. High explosives just scatter body parts. I was not prepared for that experience, which took place in January 1970. 

"Shortly after that, I was wounded. I was behind a tree and we were firing our rifles. The guys around me got hit. One of the guys panicked and ran. Another guy went after him and left me by myself for ten minutes; it seemed like an eternity. I remember praying and it just seemed to me so unfair that I would have to die after my 19th birthday in this mud hole, next to a tree in the middle of forest, miles from the closest road in Vietnam. I remember praying that I would not die. I survived and felt I owed some kind of payback. 

"After the Army, I received my degrees in counseling and psychology. During that time, I worked to better understand post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and published a couple of articles and testified in front of the Senate. I became an authority on the subject. PTSD is a normal response to experiencing trauma and violence. One day, I went to see a movie called the Deer Hunter, which was about the war and PTSD. I had thought about building a memorial before, but just decided that I was going to do it after seeing the movie. It became my mission in life. Before the memorial, we had a commemorative stamp and a couple of local memorials. But, by and large, there was nothing tangible to recognize Vietnam. 

"For me, the primary purpose of the memorial was to have a place were the veterans of Vietnam would be recognized for the honorable service they rendered for the country. The site near the Lincoln memorial was perfect because of the symbolism. The Lincoln Memorial was built after and because of the Civil War. There was also a deeper meaning to me, which was rooted in the thinking of Carl Jung, who was a student of Sigmund Freud. Jung wrote about the collective psyche we have as a nation. The hope was that displaying the names of the casualties would have a positive healing effect on the nation, as well. 

"There was a lot of controversy with the memorial because what is the appropriate monument for the Vietnam War. The rallying cry against us was that this was black and below ground. All of the other monuments were white and above ground. Immediately, people had this image that it was an insult to military service. People said, 'They are hiding it and painting it black.' We were temporarily stopped by Congress from building it. They made us find a compromise with our opponents, which we did with the addition of the three servicemen statue. In November 1982, the Vietnam Memorial was built and dedicated. We had the largest architectural competition in the history of western civilization, which has been recently eclipsed by the competition for the World Trade Center. Maya Lin was the winning design. 

"Now, when I go to the memorial, I like to listen to people talk. What I find as an overwhelming comment, and I hear it all the time, is 'Isn't it wonderful that the government built this for these guys'. Everyone thinks the government built the Vietnam Memorial. But, in fact, we did it in spite of the government. We had to raise the money and seek permission from the government to do this. 

"The message of this whole thing is that people are capable of doing far more than they think they are capable of doing. If someone has a real passion to do something in life, they should. If you put together the right team, you can accomplish anything."  

Jan Scruggs is the Founder and President of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. 

Councilmember Jim Graham on What it's All About

“You’ll not be surprised to hear that I think that I am a good fit as the Ward One Councilmember. Part of that fit is that I really feel that I contribute to the diversity of this ward. I come to the council as an immigrant and a naturalized citizen. My family and I came to this country from Scotland and settled in Hyattsville. What I knew about the U.S. when I was a little boy in Scotland was largely Juicy Fruit gum and of, course, the cowboy movies. I remember coming here after getting off the boat and driving down from New York. The lights were spectacular. I mean, roadways that were lit! We had nothing like that in Scotland. We came very much in pursuit of the great dream of this country. This would be a better life than in, what we called, the old country. Neither of my parents had a high school education. My brother became a Ph.D. and I have a law degree. That happened because of coming here. The great immigrant dream is that education opens the door for opportunity. It surely did for us.    

"You know, I’m an example of a little person who was decidedly impacted by a big event. The impact on me was the election of 1980 and its aftermath. In 1980, Reagan was elected. Everyone in my circle expected that Carter was going to lose, but what was astounding was that the U.S. Senate went Republican. Who would have thought that the Republicans would win a majority in the Senate after thirty years of Democratic rule? It was like the sun not rising. While I did still have a good job at the time working with a senator, I felt that I was withering in that work place. So, I started working as a volunteer at the Whitman-Walker Clinic. Those were still the first years of the AIDS epidemic. At the time, having AIDS was basically having a death sentence.

"During those years, you could not be an openly gay person in the Senate. It would have jeopardized your job. Look at how Senator Nunn fired two aides who came out. Even though I was working for a fairly enlightened senator at the time, I don't think it would have been worth the risk for him to support me being an openly gay member of his staff. So, I left my job and, having first been a volunteer, became the Administrator of the Whitman-Walker Clinic. It was very exciting for me because it was an opportunity to do something I really believed in. It was also an opportunity to be myself. From there, I made my run for office. 

"Now, the thing that I get the most satisfaction from is how, on a daily basis, I can impact the quality of life for people in this ward. In that regard, it is very much a continuation of the Whitman-Walker Clinic. In Ward One, close to 25 percent of the people live below the poverty line. A lot of people don't know that. These people and their issues are my greatest priority. These are the people who are most in need of government protection. The legislative achievements that I'm most proud of relate to helping those most in need. What it comes down to is that I've always been moved to help people. That's what it's all about.” 

Councilmember Graham was first elected to the City Council in 1998. He is the Chairman of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. He is also a member of the Committee on Aging and Community Affairs, the Committee on Housing and Workforce Development and the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs. Mr. Graham is chairman of the Metro/WMATA board of directors. Learn more about Councilmember Graham here. 

Hatim on People Knowing His Country

"I grew up in Sudan. My father was a university professor. He is retired now. My mother is an art teacher. I grew up in a typical, sometimes overprotective, Sudanese middle class family. I had to study all week and could only go out on the weekends. After high school, I continued to live with my parents. In our culture, we don't have that concept of leaving the home after school. I enrolled in medical school in Sudan and came to the U.S. to do additional medical training. My brother lives in Houston and tried to get me to live there. When I went there, I didn't like it. I started to travel around the U.S. looking for another city. I came to D.C. and this was it. Now, I am studying medicine and working in a hotel at night. There is a degree of discrimination in transferring my medical degree here, but it is natural. It is fair that you give priority to those in your own country. 

"This city is great. Here, people know where I am from. In Texas, people used to say to me, 'Sudan, where is that?' Or, they would ask if I was one of the Lost Boys. In D.C., people know my country. This place is so diverse and intellectual. You see the best of the best of every culture. You meet almost anybody and they can engage you in a deep conversation on politics or the economy. There are a lot of enlightened people in D.C. 

"Still, this place is not perfect. I like to joke about some of the things that happened to me in D.C. I met a girl who had spent time in Africa and we were talking about Nubia, the region where I am from in Sudan. One of her friends wanted to join our conversation and asked me where I was from. When I said Sudan, she said, 'Oh really! Oh my God, you must be better off here.' I was really shocked and angry. I said, 'What a horrible thing to say to somebody. Nobody is better off out of their country. I am here to pursue a career and then I want to go back to my country.' Another myth is that everyone in Sudan is impacted by Darfur. Sudan is the largest country in Africa and Darfur is the size of France. France is huge! It's like something happening in New Orleans and your family lives in D.C., but people still ask if your family is okay. I don't blame people and appreciate the interest, but I joke about it. 

"The other big shocker for me was meeting African-Americans. They assume that because I am African we have a lot in common, but I found out that we don't. When they find out I am thirty, they ask if I married. I am not. Then, the next question is usually if I have children. This is outrageous to me because in our culture if you are not married, you are not supposed to have children. Still, despite all the differences, what makes me happy about D.C. is that people know my country." 

Paul on Real Talk DC

"I grew up in Southeast, Anacostia and Congress Heights, those two sides. Now, I am a youth advocate and peer educator. I represent the youth in Southeast and educate my peers, kids from 13 to 23, about HIV and AIDS. I talk to them about how it is contracted and how to avoid it. I am also an entertainer. I rap and sing. I can't really dance, but I try. 

"I got started with this because one of my friends told me that there was a campaign call Real Talk DC that does peer education, passes out condoms, and gets people tested. I figured I would get involved because I like doing things to help people. This is also important to me because I actually know people who are HIV positive and I wanted to learn exactly, you know, as much as I can about it to help them and help people that I don't know. 

"Before this, I ain't really know about this stuff. First time I had sex, I was 12 and the girl was 18. And nope, I did not use a condom. I learned all of my moves from watching Real Sex on HBO, but didn't know anything about HIV and AIDS. My way of staying clean was only messing with a girl if she looked like she was clean. To me, that was enough. I really didn't know. I mean, I graduated from Anacostia High School and we never talked about HIV at school. To be honest, there is a lot we didn't learn at that school. First time that I used a condom was when my older brother told me to. That's what got me using those. 

"Now, I live this. I talk to my family and friends about this all the time. I be messing up the mood when people be talking about something else and I just cut them off and talk about condoms. But, a lot of people be afraid to talk about sex. You talk about sex and people don't want to hear it. On top of that, when you try and get people tested, there is a stigma. You know, you must have something if you are being tested. But, that is not the case. People are getting tested because they want to make sure they don't have something. The other stigma is that parents don't want to acknowledge that their children are having sex. And then there are all of the rumors about sex. If you have black nails, you have AIDS. If you are real skinny, you have AIDS. The government is pocking holes in condoms. There is a cure for AIDS. You can just get AIDS without HIV. There are a thousand myths that I hear every day. I believed them, too, until I got educated." 

Learn more about Real Talk DC here. Hear Paul's music here. 

Giulia on Seeking Adequate Mental Health Care for Her Son

“I still can’t quite wrap my mind around how this city has impacted my story. I am sixty, divorced and live on Capitol Hill in a very nice neighborhood. My kids went to nice private schools. I run a good business. My husband worked for Congress. We had every reason to believe that our children would go to college, get married and have wonderful lives. We had no reason to think otherwise. I never gave poverty or mental illness a thought. It just wasn’t in my life. Then, my son was diagnosed with schizophrenia. 

“My son was good looking, popular, very well adjusted and a great student. People referred to him as the perfect prom date. In the fall of tenth grade, he started showing signs of mental illness. He started to ask me if I thought there was something wrong with his brain. He was really struggling in school and began to look odd. The psychiatrist said he was having social problems. The doctors said he would be fine, but he didn’t look fine to me. With time, he became more remote. He lost his affect and ability to smile and interact socially. He would hear voices and have delusions. Shortly after he turned 16, he drank a lot of wine and cut both of his wrists. When they took him away, he was screaming, ‘If you had to live like this, you would want to die, too.’ When I went to visit him, he really wanted to die. He asked me to just let him die. What do you do when your 16-year-old kid tells you he wants to die? We pretty much forced him into medical care. The medicines haven’t done much to help with his hallucinations. He doesn’t know what day or time it is. It has been like that ever since he was 16. He is 27 now.

"For nine years, I have cared for my son because this city does not provide adequate residential care for the mentally ill. My son has Blue Cross Blue Shield and if you look on page 17 of our policy it says, 'These services are provided unless you have mental illness.' They provide emergency hospitalization only and then you are shown the front door and given a map with D.C. shelters. There is a group home, but they are overcrowded and you have to be somewhat motivated to live in that environment. My son's condition is such that he doesn’t comprehend what you are saying to him. That is how ill he is. He can’t sleep at night. He makes strange noises all the time. His behaviors are totally inappropriate. He’s not a good candidate for a group home. And the shelters, have you seen those places? They are pretty rough. When you have mental illness and you’re paranoid it is pretty difficult to tell someone to sleep in a shelter with 50 other guys.

"I just don’t know where my son is going to live if he doesn’t live with me. I buy his food, feed and cloth him and look after him. I am the only person in his life. I would love to work, but how am I going to leave him? He can’t fix his own food. When he tries to cook for himself, he leaves the stove on. I don’t think I have the energy to come home from work and clean up after him and cook and then start over the next day. Now, I spend my days taking care of him, trying to run a business, and campaigning a lot around the District because I am doing this all by myself with no help from the city. I have met with everyone at the Department of Mental Health, Medicaid, the District Courthouse. I thought I may be able to sue them for the lack of care, but supposedly they are not breaking any laws so I can’t take them to court. I haven’t gotten any real help from my city government. I am still shocked that this city provides no viable options for residential care for the mentally ill. People don't realize what it means to suffer from mental illness. We focus on voting rights, but what about the people who are dying in the nation's capitol from lack of proper health care. We can’t imagine how many people commit suicide because of mental illness. 

"One of the problems with this illness is it is hard to get people to do what they need to do. I need help to get my son to realize that he needs help. Then, I need to put him in a place that is respectful. Not just five people sleeping in a closet with rotten food, but a beautiful environment where people want to go for care. There are some very good private rehabilitative places, but they are phenomenally expensive. I could move to Vermont where they have good state-run care, but I don't know anybody there and I believe that my place of residence should provide these necessary services to its citizens. 

"I would love to speak up more and have a podium, but I am so tired. I don’t know where people like Martin Luther King got his energy. I don’t want to spend my time traipsing around the city government and seeing if people will give me five minutes of their time to help my son. The bottom line is that it is exhausting. I resigned myself to the fact that this is what I am going to do for my life, but I worry about what will happen when I die. Now, I can’t have a social life. I mean, what are the chances of getting someone to marry me? My daughter is a teenager and doesn’t have people over. She tells friends that her brother is off at college. My oldest daughter is doing well. She lives in Alexandria and would love to have a life without mental illness and she does. She doesn’t really put in any time or energy into her brother. Even his father hasn’t had him over since he was 16. 

"I’d love to change the world, but part of me wants to tell my son to leave and move off to a cabin in the woods by myself. That’s what I fantasize about. I am so tired and everything has been so hard. It seems like it would be a great relief to have a simple life where I am just responsible for myself. I have watched my son go into comas and seizures and try to kill himself. I don’t know how to get the strength to keep at it year after year with no help. I keep at it because I love him. What keeps me going is that I have a lot of compassion for him. I talk about how hard it is for me, but that is nothing compared to what he is going through everyday."