AFSC

When I was in my sophomore year of college at Oregon College of Education in 1967 and 1968, I went on workcamp projects with AFSC with other college students in the northwest. The American Friends Service Committee set up amazing projects in inner cities, mental hospitals, prisons, Indian reservations, and other areas to give college students knowledge and exposure to problems that we would not otherwise have or learn. I went to the Nooksack Indian Reservation in Washington, Dammasch State Hospital, Oregon State Hospital, Albina Arts Center in Portland, and a prison in Portland that I don't remember the name for some reason. I remember that the prison had women and I'll never forget seeing one woman's ear that was torn. Someone must have grabbed her earring and yanked. I remember on one mental hospital ward, one patient took another patient in an airplane spin just like in wrestling on television and threw him against the wall. I sure didn't feel safe at that moment. It opens your eyes to see the conditions of prisons, mental hospitals and other institutions within a safe setting. We had administrators talk to us about what we were seeing, the problems within the setting, and they answered our questions. It was eye opening.