police: ID please
me: I just have my passport…
police: Where are you from?
me: Albania
police: Al……what? Albany???
me: Albania!!!!!police: Ahhhh (as she knew:)….phone number please…we will contact you…..
These were some of the words I exchanged with a police woman in DC….Never thought that I might encounter that…Well, it all started when I left Philly on a China town bus (only 15 $..can you believe that???) to go to DC, to meet my brother Ioan, whom I had not seen in a year. Ioan and meI arrived in DC @ noon and was supposed to meet him @ 5 PM, thus had a lot of time to wonder around. I got to know China town by heart since I was going around and around. As the time was approaching, I decided to go back to the bus station. I sat at a stairway and don’t know what happened but I started to cry. Maybe it was because I was going to meet my brother after a long time and the idea that he would be the only family member I would see till Aug. 07′…..but as well because of some major changes that have occurred in my life lately.
Suddenly…someone sat close to me. I said hi. At first, I couldn’t tell if was a woman or a man. From the appearance it seemed as a man but the voice was of a woman. I introduced myself and then she said: Hi, I am…but everyone calls me FILA (just like the tennis shoes). FILA is 42 years old, had been living in the streets all her life, her father had been beating her mother till the point that FILA said she wanted to kill him. Her parents were both dead, she had many siblings but didn’t talk to any of them. As she started to talk about her mother she started to cry. I asked if she ever prayed for her. She said she alyways did…and that she always prayed to Jesus. She smelled like alchool and had in her hands a big bottle of beer. She said that her biggest problem is drinking, the only thing she thought she had refuge. She attended a Christian shelter but didn’t like to participate in the groups they had for them. She said she wanted to change but did’t have the strength and had no friends or family members that could encourage her.FILA: “I don’t do any drugs…see that guy over there??? Now he is going to do crack cocaine…That man passed us by and asked her to go with him but she didn’t.
Then, another man approched us. He had his two ears pierced and looked hispanic. She introduced me to him and then out of the blue that guy asked: “so Lorna, are you a party girl???” I replied “No I am not!!” he asked “why is that??”.I don’t know where did it come from but I said: “because there are so many people suffering in the world so I don’t feel like partying!. He said: “Who is suffering????they all deserve that. I am from Chile, my mom was an immigrant and worked her b… in the US. I have studied at Yale and have been all around the world”. Then, he started to show me parts of his legs, arms and face that were full of scars. He said “….see these signs? Those f…… somalian kids did this to me. I was with the US troops in Somalia. As long as we would provide food they were happy…but they always wanted more…till the point that they would explode granades if we didn’t give them what they want. We got to talk a bit about US foreign policy and its impact in poor countries and then he asked me to write his phone nr. because he would come to Philly and he had some friends who were really into politcs. For him being in the US was the best thing in the world. After he left FILA said: he is a horrible man..cheats on his wife and gets all the money she earns. FILA’s cousin ….. came by. She said he is the only person in the world that helps her. He as well smelled like alchool and shared FILA’s bottle of beer. He made his living (some of that he would give to FILA to buy bread or beer) by informing China bus clients on prices and time schedules. He looked like a very nice guy..FILA said he was devastated because his wife and kids had left him. FILA wanted to take me out….she said ” come on stand up….she grabbed me and we went to a counter where some Christians were distributing free food…She treated me with a hotdog:))) She said: I am so happy to have a friend now…and then wanted to take a picture of us. 
She gave me her disposable camera as a present. I said “FILA I will develop the film and will sent to you” She said “No way……please promise me you will come back and visit. Then she was telling me that she wanted to quit drinking and start a new life” and was waiting with me for my brother and his freinds to come so we could have a word of prayer for her:)
BUT a “wierd looking man” came by…He said something to me that I did’t even understand. FILA got very upset and stood up and they started to fight. He then pulled a knife and placed it on her neck. He said he wanted to kill her..then she asked her cousin to give her the gun. I was “attempting” to stop them but her cousin asked me to jump on the bus…cause I was in danger. Frank tried to calm them down. Few moments after the wierd looking man walked away.A police car was coming by and FILA ran towards it. She was telling the police: a man tried to kill us”. The police woman didn’t believe her and pushed her to the car and started to check her. Then, she came towards me and asked what I had seen.
police: These people do drugs all day long and then kill each other.
me: FILA doesn’t
police: I just found crack in her pockets. . You dont know….I am around here every day. This is usual here. WELCOME TO WASHINGTON!!!!
FILA: I don’t take drugs….I don’t…I don’t….(shouting)
The police woman told me she would contact me and showed the middle finger to FILA and then left. I think my face changed _expression since I understood FILA was lying. I think she understood…and she said: What…what..what !!!!and started to walk away. I called her and tried to follow her but she disappeared somewhere. Frank said: she needs time to meditate….I was thinking that this story went way too far and out of control so I decided to walk to a Starbucks and wait for my brother. He and friends came a bit later…it was so good to see them:)I thank God for giving me the opportunity to spent those hours at that place with them….it was an introduction to a part of life that I had never encountered… As I was talking to each of them I was somehow imagining how their life would be different if they had God. FILA is really in my heart…please pray for her. Pray that she will continue to go to the shelter, to the support group in a Baptist church near by, that she will meet people that will show her love and for a radical change in her life. After that expereince the tears I was crying for myself and some issues in my life looked so insignificant…
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