As I walk down East Hastings I can’t help but think that I’ve stumbled
into a war zone. People shake their heads at invisible voices; others
talk to themselves, trembling from drug effects. Most disturbing are
the empty, blank stares. Eyes with no hope, not knowing the possibility
of a future.

At this time of year, the air is cold and thick amid the throngs.
Casually, a street vendor approaches me, and in a hushed tone asks,
“Pipes, pipes for sale?” Another voice cries out, “You stole my pipe!"
"I did not," screams another. A scuffle breaks out, as the prized item
is fought over. In the midst of the chaos I wonder what callousness
has allowed the streets to become like this. Before I can collect my
thoughts an ambulance rushes by, its sirens swallowing the street
noise. Almost instantly it’s gone and the din of the street returns.
To most, the passing of the ambulance is hardly noticeable as business
continues on. Not much can draw the attention of the street people.
A sale means freedom. And that freedom comes from another fix in
the near future.

I am sitting in Jacob’s well now. Free from the whispers of a darkening
world. Jacob’s Well is a place that believes in relationship ministry.
I listen to Joyce Heron spin her tale of the street tragedies and of
East Hastings history. She talks of prostitutes that have been on these
streets since childhood, now hooked on drugs. A pimp holds these
prostitutes for ransom, but he is in a more desperate situation. Joyce
talks of the rules and laws that govern these streets that for many
have brought an eternity of pain.

While she continues, her eyes light up as she talks about Pauleen, 85,
a small, wispy lady known well in the area. Pauleen stories abound,
but Joyce tells of a late morning when Pauleen purposefully walked into
a drug deal. “She walks up to the dealers and puts her hands on top
of the transaction. “Jimmy," she said, “didn’t you say you were
finished with this dealing? Instead of quick anger from the drug
dealers, there was regret and shame. The drugs bust turned into a
confessional.

Joyce continues, “Pauleen would take walks in the neighborhood. All
of a sudden a shift in the activity occurred and people’s attention would
focus on her. “Pauleen," someone would shout, “Can you pray for my
mom? She’s sick and diagnosed with cancer.” Pauleen would stop and
pray for the mom, all part of her daily routine. After a few minutes
she would continue her walk.

I have come to Murrayville to meet Pauleen. All five feet four of her
invites me in to sit on her couch in front of a warm fire. She asks
me how I am doing. Once the pleasantries have past, it is all about
business. And that business is talking about her true love, helping
people. Pauleen has been walking these streets for more than
twenty-four years. She can still remember how street ministry began
and what it meant at the time. She remembers how men thought that
helping the down and out was exclusively ‘man’s work and how her
friend was the catalyst in opening the doors for women to do street
ministry. Pauleen’s sparkling blue eyes, charismatic nature and
beautiful white hair beguile her age and true ambitions. One would
pass her off as a grandma who knits socks, clip coupons and plays
bridge, not a lady who succumbs to the challenge of making a difference
in one of the lowest income areas in North America. She ‘prayer walks
consistently, while at the same time contemplating what the age of
eighty-six will bring. She visits the ghetto, to meet people on their
level, trying to build relationships with prostitutes, addicts,
homeless, drug dealers and pimps. Her grandson confides in me, “It’s
crazy, she is worried about the doors being locked in Murrayville,
but has no problem in going downtown and walking the streets.

As I listen to Pauleen, I think of “The Fix a documentary film about
Vancouver’s growing drug problem. At the open forum following the
movie, former Vancouver mayor Phillip Owen spoke on the drug problem
in East Vancouver. Owen focuses on the drug dealer and regards him as
the evil that has perpetrated the crime. He believes that part of the
solution is to decriminalize soft drugs impose harsher penalties on
drug dealers and to introduce safe injection sites for addicts. As I
listen to the spin, I’m taken back to my time in New York. My companions
and I would stay at the Waldorf and take a limousine downtown to party,
discussing the stock market and the things we were going to buy as we
anticipated the evening’s hunt for women. Before entering the bars, we
would pop ecstasy to get us in the “right frame of mind. Inside, thousands
of kids were dancing, entranced by the music and drugs. It’s their eyes
that trigger my memory. The same empty, blank stares that greeted me in
the wealthy clubs of New York are the same ones that greet me
on East Hastings.

Pauleen loves her work and finds no easier place to talk to people than
skid row. This community allows for an openness that is not readily
apparent in the ‘real world People have time for one another to the
point of even talking to each other. It is because of this openness
that Pauleen is so optimistic. “I really feel like God is going to
bless the downtown area. I had a vision, where I saw a church involved
and a gate involved.

I told this vision to a friend of mine, and he was able to forget about
his problems and use this hope to encourage him in his day. And through
this encouragement he smiled and wistfully pronounced “a gateway to heaven
and so, as this hope continues, Pauleen believes many addicts will be
instrumental in cleaning this part of town up.

Pauleen admits that while the solutions are not easy, she firmly believes
in “just doing it by going down on the street and trying to be used by God.”
She isn’t a lone ranger but part of a functioning body in the area. She
hopes that the ministries will become of one accord and work together.
Many hurdles deny users freedom from drugs and poverty. They owe money,
do not have the skills to enter the workforce, can’t leave the unity
of the drug community or do not have the endurance to continue without
the drugs. So Pauleen prays, and walks, and talks. She has been instrumental
in setting up Jacob’s Well, seen many miracles and encourages the unity
of the many ministries in the area. She continues to witness miracles
and encourage people on to the hope of salvation.

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