Going "Home"

by Jessica Chadwick

One of the hardest questions for me to answer is when people ask me where I’m from. Not because I’m ashamed or embarrassed, but because I’m not sure. We moved a lot when I was a child. By the time I was 22 I had lived in 6 different states. I don’t feel native of any area. I have many homes.

On the first day of the immersion course we were asked to introduce ourselves including, of course, where we are from. I said that I call West Virginia one of my many homes. I attended four years of college at Alderson-Broaddus and fell in love with the area. Lots of people in NYC often think that I am “from” WV. I guess because I talk about it so much. Sometimes it feels disingenuous to talk about West Virginia as my home. What makes a place your home anyway?

In preparing for the trip I was nervous about taking people with me back to visit places that I knew and loved so well in West Virginia. We stayed the first four nights at my alma mater and visited with community folks, agencies, and professors that I have deep connections to. I was nervous and felt responsibility for how both groups would receive each other. It’s hard to invite 50 people so deeply into your life. It feels really vulnerable.

At many points on our journey, I was scared of how this group of seminarians, social work students, and media organizers would interact with the people and community that I love so much. And some days it was hard. Some days, when people offered feelings and critiques of work that was being done, I got defensive. Its like when you can complain about your family ‘till the cows come home, but God help anyone else that tries to say something bad about your family.

On the other hand, I understood that this is a process and a learning experience for our group to better understand the region, the connection to religion, and various models for eliminating poverty. I knew that many times I had the same critiques that members of our group offered. I know how important it is to process and question things that we were experiencing.

This question of “home” kept coming up throughout the trip. Many of the people we spoke with, shared with us how people outside the community have used the Appalachian region’s resources or have come to proselytize or to exploit the communities. People are skeptical of outsiders, and rightfully so. As one not native to WV, what right do I have to call this place “home?”

During our textual reflections on the book of Ruth, the question of insider/outsider and the question of where is your home was also raised. Ruth follows Naomi back to a place where she is a foreigner and dependent upon others for her livelihood. Ruth vows to her mother-in-law that she will follow her and accept her people and her way of life.

On Thursday, in Charleston, Rev. Watts asked our group how many people felt called to ministry in WV. I raised my hand. Since moving to NYC I have felt called to return to Appalachia. Then on Friday we witnessed the “Gates of Hell” as Larry shared with us the horror stories of mountaintop removal. That seemed to seal the deal for me. It is clear to me that I must, at some point, return to WV to continue to work to eliminate poverty. It is my calling: to this work and to this region. After seeing the destruction of the earth and of people’s lives in the name of capitalism, how can I not go back?

Like Ruth, I vow to enter a land that I am not native to, but that I consider my “home.” “Your people shall be my people…”