We Love Long Beach

“Working with the City of Long Beach is a different world for me because I am learning every day the many challenges of what it takes to help homeless people,” says Somatra Sean, a Cambodian homeless activist. Sean and team are currently working on a citywide project that invites local churches to come together with the purpose of collecting furniture to help house the homeless. “My hope is that the local churches would stay committed to the project, to the point that the city finds them faithful and useful for the overall common good of Long Beach,” says Sean.

Sean’s parents arrived in Long Beach in 1981, shortly after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. She attended Poly High School, where she played volleyball and basketball. During Sean’s sophomore year, she was waiting to be picked up at the Long Beach Main Library when a homeless man assaulted her. “After that experience, I thought that most homeless people were animals, and I never wanted to be around them again,” she recalls. But by Sean’s senior year she was working with homeless people at her church. “At first I was so hesitant, but I knew that I wanted to make myself available to homeless women. It just clicked with me. I felt that I could relate to some of the shame and pain that was talked about,” she says.

A few months ago, one of Sean’s longtime homeless friends committed suicide. “It was at that moment when I realized that I wanted to play a larger role in the problem of homelessness in our city,” says Sean. For Sean, trying to make a difference with this issue has been difficult, yet worthwhile. She can’t recall a time when churches were so willing to work together and with the city. “I am excited about meeting like-minded, passionate people who desire to come together and to do something to fix this injustice. We can’t wait to witness lives all around us being transformed.” SCOTT JONES