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V I'RIDE
INSTITUTE
1-800-547-7433
Age: 31
Hometown:
Atlanta, GA
Occupation:
Volunteer for the
Hunger Coalition
of Georgia;
street minister
Plans:
To continue her
ministry to the
homeless.
Evett Bennett
SAID AH: No Group is an Island
Saidah moves. You can never be
sure where she will be next. In
Woodruff Park with the homeless; at
the condemned Imperial Hotel with its
occupiers ready to hold a candelight
vigil and to go to jail; at gatherings of
drug-damaged youth in shelters; march
ing in Selma, Alabama, to protest defi
cient education for black children—
Saidah (pronounced "Sigh-ee") is going
to be there, and she is going to be visi
ble.
Saidah has an easy friendly manner,
but tension is always evident just below
the surface. Her voice is quiet and low;
her style of speaking, detailed, careful,
almost academic. Loose-jointed slim,
dancer-like, quick in movement. She
appears wiry and strong, but she is
more physically frail than she looks.
She's a bird of passage, a sparrow of the
city streets.
Sandy Enos was bom in Atlanta 31
years ago. She recently took the name
of "Saidah" to indicate that she feels
called to minister in a specific way to
the homeless. She has done many dif
ferent things in her life, including work
ing as a truck driver. She attended
Georgia State University, to major in
philosophy and social work. But the tra
ditional paths have never been for her.
At present she is a volunteer with
the Hunger Coalition of Georgia. "We
provide emergency assistance by
putting people in touch with the church
es, pantries, places where they can get
food."
She started her street ministry in
1986. "I was working a 60-hour-a-week
job, and I would go to Woodruff Park
on weekends and minister to the people
there. Then I set up an outreach center
in an apartment building on Houston
Street. People could come there for
emergency help. We had Bible study,
and it was also a place where I could
have quiet time for me, where I lived,
and where anyone who just needed to
talk could come."
What has led Saidah to her present
work as a minister to the homeless? "I
hesitate to use the word 'Christian'
because it’s been so dissected, but I am
a spiritual person, and the spiritual lead
er that I follow is Jesus the Christ. And
the children of God are supposed to
minister to the poor and the hungry and
the homeless."
Saidah participated in the takeover
of the condemned Imperial Hotel: "Two
weeks prior to the takeover, some peo
ple from the Existentialist Congregation
and I went to a candelight vigil to show
support. I still had my own apartment
then. Two days before the 4th of July, I
went down there and asked them if I
could become part of their organization.
When I walked in, they asked me if I
was willing to go to jail."
The mayor has since awarded those
people a space at 234 Memorial Drive,
but Saidah is no longer with the group.
She has, however, made a conscious
decision to live as a homeless person.
That decision comes from her desire to
minister to the street people: "You have
to go where the people are. 'Street' is a
word I use to mean outside the conven
tional church structure. It might be a
drug rehab center, or in Woodruff Park,
or in a shelter."
Now she lives, as she puts it: "from
pillar to post." She has stayed with her
mother, with friends, briefly at the
Union Mission.
Saidah regularly attends the First
Existentialist Congregation in Candler
Park. "It allows me freedom. I'm very
conservative personally. When I went
for the first time, I looked for signs of
God: stained-glass windows, crucifix
es. Then, after my initial shock, I real
ized I wasn't going to see God, but I
was going to feel God. I get more free
dom from the E Church than from any
religious organization I have ever
attended. The people have a heartfelt
warmth and sincerity there."
About the struggle for gay and les
bian rights, Saidah says, "No group is
an island unto itself. At this time in
history, the problems of hunger and
homelessness cut across all lines—
class, color, sexual preference, gender,
nationality. Because I'm a lesbian, I
hope to bridge the gap. One thing I've
realized is that gay people in extreme
poverty experience less harassment
than in the middle class. Drag queens
in food lines are treated just like every
body else. Being poor overshadows all
other differences."
-Charlene Ball