Lesson Plan Title: Homelessness
Subject: Theology
Description: Brief Summary
Objectives:
 Students will be able to identify at least three qualities that make a place a home.
They should also be able to examine the homey aspects of their own homes, and
places locally and around the world where true homes are lacking.
 They should also be able to explain how Catholic Relief Services is helping
people in crisis establish true homes.
 Students will also envision their heavenly home, how they can prepare for it by
helping the homeless, and understand why homesickness is a natural part of
earthly life.
Materials Needed:
 Bibles
 Handouts and/or access to CRS website.
Opening Activity/ Introduction:
Longing for Home
Shelter us, O Lord, and give us the compassion and knowledge to help others in their
search for shelter.
Protect us, O Lord, from darkness, and give us the wisdom and skills to protect
others who life in unsafe and unhealthy housing and long for the light.
Bless us, O Lord, with homes that make comfort and joy realities for our families,
and give us the grace to ensure this for all families.
Amen.
Found at https://educationforjustice.org/resources/longing-home
Opening Questions:
 When you hear the word “home,” what comes to mind?
 What are requirements for a place to be considered a true home?
 What things would be present in a place that we would not call
home?
 What things would be missing in a place that we would not call
home?
 What do you think of when you hear the word homeless or
homelessness? What is being done about this injustice? What can
we do?
Activities/Procedure:
1.
Have students read “Mali Crisis: A Young Mom’s Story” (attached). Complete
discussion questions.
2. We have read about people who are literally homeless without shelter. Are
there hidden homeless in our community?
a.
b.
Give examples of “hidden homelessness” highlighting that poverty can prevent
people from living in their own homes. Some examples include people who
 must pay too much of their income for housing;
 live in inadequate housing;
 live in others’ housing; or
 live in unsafe homes.
Discuss ways to help the “hidden homeless.”
3.
Heaven is our spiritual home. Discuss the following quote from St. Augustine’s
“Confessions””: “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until
they can find rest in you.” What do you think St. Augustine means?
4.
Have students read John 14:1-4. Ask: What is this place that Jesus has prepared for
you?
5.
Have students draw a picture of how they envision the Kingdom of Heaven. Ask for
volunteers to share in class.
Review:
What makes a home?
What is being done to help those without true homes?
What can we do to prepare for our heavenly home? How can our preparation help those
who are homeless in the world today? How can we make our current homes even better
homes?
Homework/Assessment/ Evaluation: Class participation. Drawing of
heavenly home.
Required Handouts/ Resources/ Websites:
 Mali crisis supplement
Augustine. Confessions, translated by Rex Warner. New York: Mentor, 1963
Mali Crisis: A Young Mom's Story
By Helen Blakesley
Djélika Haïdara pushes a braid off her face and hitches her 5-month-old son higher onto
her hip. She leans down to look into the metal pot simmering on the wood-stoked stove
set on the kitchen floor.
Djélika Haïdara fled her home in Timbuktu, Mali, while still pregnant with 5-month-old
Ousmane, center. They now live in the capital, Bamako, where CRS is helping them with
their rent. Photo by Helen Blakesley/CRS
Cooking has been her main occupation since they left Timbuktu, in northern Mali—since
they fled in fear for their lives.
The day the rebels came, Djélika was sitting in a classroom with the other students, as she
always did, listening carefully to the teacher. It was her favorite lesson: physics and
chemistry.
Then the gunshots started, startling
the teenagers seated at their desks
in neat rows. The rebels weren't far
away. Their stray bullets found
innocent targets in the small school
building. Some students fainted,
others hid, others were hit—and a
number died.
Djélika was pregnant at the time, a
newlywed bride carrying her first
son. She knew she had to get out. She slipped out of the classroom, skirted the building
and ran to the back wall. She managed to pull herself up and over and kept on running.
When Djélika's mother-in-law heard what had happened, she knew they couldn't take any
chances. Through her tears, she pleaded with her son, Djélika's husband, Mohamed, to
take the family away to safety. Take them anywhere but here.
The next day, a crowd gathered outside a neighbor's house. As she walked past, Djélika
heard shouts and asked a woman what was going on. "They're cutting his hand off
because they say he's stolen."
It was time.
The family packed what they could into bags and paid for passage in cars that would
speed along the desert roads. It took nearly all of their savings. Three days later, they
arrived in Bamako, the capital.
Getting Back on Their Feet With CRS
Djélika looks down into baby Ousmane's
face. Here they are, sharing rented rooms
with 20 other members of the family. One
bathroom serves all of them.
Things are expensive in the capital. The last
time she walked to the market, a sack of
rice had reached $80. It used to be $40.
The family is finding relief, though.
Catholic Relief Services is providing
money to cover the rent. Sometimes,
enough remains to go toward some rice or
millet to eat. Luxuries, such as the colorful
bracelets Djélika likes, will have to wait.
The way CRS gives that money helps
Djélika feel a little less like she's sitting
there with her hand outstretched. The
family receives a prepaid debit card—worth
close to $16 per person per month—so they
can choose which ATM to use, when to
withdraw their cash and how much to take
out each time. There's no standing in line.
Little Ousmane reaches up a tiny hand to pat his mother's cheek. Djélika misses her
studies and her old life, but at least the family is together. At least she has her child in her
arms.
When all this is over, she'll go back. When peace settles in Mali, she'll carry on studying.
In her mind's eye she sees the future. She sees herself, a midwife, bringing more babies
into the world. She just hopes it will be a peaceful one.
Helen Blakesley is CRS' regional information officer for West and Central Africa. She is based in Dakar, Senegal.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why did Djelika become homeless?
2. Based on the characteristics of a home that we discussed, is she still homeless?
Explain.
3. How did CRS help her?