HUMANITY MAG WINTER 2017 EDITION REV 12.11.17

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H U M A N I T Y M A G A Z I N E into storage, and purchased a new car with nowhere to go. Can you tell us about a day in the life of a homeless person? It’s actually boringly normal for the most part. Wake up, find a bathroom, wash up, brush teeth…etc. Go eat breakfast. Run errands, find a way to not be homeless. If there’s nothing to do just hang out, go to the library, a movie. Take a nap. Eat lunch. Sit around and wait for the day to be over please. Dinner. Find a place to settle down, find a bathroom, change clothes, sleep. There was no real reason to stop normal habits. How did you deal with the logistics of homelessness? Where did you shower? Where did your mail go? What did you do with all your ‘stuff’? In the beginning mail went to my aunt’s house, then a P.O box, then an office that offered services for homeless people. Home Base of the shelter offered showers. But before that there were hotel rooms, and before that we made due with park bathrooms. Our stuff went into storage for the three years we were homeless. During the fourth year we had a late payment and they auctioned everything from our two-bedroom home off for $400. We got $98 of it. We stayed in one area, where my school was located, until I graduated. Did you ever live in a shelter? What was that like? I had school from 7 to 2:30 during the week, so I was occupied. My mom sat in the park mostly, waiting to pick me out. At 3:30 the shelter opened its doors, which lead to another 3 hours of waiting before the first 50 of us were loaded onto a bus with padded mats and garbage bags full of blankets and the like. The drive to the churches was usually between five minutes to one hour, then we’d unload and eat the dinner the churchgoers had prepared after letting them pray at us (no really, I love Jesus personally, but these people prayed AT us, every time) We ate mostly meat and potatoes but there were a few places that served us nice things, like pasta, casserole and vegetarian options. After that there was more cleaning, moving of objects, then the 50 sometimes plus of us would stealthily battle from a spot to sleep. No one wanted to sleep next to the snorers or the booze-reekers or the insomniacs or the ‘monitors table’. After a few months my mother and I got a hang of it. Lights out at 10pm and on again at 6:30 am. More cleaning. Maybe breakfast, depending on where we were staying that night, loading the bus, driving back to home base which closed at 7:30 am. Then we were left to fend for ourselves for the rest of the day. What do you think are the biggest misconceptions about homelessness? Or homeless people? * That homeless people can just up and get a job because it’s way more complicated than that. Especially when you have limited clothing and nowhere to really rest and a shelter that closes its doors to anyone not there by 3:30 pm every day. * That homeless people can just save money. Like it’s that simple, like living doesn’t require what little money, if any, they get. A Voice for the Homeless www.HumanityMag.org 9
fs* That they’re idiots. There were tons of perfectly capable human beings being treated like dogs because they lost their home. * That all homeless people don’t want to be homeless. I’ve found out that a lot of them actually don’t care about anything other than beer and whatever vice they happen to have. H U M A N I T Y M A G A Z I N E * That we don’t have the right to be picky. We came from a two-bedroom house and a comfortable life. We cannot just, ‘give everything up’ we cannot just ‘start over from the beginning’. It’s painful. It sucks. And it’s hard – harder than you’d think. What lead to you eventually finding a home? Giving in. We finally got accepted into a program that pays like, 80% of rent based off income, but couldn’t find anywhere but the cheap apartment buildings right next to the shelter. Two years later we’re still looking. What advice would you give to someone facing homelessness? Or someone whose loved one is facing it? Don’t judge them. For whatever reason you or someone you know has been rendered homeless, don’t guilt them or pressure them or scorn them because of it. Sympathize. Someone just lost everything, there’s nothing left. Keep your wits about you. Don’t give up. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, but be careful who you tell. Don’t settle, something better will come along. Don’t stop living your normal life. Go to the doctor, shop for a new dress, go out with friends, keep going to school. A home doesn’t make you, so don’t act as though your life is over. A Voice for the Homeless www.HumanityMag.org 10
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HUMANITY MAG WINTER 2017 EDITION REV 12.11.17

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