Last month had taken me on a big journey, a journey into realitiy. Right let me start from the beggining, I have always been interested in working with homeless people and whenever I see them it leaves me feeling affected. I constantly began asking myself questions like 'how did they become homeless? ,what kind of stuggles must they have faced on the streets, how must they survive in the winter'??? I had so many questions that I did not know the answers to.
I remember this time when I went shopping in the west end, I was stressing out because I couldn't find an outfit (how pathetic this sounds now) I came out of a shop and I saw this homeless person sitting on the floor, now dont get me wrong I have seen many homeless people in my time but this was different. This guy was huddled up in a ball and he had no shoes on his feet and his feet were cut and very dirty. Everyone was just walking by and totally oblivious but this shoke me up. I immediately wanted to do something but was thinking what could I do. I am very ashamed of what i'm about to tell you, but I have to be honest. I felt compelled to buy him some shoes and socks but it was so busy that i kinda felt a bit embarassed to address the situation. So I like everybody else walked by and did nothing. On my way home i couldnt think of anything else and feelings of regret and shame was afflicting my mind. I made a promise to myself that if i ever saw him again i would definatlty do what i believe i needed to do. Please dont get me wrong though i have given money and brought things for homeless people before but i felt drawn to do much more than this and i regret deeply not acting on it.
Years after my scenario I still hadn't had the opportunity to work with the homeless until last week when my mum had told me that her church intervention programme which took place in the winter for homeless people which gives them the opportunity to have somewhere to sleep for the night and also give them food to eat. She also said to me that they needed volunteers to work alongside and help serve them at meal times, and also in the night when they go to sleep. I was ecstatic when i heard about this and i immediately went down to the church and signed up for it.
The first night I felt a bit apprehensive as i didn't really know what to expect but i sucked it up and jumped straight into things. I began serving some food and washing up the plates etc. I was very saddened by the realisation that these people were actually homeless with nowhere to go, i couldnt imagine or even comprehend how that must feel for them. But as I looked around the room I could see people smiling laughing and chatting like they didnt have a care in the world. They seemed happy to a certain extent. Thats when i realised how much i take things for granted. (I mean I have money in my pocket, a roof over my head, food in my belly and I still complain and often enough I live my life like i'm hard done by).
That night I learn't something very valuable, I have a decent life and I dont always appreciate it and I'm not always happy, they have nothing yet they appear to be happy! this was deep for me. I decided on my next visit that I was going to take a different approach and I wasn't going to watse time feeling sad for them infact my plan was to be happy with them.
The following week I signed up to stay over night with them...I'm not going to lie this was very daunting and I have to admit that I tried to get out of it (only because i was scared) but my mum gave me a good talking to and I followed through. This time i was desperate to interact with them and even find out how some of them became homeless. I found some cards and I asked some of the guys if they wanted to play, this was a real ice breaker and it totally relaxed me. I felt confident enough to ask some of them how they became homeless...now before I share with you some of their stories I want you to ask yourselves this question: Why do you think most people become homeless?? some of you may think what I sometimes think about homeless people...We usually assume that they are drug addicts or alcohol dependent. Of course we know that this can be the case but it's not always the case but we sometimes or always assume it!
Some of the guys shared their experiences with me and I was shocked to hear that they encountered unfortunate circumstances that were beyond their control. One man told me that he had gotten made redundant which inveitalbly lead to financial struggles. And other man who was an asylum seeker had a compelling story which resulted in him being attacked by his family member who was intoxicated at the time. There were many more stories compelling stories which did not at all lead to drugs or alcohol (and I would be able to tell if they were on any substances) so i have no reason to doubt their stories. Whilst listening to these stories i did get a bit emotional and i couldnt help but think 'this could have been me' and I also began to ask my self questions like: If that was me, 'would I be able to put a smile on my face?'
The truth is, we all go through struggles and hard times especially in the times that we are living in. Some of us are fortunate to have the support of either our families or friends and some of us don't. Some people are strong enough to bare certain situations and some of us are not. Some of us can smile through things and some of us can't...I just want to leave off by saying please let us not be small minded and shallow and ridicule people based on how they look or how they live, let us not always assume people are bad because they are wearing ripped clothes or their on the streets begging - because lets face it there could be someone who genuinely needs our help and not just by offering monetary goods but there could be something else you could do. Just use your wisdom and do not put yourselves at risk but be aware that someone may need your help..and also give God thanks because it could have been you!!!
