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Daniel Brophy
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(untitled)
November 24, 2005 - 04:52 AM
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What is it that we think when we see a homeless man sleeping on a bench with a grocery bag at his feet, stagnant before the slapdash society? Maybe he wears a quill-face, thorn-like-whiskers, in the raw air of the night, and you know he is alive because you can see his cold breath leaving his nostrils underneath the illuminating lamp light, hamburger wrappers and lotto tickets blowing by. Maybe his toes are showing from his ragged shoes, his nails hanging and uncut and yellow, and his gloves do not match in color. Who is this man? Why is he on the street? What led him here?
It is my strange hunger as a middle-class dependant citizen to attempt to understand the conditions and causes and contributions to this languishing way of life. What is it that I would do if my family deceased, every last one of them? Would I be homeless? Could I survive in this capitalist form of government or society as an artist with brushes in a room crammed with splashes of color, charcoal dust and pigeons in my window looking in? Would I try to seek a part time job either as an employer for UPS or Home Depot, since the cost of education would be out of reach? Would the government assist me financially? Should I concern myself with this issue, this issue that befuddles my mind?
As a citizen of this nation, a nation of plenty, should I concern myself with the man on the bench, a man who is a man just as I am? Or should I see him as a dangerous criminal, a drunkard who sniffs crack and buys heroine for 10 dollars a bag and in the south for 50 dollars a bag when it gets to cold to live up north? Should I see him as an undeserving screw-up in our society who is hopeless and on his own? Or should I possibly consider solidarity with the homeless? Do I really know how he became homeless? Do I have any idea of what he goes through to find food, to overcome his addictions, to shut out the voices echoing his name underneath the bridge? What can I do or say for the homeless?
Is it our individual right to move away into our two-door-garage homes with their 30-inch television screens, and our big back yards, and live a life unaware of the painful realities of homelessness? We look out of these windows and see men waxing their sports cars and women walking their purebred dogs and children playing football in the street. We hear the sparrows singing poetry in the branches and the squirrels eating their acorns. We see a town unblemished with modernized homes for every perfect square block and for every person a cell phone and in their wallets a form of identification.
Or is it our citizen obligation to our community or to our world to have a revolutionary mind? When it comes to this issue, what is justice? Or should we all define justice on our own terms and levels? When understanding some of the causes or contributions of homelessness (unemployment, mental illness, deceased relatives, drug addiction, alcohol abuse, unaffordable housing, suppressing government policies, poverty, environment, welfare reforms, etc.) what should one’s reaction become? Or should we have a reaction at all? Do we have a duty here to see that every American in the United States can have enough food, have a place to sleep, and a job in which they can get paid a little over enough to survive and be able to do things that average middle-class citizens find time to do?
What are your personal experiences with this? Meeting homeless and poor people in the walks of our life...
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Maitreyi Doshi
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volunteering in a Homless shelter
November 25, 2005 - 01:27 AM
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I had a really interesting day today. I went to Covenant house in Charleston to volunteer with the homeless shelter. My best friend Amanda she works with them over the summer as a Bonner Scholar, and we had done a bunch of fundraisers, food and cloth drives so our coordinator decided we should visit them. So as usual i volunteered to go there, i wanted a break and i thought there was no better way to spend my thanksgiving break by volunteering for a day.
So we left really early to reach Covenant house (CH) about 6.30 am, in the freezing cold. The ride was not to long just about 2 hrs and we reached there, all of us pretty sleepy. There were in total 7 of us including our coordinator. We started off by getting a tour of the house all the activities they do. They give us some really amazing "hot" crispy cream donuts. I never have had warm donuts, i never realised how yummy they tasted. And we got some really strong coffee which woke us up. 
Basically CH helps homeless people with lots of things, finding a safe place to eat lunch, was cloths, take a shower, just a place to spend when its really cold or hot outside. It also helps HIV/AIDS people find a home, pay some medical bills, electricity utilities, etc...
They have a food pantry where people come and get supplies for a month, a clothing closet where Homeless people can come and get free cloths. Some of us worked on both these sites. I was asked to design a game for the up coming world AIDS day. It was really fun and interesting, first of all i had to really quickly study some HIV facts. I was so surprised at what i read and heard. I felt so ignorant about how bad AIDS is until i started reading the facts. Both me and another friend were designing the game and came up with AIDS jeopardy it was cool.
Some of the shocking things i learnt was, that there are people called "bug chasers" who actually go to AIDS parties to get infect. I really don't understand why people would lose their minds to do this, but apparently its a very serious issue. I never knew about it. Another frightening thing i learnt was if both the partners have AIDS, they should still have protected sex coz if not they could reinfect each other which meant that the AIDS strand in both their bodies would get mutilated and would not react to any treatment making it more harmful. I learnt so much I was just amazed how much ignorant i was. It was a shocking but eye opening experience.
Then we went to a church where we at lunch with the homeless people. Yep i kind of felt really bad, coz I was being picky when i really did not want to, i am a vegetarian and there was not much i could eat, i really did not want to make a huge deal about. I kind of feel bad that on one hand i was sitting with people who don't get food to eat and other the other hand i was being so picky about eating the food. And interesting experience was when a homeless person walked up to me and said "Hi are you from India"? I was amazed and said yes, he was like Bombay? I said yep very close to Bombay. He then asked me a few more questions and then was like I had a very good Indian friend in New Orleans and we used to watch Indian movies together. Wow, i had no idea how popular Indian movies were. I did not know what to say.
Moving on, after lunch we went back to CH, then from there we went to a Non-Traditional, AIDS family. We met up with them 2 guys and a really nice lady staying together for 17 yrs. They are not blood related, all of them were just really good friends. The two guys, apparently were gay and are the ones who are infected. The lady was a really good friend of one of the guys, and decided to move in with them 17 yrs back coz the guys were tested positive and could not take care of themselves. After a few yrs, the guys broke up but they still are very good friends.
Sitting in their nice cosy home, i realised these people have gone thru hell, but I still saw a smile on their face, their house was so colourful and full of life, I guess that's what keeps them going. They all earn and pool in the money for the home together. I was amazed how people care and love each other, inspite of not being related. I realised that in this world there are still loving people. I needed a reminder, that how nice and wonderful my life is and that I should stop complaining about heartbreaks, relationships, school work, homesickness, frustration etc... That i have no right to complain after looking at what these people have gone thru.
We helped them clean the back yard, weeded the flower bed, and mop the front porch. I think all of them have breathing problems and therefore its really hard for them to work outside. I just felt really happy I could in my own small way help them. I felt so satisfied after seeing a happy smile on their face when we helped them out.
We get back and helped clean up in the CH and then left to get back to concord.
I think i have had a very interesting day. I needed to be reminded how thankful i am to have everything in life and i guess there is no better way to celebrate thanksgiving ... though i don't celebrate it...
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Alejandro Hernández
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Homeless by choice vs. homeless by accident
November 25, 2005 - 06:26 AM
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Just an old newspaper note from The Independent regarding some interesting facts and experiences of homeless people in Britain. There are as well some research about why people choose to live as homeless.
Focus: They sleep on the night buses, or beg sofa space from friends. They have nowhere else to go. They are the hidden homeless
There are 380,000 such men and women in Britain, who are not listed on the records so cannot get help, but who have no homes. We may not see so many rough sleepers these days but the new underclass of single homeless people is growing, finds Katy Guest
29 May 2005
Erna is homeless. You won't see her in a shop doorway, though. She doesn't want change for a cup of tea. She doesn't look homeless, and the authorities do not think she is vulnerable enough to need help - but for eight years Erna has toured the hostels, ridden the night buses just for somewhere to sleep, and outstayed her welcome on so many sofas that she has lost count.
"I'm moving, moving, moving," says the 58-year-old, who has a business plan and wants to start a Caribbean restaurant, but can't get backing until she gets an address. "All I want is a place of my own."
When she left her violent husband, Erna became part of a growing underclass, the hidden homeless: these are the rapidly growing number of people left behind because of the soaring cost of renting (let alone buying) somewhere to live. There are 380,000 people like her in Britain, according to the charity Crisis - men and women who do not appear on government records as homeless, but who have no homes.
Walking through any city centre, you would be forgiven for thinking that the problem had disappeared, or at least diminished. There are not as many people sleeping rough as there used to be. But homelessness is worse now than it was in 1997 (the year Labour came to power and Erna left home), according to a cross-party group of 25 MPs calling on the Government to do something about it. An early day motion last week expressed alarm at a problem that seems to have been swept off the city streets but has not gone away.
The hidden homeless are adults with no dependent children and who are classed by the authorities as "non-priority" cases. The problem is that nobody has a responsibility to house them - so most don't bother signing up for help they know they won't get. Local councils don't know how many of them there might be. The Government has no plans to find out. But the number is large, and it is growing. By 2010, Crisis estimates that there will be 650,000 Ernas shuffling between the sofas and floors of relatives and friends. By 2020, there could be a million.
Single people are suffering the most, says Crisis. The growing number of single households and the lack of any social housing being built for them is contributing to a potentially huge problem. "Traditionally, single people have not been important politically," says Tarig Hilal, the policy manager at Crisis. "But this is a growing part of the population, and likely to increase. Some pretty big changes in the make-up of our society are not being recognised."
While the numbers of pensioners, parents and children in poverty have dropped under this government, there are significantly more childless, single people living in poverty than before: about 3.3 million.
"If you are single, living on your own is a more costly affair," says Hilal. "You get fewer benefits and fewer tax credits. Services, support, legislation and policy are not designed to help you. Take the most vulnerable of that group, and the picture starts to emerge of how these people run into problems. A lot of the people we deal with feel very isolated."
Yvonne is one them. The 30-year-old left a good job in an art gallery to come to London and live with a man, who turned violent. She had to leave - it was his flat - but she had nowhere to go. Even when she found a full-time job, it did not pay enough to enable her to save for a rent deposit in the inflated London housing market. So she has moved from hostel to hostel, looking for a break. Many people in her position do not appear among the 200,000 names on the official list of homeless people as they have not registered with (and been accepted by) their local authorities.
"When we came up with the figure of 380,000, the Government said, 'What a load of rubbish'," says Guy Palmer, the director of the New Policy Institute. "So we asked them to come up with their own estimate. They say they can't because they don't collect any data on this."
But homelessness charities think it is about time they did. The Scots have. There was a startling leap in the official number of homeless people north of the border in 2003 when the Scottish Parliament widened the criteria. Instead of being alarmed by the figures, the Executive rejoiced in being able to help more people. "To a considerable extent, our experience shows how big the hidden homelessness problem is," says a spokeswoman. "But that doesn't mean we catch everyone, even now."
Crisis is now raising funds to run a pilot census, in order to show the Government that it is possible. "We count the most ridiculous things in this country," Hilal points out. "If Tesco can count the number of melons it sells, we can count the number of homeless people."
In Parliament, MPs are lobbying for a change. But as you ride the night bus home, that person nodding off in the next seat may well be dreaming of somewhere to lie down. As Erna says: "I just want a place of my own."
The sofa surfer
Erna Woodley, 58
I went through 19 years of domestic violence. I don't like divorce because I have a Christian faith, but I had to leave home. I have a son who is 20 and at university, and a daughter who is 23. My children have a good relationship with their father, but he really treated me very bad. I went to the Caribbean to sort myself out and then came back. It will be eight years in June since we separated and I still have no place.
To start with I lived in shelters. I couldn't get housing from the council; they told me I was a non-priority, even though I had a letter from the doctor. I was sleeping on the buses. I moved so many times from people's places. From 2003 to September last year I was sleeping at friends' houses, on the sofa, in a spare bed or on the floor. They would all treat me very nice but after a few weeks they would decide they don't want me in their home. They were not always supportive in the end, and I desperately wanted to make my own way in life. Now I'm staying in someone's place in Maida Vale. She was also homeless, and I met her in a women's refuge. It's OK but I just want a place of my own.
Before I can get a job I need an address. And before I can get an address I need a job. I feel like I am stuck. I have everything planned for my own business - I have a business plan and a business adviser, and I am going to set up a Caribbean restaurant. But I can't do anything till I get my own place. Apparently there are places in Kent to house women like me, but it is a long wait and it is very painful. Until then it is just moving, moving, moving.
The low-paid worker
Yvonne Powell, 30
You get caught in a loop. The last job I had was full-time, and it paid what I thought was a pretty decent full-time wage. Although I was earning enough to be off benefits, I still wasn't earning enough to be able to save for a deposit somewhere. I couldn't afford private rent, not even for a bedsit.
I am frantic to be independent. As a friend said, in London it is almost impossible not to be in some sort of social or financial underclass, because you have to earn so much money before you can afford to rent your own place. Potential employers see you as a transient character who's not worth training because you'll move on, or worse, someone with such a huge problem that you'll be no good at the job.
I have been hidden homeless for three and a half years. I gave up a job in an art gallery to move to London and be with a man, but I had to leave him because he was violent. It was his flat, so I had nowhere to stay. I went to a women's hostel but I couldn't stay there long. The next place had a huge problem with violence and drugs. The place I am in now is quieter, but it can still be challenging.
I have put a lot of my life on hold, especially my love life, because you can't be in a meaningful relationship with someone when you're vulnerably housed. Practically, what can you bring to a relationship? Being in a hostel is like living in a glass box. While you are protected, you are also isolated. And it's like watching the rest of life and the rest of the world going on around you and yet not being part of it. I'm tired of living on the other side of the glass.
The night bus rider
Graham McEvoy, 58
I gave up my job as a purchasing manager for a big American company to come back and look after my elderly parents in March 1998. Three years later they both fell over and went into a nursing home on the advice of the social services. They never came out. After they died, the nursing home had me evicted so my parents' house could be sold to pay off the bills. I spent the winter living in and around Heathrow airport. I had most of what I wanted in a suitcase, so I looked like a traveller anyway. I just waited for people to put their heads down and settled down next to them. But after a while, I started to get noticed by the police. I had no reason to be there, so I was trespassing.
I slept rough, then went riding on the night buses. In the winter I'd get a seven-day bus pass and use it for travelling around to keep warm and dry, especially at night. I would just ride and ride to the end of the line. I used to use public toilets and John Lewis to wash and shave every day, to try not to look like what I was. I went cold-calling, looking for jobs like washing up or bar work. I didn't get any.
Where I am staying now is comfortable, clean, safe and secure, but the postcode says it is a hostel, which for a long time made it impossible to get a bank account. Without one, it is hard to get work. Very few people pay in cash these days. But I am trying very hard to find a job.
People like me are invisible. The Government has no idea of the enormity of the problem. If you're out of the way, on a night bus or on a sofa, that's just it: you're out of the way.
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Beth
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Re: (untitled)
November 25, 2005 - 08:50 AM
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From my TIGblog:
Walking down San Salvador past the convenience store...
"Spare any change?" Too quiet for me to understand at first.
"Spare any change?"
"Want a piece of pizza? Are you hungry?" I look down into the big blue eyes as a 30-something-year-old man shakes his head yes.
Reaching for the pizza, I focus on it... I'd walked up to a man sitting on the sidewalk with a backpack, wondering if I would have an incounter with him and how I'd react. Does he need something? Is he homeless? I'm carrying pizza. I've always just ignore those people around me as to not end up in a troubling situation. But here I carry perfectly good food... I hand him the pizza.
"Thank you very much" he says. I look down. Again: "Thank you" he says staring intensely in my eyes.
"You're welcome." I've never seen anyone more greatful. "Have a nice night." I walk away... That statement was out of place. Could I have done something more? Should I have stayed to talk? I wonder how he got there appearing hungry and lost.
Now I wonder how I can get that feeling back of helping. How can I fully understand where he and others are when homeless? I spend an awful lot of money on fun and entertainment for being on a "limited budget". If I could go around with that feeling all night, it would be a hundred times more worth it than a night out at the bars. Where are all the homeless people in this twon at night? Maybe I could bring them food and sit down and eat with them.
It's not like I have never thought about the issue of homelessness before. I have done my share of comtemplation and know and have help in many ways, but that night it felt much different than the contributions made behind the scenes.
There's an organization everywhere and the international cause to end poverty. For my local community, I've found:
http://www.sundayfriends.org/
http://www.cvm.org/whatcvm/santaclara.htm
http://www.cityteam.org/sanjose/
http://www.sjfamilyshelter.org/
http://www.innvision.org/
http://www.sjhousing.org/homeless.html
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Daniel Brophy
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Re: (untitled)
November 26, 2005 - 11:25 AM
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Thank you for your post on the thread of homelessness, it was the most interesting to read! Wow! Maitreyi, Beth, I am so happy you have shared your personal experiences! I feel they are very valuable! Also, Sandro, what do you say? The "Independent" UK writing about them, their personal stories? That is news for me! Giving new light to this issue.. But how much this could bring some change? Change of thought and action. I wished if we could write about our feelings when meeting them, what do we feel and what do we think, what do we do?
Do we mostly think someone else should take care of them? Or have some feeling of the urge to do something on the spot? Or do we feel unpleasant and likely to ignore them? You may have seen my art, gallery and writings on my pages, I am painting them, I started a few years ago, putting their stories on the canvas or board, and online, it just started with direct communication. Talking to them, knowing their names, giving food to them, they are my friends, and in a way my inspiration, my closest touch with real life in many ways more profound than talks on newest sitcoms and cell phones.
Sometimes these people living on the streets just need someone to talk to them or listen to them, someone who they can talk to about their painful experiences or beautiful things in life. I don't know if that may help them, but it certainly helps me not to feel like another frozen, alienated passer by. Many people ignore them, some even insult them, many people fear them or feel disgust. I do stop by them. I do stop and listen and talk to them. I try to give to them something, and if nothing else a small fragment of my life and understanding. And a new world reveals to me in these moments.
So, I wished to make a project on gathering the thoughts and actions which are personal, not necessarily pertaining of organization, but of course done through organizations too - what we think and feel and do ourselves aside media or organizations, in direct personal communication, in getting to know them, which is so hard, and maybe even tabooed? Because by some social norms or unwritten prejudices we are not allowed in our culture to communicate to them directly, maybe we are expected even not to see the human beings in them any more.
The organizations for homeless are doing great job, but by my opinion they cover just one part of their needs, basic part of existence maybe, but not their integration, they belong to the underworld locked by our prejudices, and church refuses them too. That is what fears me, makes me do anything for them myself.
What are your feelings and experiences? Do we pass this to our friends as an unpleasant question to answer, unimportant issue to address or it may tickle in us something, which is directly communicating with the humanity response in us? Because we can not all be transferred to the zones of extreme world poverty and hold in our hands a child who would die without our direct help. God knows if we would ever be doing this, but each of us may daily meet a person who sits homeless in the tunnel, or sleeps on the bench, or is panhandling in the street. What do we do then? What feeling ticks inside us? What voice is telling us what to do?
What would we do if our close family member or the person we love would feel like going and spending time with them? Would we appreciate and support it or try to make him or her feel fear of them and ignore them? Would we think these men and women untouchable, like lepers?
You know what makes the greatest paradox I have met so far? All these people, poor and homeless we meet in the street became homeless the ways they just lived their lives, similar way we do now, with their joys and problems, virtues and vice they lived the best way they knew and in one moment it just happened, they lost what they had, their position or something what they been thinking they would always have - their identity or recognition of that among the other people.
The point is, no matter how and why it has happened, no one ever became homeless by helping the other homeless. Yet, we are raised and taught by our system to believe we should not communicate to them, by social disdain and a deep gap we are restricted from direct communication or futher of giving direct help to the homeless and even coming close to them, like homelessness is a contagious disease.
Do we live in society that divides us in caste that way, in rigid system of social divisions, or we just can not break through the cage of our own prejudices?
What is your opinion?
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melanie mae
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What is it like?
November 27, 2005 - 03:46 AM
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I was homeless for about three years. It was not planned. There are a few crumbled journals from that time in my closet and sometimes it is interesting to read and unbelievable that it happened just a few years ago.
I remember working and working different jobs on a small island on Lake Superior. The pay was pretty good but we lived in a small shack or trailer or if you were lucky you could camp out somewhere private in the woods. Two of the jobs that kept me busy were restaurant work and it was pretty much sunrise to sunset of grease and sweat. There was a guy there that kept harassing me and then threatened me physically, but he was my boss and I couldn't take it. Then he followed me to my other job (because he fired me) and sat at the counter and kept on while I ran around taking orders. It seemed that almost every job I had there was a sexually depreaved man who wanted something and it was a struggle just to work in a comfortable atmosphere, never giving in to their behavior and trying to remain calm. I started becoming afraid, just literally afraid to walk down the street and my cousin was just raped by one of her bosses. It seemed that everywhere I went someone wanted something from me.
My friends were off the deep end in cocaine and heroine, selling it out of their house and it wasn't comfortable at their place, an old friend (like 70+ years old) made advances to me and it wasn't comfortable there, and my parents and sister refused to let me come back because of my cigarette addiction and lack of interest in the Bible.
My dad flung my backpack out of the front porch onto the street and my sister yelled, "No one wants you here!" So I avoided them. Little by little it wore me down and my home was in a tent in the woods or a couch and my clothes were in a huge army backpack.
Then a friend suggested that we go to Atlanta, Georgia. That was the first trip I took on my own and then shortly after fighting with a friend about his coke addiction (causing him to become a thief) and wanting no part of it. I moved out and went to Seattle to find work and a place to live, then Alaska, then to New Mexico, then back to my parents house where my mom broke all my CD's and rummaged through my room. Nothing was working out. I literally was starving because all my money went into bus tickets and a place to sleep ; the cheapest motel I could find.
I wasn't the homeless person to sleep in a cardboard box. The only thing that was a problem for me was finding a job where the place was respectful. Having money extra for emergencies was hard because everything went into paying for a place to stay. Sometimes I found a refuge in a woman's shelter where they fed you and gave you some clothes and a shower for two or three months. Once a lady at the shelter gave me a $50 check to buy new shoes. She was like an angel to me because my shoes were sandals with broken leather straps.
Someone said to me once, "You are too beautiful to be homeless." I think I was at a bus station waiting for my bus and all my belongings were in the bag next to me. It weighed at least 100 pounds. It doesn't matter what you look like, anyone can get there. There were many many nice people along the way to talk with me and give me a couch to sleep on or something to eat. There were some Native American people that gave me a dinner on the boat I took to Alaska, shaking their head at my young age and condition.
My health really was affected by all of this. I was in fear constantly of being attacked, in fact, someone robbed me that year while I was sleeping on the bus. Then my back was hurting all the time for dragging and carrying two 100 pound army backpacks all across the country. I was also pretty sick most of the time, emotionally and physically in pain. People were not kind at times but I refused to beg. Never once did I stand around asking people for money. People gave to me because they wanted. I also refused to sell my body (and unbelievably this was offered to me as a method to attain much money).
Going to school at the University of New Mexico was the one thing that helped me out of the slump of homelessness. I could help myself and find better work and no one would have to feel responsible for me, like my family. It was the best decision. Now it will take much more than the above to bring me back to that state of life. When I see someone that is hungry or has nothing usually it is in my heart to give. Thank you for inviting me to post.
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Zorica Vukovic
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Re: (untitled)
November 27, 2005 - 09:12 AM
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Dear friend, the close encounters with poverty and helplessness is always so painful. It is unforgettable indeed. Worse than that is only human manipulation with it. I have not been in countries of extreme poverty lately but have read in paper about thousands of hungry children there and my heart wept for all of them. How these generations may survive? I asked myself. Providing care and food for them is providing hope not only for the individuals but for the world.
I believe that if nothing else could be done at that moment when a child grab your hand money can help, too. I believe that at that moment if someone can not do any better than give a coin, that single coin should be given. I see it not as a as "paying for the momentous thought" as for the thought that may lead us to further action, because sometimes that action may be too late. It is known that the bottleneck of all actions for humanity are the actual “care givers”. Why not all of us? Why not in each situation whenever we can do it? Why not follow that impulse, however small it may be, being a care giver for a second, or for a lifetime?
Whatever institutional description it may be it is always that hand which is actually giving something to someone, that look exchanged between the eyes and anything, something that is bringing even the shortest relief. It is not worthless nor should be forbidden to give in any way. Just sometimes we may think of it as the possibility for paying for the lesson that has just occurred in our lives. Whatever that thought and feeling may be... sometimes not more than just pain and helplessness shared, but I believe that it may be equally important.
I appreciate that by your art you create the awareness on this issue on the level of deeper human emotions and identification with those in trouble and pain who are our brothers and sisters.
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Awais Aftab
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Re: (untitled)
November 28, 2005 - 03:08 AM
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I have never had any personal experience with homelessness and poverty, but i do observe the poverty that afflicts a large portion of the society. Seeing them brings up spontaneous feelings of pity and sympathy in me. It immediately reminds of the benefits and facilites i enjoy in life; how many opportunities i got just because i was born in a well-do-to family. And the injustice of the situation really hurts me. I wonder how much talent, how much potential would be present in them but is lying dormant because they don't have the proper opportunities to develop their abilites. How many Einsteins, how many Picassos would have been thwarted in this manner. It is also very unfortunate the people treat them as social outcasts, criminals, ruffians but they forget that it was the very society which made these people who they are. A minimum of financial facilities is the right of every citizen, and it is upto the society to fulfill it.
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Lucia
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Re: (untitled)
November 28, 2005 - 04:05 AM
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Originally posted by Stridefull2
Here is my question --- Erich Fromm articulated it like this:
“If I am what I have, and if I lose what I have who then am I?”
This being one of important things in life to explore. What is your opinion?
Oh my gosh pebbles...I have to say, just from reading about you, it is clear at least to me that your parents didn't have any interest in the Bible either, most emphatically quite the contrary. The way you tell your story also illustrates my point, which is that people are not what they "have," unless they perceive themselves as being what they have, and then they are as if empty inside. (The quotation seems, incredibly enough, to refer to material, and as the subject is homelessness, I assume it is material that is meant here.) Even when one not only loses everything, but is subject to the unfathomable experiences that pebbles has been subjected to, it is obvious that one does not cease to exist and regardless of the state they are in, one still has one's mind, heart, soul and breath.
(I shudder to think how you ended up in those situations pebbles.)
I see now that there are homeless people who do not care as much about material, but who ultimately just want someone to love them, and if they get a home and material things, they will still cry for someone to love them, and then there are probably poor people (maybe homeless ones?) who have someone who loves them, but they just lack the material. It must be individual.
Personally, the question posed by Fromm is not applicable in my life, because I am not what I have, I am who I am and, moreover I am not a "what," I am a "who." While a "what" can be stolen or taken away or pulled out from underneath your feet, a "who" is intangible and, although it can be severely abused and devastated, even destroyed beyond recognition, it cannot be stolen and it still "lives" - even when you wish with all your strength that it would die, it lives - and this is its curse and its blessing. Because it lives, you suffer, but its life provides you with the only means by which you can escape the situation in which you are suffering.
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Daniel Brophy
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Value of personal experience
November 28, 2005 - 07:01 AM
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Thank you for sharing your personal experiences and views, Zo, Awais your words are revealing to me personal attitudes that sensitive people my have. And Pebbles, thank you greatly for your post, because what you have shared with us is incredibly valuable by my opinion and I am deeply touched.
From the general explanation as well from the personal attitude of relation to homeless and poor people I think one may learn greatly about oneself and the world around us.
Here is my question --- Erich Fromm articulated it like this:
“If I am what I have, and if I lose what I have who then am I?”
This being one of important things in life to explore. What is your opinion?
And when we lose something or "everything" do we lose our ability to share what we still ARE with the others, the community, the world?
How losing "something" in life whatever that "thing" may be may bring us to the point of despise and discommunicate any person who don't "posses" it any more?
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bharati mamani
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Re: (untitled)
November 28, 2005 - 11:40 AM
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Home is where your heart is, with your loved ones. The first time I had the feeling of homelessness was when I lost my parents back in 1997.All of a sudden, the house where I lived with them when they were alive, became so foreign to me. My whole world changed. As a child I always had a kind of pull towards the homeless, the poor, the sick and the abandoned, the deprived, it was only now I could feel what they must be undergoing. Even while writing this, I wonder how much it would help…
In India there are millions who are poverty stricken and homeless. They just come into this world, live and leave. It is very painful to see their children working as laborers esp. the girl child. It would be mockery of them if one should think that they will all be alleviated. It is far from reality to think so because until and unless they want to uplift themselves, we are not in a position to do something for them. I have talked to hundreds of them about sustaining themselves by undergoing training under the various vocational training courses that many non profits and governmental agencies offer. They showed little interest as begging, stealing and living on the streets is much easier.
But at the same time, we have been successful in educating and training about 569 individuals who used to live on the streets and are today they go to work and live a decent life. Like I said, it will depend on the willingness of the person to uplift him/herself.
I work for the children who have been orphaned by the violence in Kashmir since 1998. We are running rehab projects for orphan-girls whose parents were killed either by the cross firing or blasts or the father was killed as he was a militant etc. I have seen very closely what these innocent and tender minds have undergone. Being a student of psychology, I found working with the help of counseling or therapy would only limit the chances to bring back the smiles on their faces. All I could think of was to provide a HOME for them and fight the word orphan out of their lives. An open heart, giving them love like we do for our own children and making them feel the Home Basera-e-Tabassum (meaning abode of smiles) was theirs own and they are God’s special children, has done a miracle!! Today anybody who visits the Home is in for a pleasant surprise as they don’t find any such thing as depression or gloom or sadness…
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Daniel Brophy
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Re: (untitled)
December 3, 2005 - 02:43 AM
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Your postings are very valuable and I am gratefull to all. If there is any other personal story of meeting homelessness I would like it to find its place here.
Peace and Love
DanieL
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Brigitta
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Re: (untitled)
December 5, 2005 - 07:47 AM
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Personally i feel that homelessness is a state in which no human being should be.homelessness is a state that suits wild animals who are designed to survive in the jungle and exist better than it does humans who are meant to live,grow and flourish beyond just existence.i would define a home as decent place to stay which you can call your own. to me a home means a place to hide when need arises, a place to rest at the end of any stressful day or event, a shelter from any harsh elements from the outside world and a place where i can relax and be at peace, free to do what i like, how i like and when i like.a place where i can grow.a place thats my own.
knowing that many people have no homes, no shelters to call their own is a sad thought.the closest i have ever come to walking in the homeless' shoes was a few years ago when i and my two friends(1 male 1 female) were travelling to some rural area by bus to do some research for a certain project.it was in the rainy season and the roads, which are not tarred, were so bad that the public transport we took got stuck in the muddy road.we got off and walked back to the bus depot which was not too far hoping to find transport to an alternative route.unfortunately we could not find transport to that route until it was dark.the bus depot was filled with men, women and children who had no places to stay,spent the days begging in the streets and the nights on the cold floors under the depots benches.we started looking for a place to sleep but could not find any.we were almost in tears at the prospect of spending the whole night on a bench in an open space depot with a leaking roof, full of mosquitoes and on such a cold night too.knowing that the little children, men and women lying all over the cold floor actually spent every single hot,cold or rainy night under the benches and on hungry stomachs too was so depressing.a security guard managed to find us a small room very late in the night where we crammed ourselves on one bed for the night.we talked about being luckier than most that night to find and pay for a bed in that small hole with at least less mosquito bites,roof not leaking and having had some food too.my deepest feeling was of helplessnes, feeling that all my goodwill,alms and sympathy could not get those people out of the ruts.the most that can be done is probably to be involved and dedicated in efforts that aim to reduce poverty, empower people economically and cultivate a spirit of self dependence in people.but then....oh well.
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Matongo Maumbi
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Re: (untitled)
December 10, 2005 - 11:05 AM
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Homelessness! Well this is a subject that has greatly rocked my country especially in the cities. I have not encountered someone that homeless per se.
In Zambia, the greatest proportion of homeless people are those that have some disabilities. Say, the blind, the deaf, the handicapped...
THere was a time I was attending a meeting in Lusaka and I was busy walking around in town during a break. All the people that were begging or at least trying to catch people's attention for help were the blind. I am a person who has always been ignoring such people on the street. Honestly speaking it never really occured in my mind as 'where' these people spend their nights. I know for some they spend the night in underground tunnels and under fly-over bridges. They are too many to be in those places.
This problem is mainly in the main cities, where the extended family care hardly exists. In the rural, where I live, the extended family has really played a good role to taking of such people. In town people claim life if expensive but they can afford to undertake great luxury adventures. In the village, when your neighbour is happy and has a roof, you too are happy. Poverty has made many people opt for begging and to be on the streets, which should not be the case. There is a man where I live who, if you don't really know him, you might think he is very mentally confused. Someone seriously confonted him and he confessed that he was doing that because that's the best way people can help with food. He doesn't really mind where he sleeps - as long as he has something to eat for the day.
maybe something we should look is the link between poverty and homelessness. In zambia, these two are very much linked and they are difficulty to separate.
Our government is also not showing any responsibility towards such people. I think government should be building up family houses to be hosting such people so that they may have a shelter at the end of the day. The problem is that they busy fighting for who is the best in politics and leave the real issues of people suffering everywhere. the social system in Zambia has no help to the people that require help.
I believe we are the next generation that can bring a change for a better world. we need to be able to lend a helping hand. One thing I have come to appreciate with such people is that they always say "THANK YOU" no matter how little you have helped them. That word should be heard everywhere. Let's bring a smile on people's faces. It's the easiest thing to do.
Animals are united. Birds are united. Insects are united. Fishes are united. Man is divided. We are able to reason but we still cannot help one another. Let's get an example from the birds, insects, fishes, animals...
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Anu maheshwari
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A Revelation
December 12, 2005 - 12:59 PM
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14th October was like any other day in my life...we had recently shifted to a new flat.
i had liked my old flat very much...it had a beautiful view of the arabian sea on all the three sides,and ships coming in and going out of the busy Mumbai port.my friends told me that i was very fortunate to live in south mumbai because its the greenest and the cleanest place in mumbai, away from the slums and the dirt.
but on 14th i had a strange experience. it was around 1pm and i was still up working on my assignments.i took a break and looked outside my window,there was a man sleeping on the footpath opposite to my building.it was a cold night and all that the man had to cover himself with, was a torn movie poster from the billboard nearby.
the sight just left me numb. i couldn't move from the spot.i just couldn't....there i was feeling sad for moving into a new flat with no scenic view and here i was facing a man with no roof on his head.
And this man is not alone, there are thousands like him in this city and more in this world.we just conveniently keep forgetting about them while planning our millennium bashes,our independence day and more so... while talking about our improving standards of living.
All our stories come to a complete circle when we are faced with this stark bit of reality. we have to break this vicious circle of poverty.and we can do so by going out there and making a change..every little thing counts.its a cowardly act, to just blame the government for everything. being homeless is not a choice for those living in our slums. and those who are afraid to go near these slums ,calling them the dirtiest place on earth should think for a while ...that those people don't hav the luxury of the bathtubs or showers ..with a bottle of water that they get to perform their daily ablutions ,i think they r the cleanest people on the planet.
if one doesn't have the means to help them,then the least one can do, is to not make any wrong judgments about the poor people. they are just like you and me dreaming of a better tommorrow.
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