Day 13

Day 13: First survive, then thrive..

I’m sat on The Moor, one of the main shopping streets in Sheffield. It’s 8.30am. Shops are getting ready to open and a few familiar faces have walked past me. Two are men who are part of the street homeless population. One has accommodation. He walked past with a can of alcohol in his hand, open. It would be easy for me to judge him, after all he could be at home instead of here and he's drinking early in the morning. I feel conflicted because I know there's a reason he turned to drink. I also know he won't be easy to deal with later in the day if he drinks too much.

I have a day of nothingness ahead. It is beyond boredom. It is surviving, with no other purpose than to get through the day. There are moments of relief, and for some that comes in the form of alcohol or drugs. Yesterday, for me, it was Carla. She spotted me and waved. I came alive. A smiling face I knew walking towards me!!

Carla has never been homeless, but her dad was. Homeless and a street alcoholic, he was killed on Fargate. He wasn’t dissimilar to the person who passed me a few minutes ago, except that for Carla’s dad, there was a successful career and family life before that series of events came along that led to a breakdown. 

He hadn’t decided to be homeless. He didn’t set out to be rejected and judged. When I knew him, he argued powerfully and persuasively, even cantankerously. He was clever. He cared for others on the street. I called him ‘The Doctor’ because he knew more about health and social care than me. His experience of breakdown and street life left him with little hope. He focused on survival, both his and those he shared his life with. Getting alcohol was part of that. Survival is a different mindset than choice. 

All these years later, Carla fights for people who others continue to judge. It is personal. People who suffer homelessness should have better food, they should have health care, they should have everything that makes life bearable, and it should happen today, now. Now is the most important time. 

Carla can’t change what happened to her dad, but we can change the future for others.

So, something else from yesterday. Theresa, responding to the blog and the comments that came from it, talked about the pain of being a mother watching her daughter suffer. Then she thanked the Archer Project and Printed by Us. It reminded me that all this very necessary talk about homelessness isn’t complete without the knowledge that people survive and go on to thrive. 
Something to celebrate!

Find out more about how we employ people with a history of homelessness and take a look at our premium quality sustainably produced screen printed artwork and garments at https://www.printedbyus.org/

If you want to know more about changing the lives of people who are homeless visit www.archerproject.org.uk 

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