Faces of the Homeless in Surrey

After reading the article, “Homeless Life at Surrey,” by Jiwan Sanghera, (http://www.nowpublic.com/life/homeless-life-surrey) it triggered many personal memories of the homeless that I have witnessed in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Surrey. The most recent being late yesterday afternoon while I was getting on the sky train from the Surrey Campus to Burnaby. I noticed a woman out of the corner of my eye, moving closer to my side of the car. At first glance I thought she was an elderly lady with a not so up to date fashion sense, however as I looked closer, I noticed her matted hair, tired face and her baggy clothes. I guessed she was in her 20’s and she was wearing a short dirty red and orange strapless dress and a pair of ratty white runners. All she carried with her was a medium sized black and white purse that was just as worn out as was. As she sat down across from me, I could smell a horrible, putrid smell, as if she had not bathed in months. She lifted her head a little, glanced around the car and put her head back down, staring at the floor. As soon as I realized she was homeless, I quickly looked away, but I couldn’t help thinking about what her life must have been like for her to get this way, what it is like now and if it would possibly get better in the future. I knew the answer already: chances are it’s not going to get better, unless someone is there to help her through it all. Even then, she has to want it bad enough, but it seemed that all her hopes, dreams and desires were set aside long ago when she entered her life on the street.

            The image of this woman brought back questions that I get every time I see a homeless person: How did they get like this? Why do they continue on this path? And what can I do to help? Well from the stories I’ve heard from former homeless people on school documentaries, it was all about the choices they made when they were younger. It sounds like it goes to 2 extremes: they came from broken families where they had nobody to turn to, or they came from wealthy families and had everything they could want and were just bored with their lives. Either way, they can turn to drugs or alcohol and if they have an addictive personality or no one to look out for them, their life as they know it will end and they will be re-bourn into a world that most of us try not to think about, a lifeless purgatory of drugs and alcohol. From this point it’s extremely difficult for them to get back on their feet, but it has been done.  I think it’s because the people who have succeeded where helped by somebody else, and wanted it bad enough, even more than to satisfy their hungry addictions.

The problem lies on both sides of the fence. I agree with Jiwan, that there aren’t enough homeless shelters in the area, but the drive must come from the person themselves. If they want it bad enough, they can achieve it. They have to know they are worth it and that a normal life is not impossible for them to attain. For starters, instead of spending money on building clean injection sites and having people take the time to personally inject the drugs into other people, I think we could get rid of all that and put the money towards building more homeless shelters. Also, the people that work to inject others with drugs can instead work to prevent them from continuing down their dead-end paths. And while we’re at it,  why not have a program that gets them  into something else, something good that can help them through their tough times; for example music, art, sports, dance or something else that they like or are good at. This way they can turn to something else instead of drugs or alcohol when they feel their addictions creeping up on them.

What we all do individually to help is up to us; however I would not recommend giving homeless people money because you are just not sure if they will buy drugs or alcohol with it. Instead I would recommend buying them some food or something useful that they can use and is not likely to get pawned off for drugs or alcohol. This way you have done something to actually help the person, not set them back further and encourage their bad habits.