This morning I attended an open breakfast for the homeless and vulnerable. This is primary research on my subject matter which is the homeless. Although my project will include photographs of these people, I went there today with no intention of photographing anyone, I wanted to talk to a few people, see if they would be interested in being involved with my project and just get glimpse of how it was being run by the volunteers. Here are a few of the people I spoke to today.
Paul
Paul was the most helpful and enlightening person I met today. He talked long and with real heart about his dog named Sparky. Sparky has been with him for his entirety of life homeless. Now living in a bedsit. Able to get on benefits. He is very street adapted, very protective. Once Paul was attacked from behind, sparky got in the way of him and the attacker and sparky took a stabbing to his shoulder. Could have been homed in Birmingham but pets were not allowed so he turned it down. Hit by truck. just £1600 compensation. He was famous. He was part of a well known circus. Was an all round performer but specialised in plate spinning. Slept in a tent for 5 years. Police aggresive towards them when found. Have to be discreet about location. Never turned to alcohol.Never turned to drugs. Smokes a bit of pot. This helps as Paul suffers from Arthritis due to his accident. Pot helps with the pain. Used to sell the Big Issue. Made £50 a day. Food for the dog, food for him and money for a bit of pot. He later told me that he was gay, and that his sexuality as unfortunately pushed him away from religion due to the churches not understanding his situation. Used to pick fag butts off of the floor but doesnt anymore. 'Street Baccy' Can leave you prone to disease and infections. Up at 5 oclock to walk his dog. Then walks him again before attending the breakfast at about half past 8. During my talk with Paul, 3 policemen invited themselves into the building and were very intimidating. Paul told me that they often do this and 'act like nazi's' was how he put it. You could see them looking around, recognizing and remembering faces, and it really left me feeling angry at our justice system.
Tom
A good friend of Paul, he is truly a natural born survivor. 3 Heart attacks. Blowing on a fire. it blew up in his face, he was thrown backwards which sparked a heart attack. Had a lot of bad luck. Now been diagnosed with diabetes. Has been selling the big issue for years. Paul insists he is a top class salesman and a real charmer for the ladies. He is a married man, to a woman who was also homeless. He in an alcoholic and uses a lot of money that he earns to finance his habbit. He is not a regular at the breakfast, if he has already got the money to get a drink then he will come to breakfast and take his time before he starts work, but if he has not had a drink or not got any money for one then he will start work early and skip breakfast.
Chris
Used to be a pilot in the 60's. Used to receive £350 which was a lot of money back then for flying planes in the RAF. He lost his dream of this when casually talking to a lady that worked with the crew, he mentioned that he used morphine to help him sleep. She then passed this information onto his manager and he lost his license of being able to fly planes again.
Yusef
'Superman on Crack.' The way he talked about his addiction as if it was a person was very intriguing. He would tell me about how it has a hold on everyone and that you would be either a fool or superman for you to say that 'That wont happen to me'. He was very strong in his beliefs of christianity, and he strongly believes that Jesus Christ is a redeemer and that he feels looked after in that knowledge. He claimed to know and had socialised with Bob Marleys younger brother When reminiscing on this period of his life he said 'I owe him a tenner actually'. Yusef comes across as a very reasonable and understanding guy, and I was not told until after talking to him that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He talked about how important visuals were in his recovery off of crack. He would visualize himself with a crack pipe in a squat apartment and then visualize himself in a warm house with his 'favourite meal'.
The voluntary team were a very well run team, with everyone helping out and sticking to their jobs. It is such a selfless act and I have much admiration for them. I aim to talk to them in more depth when I next go to the breakfast in a weeks time to find out a bit more about why they help out.
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