Thick layers of clouds cover the beauty of
this relaxing city. Strong wind gusts and showers go on and off but it does no
harm to friends and families going out in the weekend. A street band with
trumpets, guitar, saxophone and drums performing near the well-known Roman Bath
Spa, attracts few dozens of people stop and listen. It fills with a shield of
joy and happiness.
An old man sits in the corner, a worn,
shabby red vest and a dog curls up under his feet. He is holding a magazine.
“Big Issue,” he pauses. “Big Issue,
anyone?” he looks down and pats his dog. The man is about 50 with a bushy silvery
white beard and wrinkles around his forehead. He looks cold and tired as he puts
on layers of thick coat and bulky sweaters under the little red vest printed
the words ‘The Big Issue Official Vendor’.
People walk past without a glance, ignoring
the man and avoiding his eyes. They
chat, laugh and rush by as if the man is invisible to the world. He looks up at
them and looks down again. He has nothing to do; he has no money to shop around
or to buy a cup of Americano to warm his body. He stays quietly with his dog
and waiting for a chance. A chance
that people will stop by and buy a magazine from him.
According to the Government, the total
number of people sleeping rough in London last year was 2309. However, local
authority, Broadway, suggests the real number is almost three times that
amount, with one estimate putting London homelessness numbers at 6473 in the same
period.
People usually label homeless people as bad
people who are uneducated and commit crimes. Homeless people, or rough
sleepers, they do not plan to live on streets; they have a reason behind for
doing that. Most of them are skilled and intelligent and they have no
difference like us.
The Shelter, one of the charities
concerning homeless people in the UK, founds that a breakdown of a relationship
is the major reason of people becoming homeless. Some are being abandoned by
their parents and the majority of these are from single families. Some people
become homeless due to financial difficulties that they are unable to pay bills
and mortgage, and get into heavy debt.
For female rough sleepers, their reasons
for becoming homeless are mainly to escape from an abusive and violent
relationship. They lose their belongingness in this society and slowly get forgotten
by the people. They become invisible.
It is always not difficult to recognize
that there are quite a lot of rough sleepers. Amirah Chaudry, a journalism
student from City University London says, “I turned them down every time when
they asked for spare change or to buy Big Issue. I feel really sad because they
have not got a family or security that they need for life.” But in struggle of
human emotions, Amirah is afraid that this would make them become more reliant
to begging, “It’s about trust issue. They take us for granted as they will rely
on the money that we give them,” she adds.
But then, she reminds one of the homeless
people sitting outside the Sainsbury’s that she used to work and he surprises
Amirah.
“He is so polite and greets people nicely.
‘Good morning, lovely. Going to work today?’ He is a nice person and sometimes
we give him a piece of chocolate or pizza, we know he is hungry and has no
money to buy any food,” she says.
The man will go to that Sainsbury’s every
day, from early morning till late night. He does not have thick clothes to wear
during winter. She continues, “I remember one time, he walked one of our girls
to the bus stop because he knew it was dangerous for a girl to travel back home
at night. I don’t know why he become homeless but I feel sad for him.”
Homeless people need the society to care,
to accept and to understand. People can help by offering them a job or giving
donations to charities or organizations for homeless people.
The sky gets darker, the temperature drops.
On the streets of Bath, people are all on their way home, the street band is packing
their instruments, with smiles of satisfaction. At this moment, the guitarist
walks toward the old man and gives him a five pounds note. The old man looks at
him and takes the note.
“Cheers,” he says, with a grateful
gratitude and walks away with his dog. He still has his Big Issue holding but
he is contented. He walks into a supermarket with his five pounds note.
