My name's Charles Shibanjio, I used to stay with my aunt and I lived with her most of my life. I was born in Nigeria and I came down from Nigeria to London to study, and when I got to the age of fifteen I was having problems with my aunt. It wasn't her fault or anything, because she was looking after me, my brother, my cousin and two of her kids as well. What happened was basically I had to leave home because it was overcrowded. So what I decided to do when I was nineteen, we had an argument, it was before Christmas, and I just left home. And from there I was just sleeping from one place to another, kipping at people's houses and friends houses. People told me to stay for a night, or I stayed at a friend's for a week, or two weeks, couple of months, and after that I went into a hostel, but it wasn't really helping. At the hostel I was staying in, people were threatening each other, there was a lot of violence, so I decided to leave and then from there I was staying at different houses again.

I applied for housing, for my own house or my own flat, and I got one within about six or seven months. I was living there for about three months, but in 1996 all my stuff got nicked and then I was forced out on the streets again. From there I was living in different places again and it got to a point were I was getting limited for places to stay. A friend of mine got me to go into the Housing Benefit Office and they put me into a hostel in South Kensington where I stayed for six months. It was a three month hostel, but I stayed there for six months because I was behaving myself and I just kept myself to myself. I was agreeing with their rules and things, and then from there they got me into a place in the Barbican, it's a Foyer, you stay there for about two years; its brand new by Centrepoint, and you've got your own rooms. You get a lot of support. All you have is one person on a desk helping you out and then there are people who try to get you work, or try to get you into study and things like that. That's how I got involved in Cardboard Citizens, basically because they came down and we did a workshop with them for about a day. From there they told us to come to their Borough in Rotherhide at the Bobble, then we went down there and we did a workshop for about a week, and from there I was chosen to play this character, Dick Whittington.

I must say, to be very honest with you, I am a Christian myself and I go to an Anglican Church. Without the support of my Christian brothers and sisters, and people who cared for me as well, and without the support from God, you know, I don't think I would be talking to you right now. To be honest, it was hard. You know, I see a lot of people, I know a lot of friends that are in my situation and it has taken them years to get somewhere and it has only taken me a couple of months to get back. Alright, I dropped off the wagon, but I'm back on it again, you know, I've been very blessed and fortunate that God has picked me up and thrown me back on. You know some people, they're off there, and it takes them ages and they look at me and they ask me how do I do it, but it's not me that's doing it, its just I have been blessed, I've been fortunate to have people around me helping me out.

Truly, I want to be an actor and I really want to be good at my profession. I want to work hard, you know, I've always wanted to do this. Now I'm in it, it's kind of nerve racking being in something that you've always wanted to do, but I hope that I can just give it what I can. I just hope that the Company that I am working with, Cardboard Citizens, as they grow as a Company; they have only been around for five years; as they grow I hope that I can grow with them.

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