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THE FACES OF THE
YOUNG  St
Anne's House is the home of Edges Magazine and many young people
pass through each day for a hot meal and a chat.
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18 AND HOMELESS James
has first hand experience of homelessness, he speaks to Edges
about his plight.
I am 18, I have been homeless
for a while, about 2 or 3 months. I have been staying here and
everywhere really. I am homeless because of a disagreement with
my parents really, they didn't like my behaviour and they just
thought that it was time to get rid of me. I just came in late,
it wasn't anything spectacular, the drugs didn't help either, I
didn't do a lot of drugs but they found a bit, and they didn't
really like that. I was 16 when that happened. Since then, two
years, I've just been here, there and everywhere really, its
been hard.. very hard.
I have experienced cold
weathers, just walking round basically - nowhere to sleep. It
drains a lot of energy out of you, its really cold, but luckily
most places let you stop there; waiting rooms, train station, or
just a door hole sometimes. When I sleep out, I just sit there
and think about the good things in life, and make sure I try
harder, usually. Its just an experience I think, that is all I
think about - the future, because you don't want to carry on
sleeping on the streets. |
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Neil's Struggle
Neil
visits us on
many occasions
I am 20 years old and I have been
experiencing homelessness for about two months. It has been
difficult but I have had some company from my mate James, he has
been in the same position so I have had someone to fall back on.
Just before I went into prison I was living here, there
and everywhere, I have done since I was about 15, and I was into
the drug scene before I went into prison. When I got out of prison
in July 1998, my family didn't want anything to do with me so I
ended up going back to the people that I knew before I was in
prison, so therefore, I was put back in the same situation. I
didn't have a very good start and since then I have been homeless.
I have been trying for a flat.
I must have one of those
faces, as I am unlucky. Since I was 7 years old, I was in boarding
schools for behavioural difficulties. I have seen psychiatrists,
and I was basically thrown from one school to another and none of
that has helped, in my opinion. I have learned to control my
temper and my anger a lot, but that's through doing it myself and
no help from anyone else.
There is a 24 hour snooker
hall around the corner from here and its open all day and all
night, we stopped in there one night; the night after we stopped
in the train station waiting room, the indoor one; we explained
our situation to the fellow who works there on the platform and he
kept it open all night for us, so that we could have some shelter
and be able to stop in somewhere warm. We have always stopped in a
waiting room or something, I've never stopped in a doorway or
anything like that - touch wood! I have experienced sleeping
outside in the cold. Minutes seem like hours. It is not very nice.
 I
am not sure what my future is, what it holds for me, but at the
moment the only reason I am in Blackburn is because I have got to
attend court a few more times yet, but as soon as I have finished
with court and it has all been dealt with, then I will be moving
out of Blackburn, to a place that I have not been yet, hopefully
to try and start again, get myself a flat and a job. |
