EDGES MAGAZINE Issue 20

January 2000

LOOKING FOR DIRECTION:

Phil recently spoke to Edges. He has had his share of homelessness. Sometimes he comes to one of our projects for a hot meal.

I was born in Liverpool. I stayed with my mam till I was eleven and then I was sent away to a children's home until I was thirteen, then I had behavior problems. It was things like tantrums and that so I was moved to boarding school until I was seventeen and a half. From then I have just been dossing on the streets and at friends houses. I have now ended up in Blackburn trying to find accommodation for Christmas.

PhilI applied to join the army when I was Twenty-one because it's a good career and you get to travel and meet different people.

For the last year I have been on the streets and dossing about. I have been as far up as Newcastle and back down to Chester and Liverpool, but there is nothing so I have come here to try and start afresh.

It's rough being on the streets. You've got to learn how to look after yourself, always be watching what you are doing and be careful of who you talk to.

I have never had a job because I have never settled anywhere long enough to get a job. I always mess up because of my past. I have been to prison, I have been to Lancaster Farms, I have been in a jail in Exeter. There isn't a best jail, they are all the same.

The reason I got into boarding school was because of my behavior problems. I used to get beat up after my dad came back from the pubs and that kept with me up until a later age. I always used to think back to that and flare off. I think that if my family life had been better in the past I would still be at home today, in college and looking forward to the future.

JamieI RAN AWAY WHEN I WAS 14.

Jamie is now 17.

I was born in Crumpsall and moved to Moss-side. I have lived in Moss-side since I was eleven. I've got two brothers and two sisters but I don't really see them these days.

I was first on the streets at the age of fourteen when I ran away from being in care. I ran away from care because I didn't get on with my supportive family. I first lived on the streets of Manchester. It was quite rough being out there on the streets. There are various gangs that operate in Manchester and often you have to fend for yourself.

I've never had a job. At the moment I'm looking at getting into college as I quite like art and I would like to develop it. When I look ahead to the future I would like to get a job and settle down.


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