Walking around earlier in the night was fairly easy, but the challenge is in the title - SLEEP easy.
As soon as you lay down on the ground, with only your cardboard box for insultation, the deep cold sensation shoots straight to your bones. Within half an hour you are shivering to try and keep warm and the only thing you can concentrate on is how cold you are. Sleep is virtually impossible. I can understand the need to drink alcohol! I could have happily had a bottle of Whisky to keep myself warm, stop me from thinking and to send me into a deeper level of sleep. As an alternative I wanted to keep eating to keep myself warm too, I had the priviledge of buying food, how many sleep out every night in minus temperatures on an empty stomach?
Besides the cold I was surprised at other things that I hadn't considered:
What do you do with your valuables? I had a mobile phone, camera and wallet, and I know not every homeless person would have these, but surely what little money or precious things they have would have been even more valuable than my belongings. I tucked mine into my jacket pockets, but was constantly aware of my need to protect them, I was scared they may be taken, and this awareness stopped me from having peace of mind. It sounds silly but the bulk prevented me sleeping on my front too!
At 2:30am the club next to us emptied and a large group of people spilled onto the streets, loud and lary, drunk and disorderly. Your vulnerability is at an all time high. Lying there, a 'young' female, being a target for verbal and physical abuse is very scary. I was glad that I had 170 other people around me, and security gaurds patrolling the area, I can't imagine the fear of being in that situation alone.
At one point I had a sore tummy, I thought I had caught a bug that had been going round my flatmates. I lay on a park bench in my sleeping bag and tried to sleep it off. As I lay there, I couldn't help but think that this situation was aweful enough for a healthy person, never mind being sick too.
The experience was far more emotional and physically difficult that I had expected. The only thing that got me through the night was knowing that come 6am, I could pack up my stuff and go home to my lovely bed. I almost felt guilty when that time arrived - how many don't have that priveledge? How many sleep rough, in basic clothing, with an empty stomach and no company night after night after night after night...
The stigma surrounding homelessness is one that I want to challenge to finish on: Before the night begun, we watched a DvD on homelessness. One man in his 40's spoke and told his story. He had been off fighting in the war, as he returned from service he found that his wife had run away with his best mate and had cleared out the bank account. He was left with nothing. With no family left and no friends to turn to, he found himself homeless. For 18 months he slept on the street until he found safety and security at the YMCA. They have him back on his feet, are helping him in a new career and he has somewhere he can now call home.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE donate to this amazing organisation that helps hundreds of people find a home, a community and a place that they can rebuild their life. Even if it's a £5 I can't express enough how importnat this is.
http://my.artezglobal.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=312546&Lang=en-CA
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