She feels invisible
“She is lost. She doesn’t know where she is or where she is going. Everyone is walking past her, caught up in their own thoughts.
Maybe she needs some money to go somewhere for help, maybe she needs to buy food. She is hungry.
When you are homeless, no one pays any attention to you. They don’t care. You feel invisible.”
On her own
“Everyone else has somewhere to go, somewhere to be. But she doesn’t. She is just sitting and thinking: ‘Where can I go to get something to eat and drink? Where can I warm myself?’
To be destitute is so difficult. You are on your own, with no help. You do not have a pound to buy anything for yourself. As a woman you cannot get period pads. And as a woman, men will try to use you.
When life is this hard you stop caring about the future. It sucks your energy and your hope, you just feel exhausted.”
I'm someone
“When you are homeless and you come inside, it’s good to have a cup of coffee and something to eat. You may have gone all day without food, with nowhere to go.
It’s nice to feel warm and welcomed. Sometimes I am given a meal to eat… rice, salad, plantain chips. A plate of food can give hope. It can mean a night without the endless hunger when I can finally sleep.
A plate of food can really change your day. Even a slice of bread or a cup of tea – it makes you feel okay, as if, ‘I’m someone.’”
Change
“The system tries to bring destitute women down. But you are like anyone else. You have the right to speak like anyone else. My message to destitute women is: ‘Don't ever feel that you are no one. Things can change.’”