Why did I start feeding the homeless ?

I have been asked many times in the last month why I started doing these outreach walks, why I spend so much of my own time doing a non paid and sometimes dangerous job and why I love it so much so I have decided to sit down and be brutally honest about why I do this, what I get from it and why im so passionate.

Last year I did a ten week drug training program with the amy whinehouse program in Bournemouth. I learnt nothing. 90 % of the group were ex addicts looking for voluntary work from this program, so they knew everything about drugs, addiction, etc. Long story short, I learnt nothing about drugs and addiction but I did learn a lot about boundaries and confidentiality.

I learnt through doing our boundary training that we must never tell anyone our name, anything about us or even touch someone ( A hug, a sympathetic hand on their shoulder) That kind of thing. I know this was for our own protection but it just didn't sit right with me. I just couldn't tell someone my name was Mary.

I started going to NA meetings in boscombe. At a meeting you hear one main story then others bounce off their stories. I sat there week after week, keeping myself to myself so no one would realize I wasn't an addict and that I wasn't meant to be there. I sat and listened to the stories. Sometimes I cried. Many of the stories were the same. Bad childhoods. I in no way had a bad childhood due to my family or my home life, my family and my home life was great and my family were so supportive. I was bullied from a very young age, around 5 years old I think, all through school and I finally went on to drop out of school at 15 years old. Drugs were all around me at school and easily accessible. But I never touched them. The only reason I stayed clear of drugs was due to my heart problems, I had always known from a young age I could die so easily from just one pill so I always stayed away. I honestly believe if it wasn't for my heart problems, I would have ended up using drugs and going down the line of addiction, street light, crime and possible prostitution. Its such a terrible thing to think,  and im so lucky I did have that heart problem always telling me no.

I decided while I was doing my program with Amy Whinehouse I wanted to reach out and help others who have gone down that line due to bullying, mental health, abuse etc and that drugs, crime, street light, prostitution was the only way out for them. I kept on going to meetings but many of the people had been clean a good 6 months or a few years and had sponsors so they didn't really need my help...It wouldn't be till a good 6 months later that I would start helping people hands on.

I finished the program and there were no placements currently available, so I went on holiday to turkey and set up another project that you can read about here :

http://aaliyahsummerrose.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2014-02-04T23:21:00Z&max-results=1&start=1&by-date=false

http://aaliyahsummerrose.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2014-01-10T01:08:00Z&max-results=1&start=4&by-date=false

http://aaliyahsummerrose.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2013-12-16T16:20:00Z&max-results=1&start=6&by-date=false


The turkey / Syria project is now over for me sadly as I was diagnosed with heart failure and I am not allowed abroad at the moment due to serious health risks. Bla bla bla let me get back onto the story...

I decided I would start to address the problems with homeless people in Bournemouth and focus on my own country but I knew I didn't want to do it via an organisation. I didn't want to be caught up in all the red tape and boundaries. As crazy as it sounds, I wanted to do it my way. I may only be 23 years old but im a feisty one and once I have an idea that's it im doing it !

I wanted my outreach walks to be fun and relaxed, no boundaries, no particular rules apart from talking about one homeless person to another homeless person. Thats just a big no no. All the people I see in Bournemouth on my outreach walks know my name is Anastasia, they know im an artist, they know I have organised all this myself, that im an artist and that im not with any high up religious organisation and because of that they love me and welcome me into their world. They all enjoy my carefree personality, the crazy jokes I tell, my relaxed and friendly nature towards them and everyone who has joined the walks also notice this.

I started doing walks by myself in the day time to start with, just walking around and talking to a few rough sleepers and handing out sandwiches. Everyone was so grateful but in the day time you dont seem to find many rough sleepers so I soon realized night time would be better.

Our outreach walks are now from 8pm till midnight throughout Bournemouth and 90% of people we see I know their name and they remember me. Tom has come on every outreach walk with me since I started. We hand out food, (sandwhiches, a hot meal, cakes, ) bottled water, blankets, clothes, shoes etc and just sit down on the floor and have a little chat. Some people love to talk, others don't want to chat.

A lot of people who love to talk tell us a lot about themselves, tell us about their past, about their hopes for the future, their families etc and sometimes what we hear can be truly heartbreaking.

Thanks for reading.

Anastasia