25.4.15 Bournemouth Outreach.

Last night it was myself, Rosie, Tom and Darren on outreach. We all met at 8.30 pm in Bournemouth where I gave the guys a de brief about outreach. Basically went over what the deal with outreach is, who they would see, what would go on, our guidelines and ethics. I was half way through chatting about outreach when our first homeless guy approached us. So the guys were now thrown in, de brief only halfway through !

Our first guy needed trainers and a coat. He took his coffee, 3 sugars, and hot meal while Rosie found him some trainers and a coat. He tried on a few coats and made a joke about how they weren't really his 'style' and he'd look silly. He eventually settled on a nice warm coat and a pair of almost new trainers. His trainers were soaking wet and falling apart so he put his old shoes in the bin.

This outreach was starting to turn out like last summers outreach. Last summer I used to get off the bus and a load of homeless would meet me from the bus for food before Id head up town and feed the rest. 

With one guy stopping us in the street, we soon had 3 or 4 guys around us. We fed all the guys. Rachel had cooked spaghetti , we had coffee, tea, hot chocolate, energy drinks, chocolate, crisps, sandwiches, oat bars AND bananas. We had a tonne of stuff for everyone. All the guys chose a few items of clothes and one guy found some trainers.

One man was pretty upset that there were no shoes left for him. Hes a size 9 / 10. All the guys seem to be that size and we have had a lot of requests for 9/10 size shoes, so if you have any, we'll have them please. 

We moved on just round the corner and fed two more guys we know. One guy had recently been attacked from behind and had a black eye. We chatted for a while about his current problems. While we were chatting a young girl approached asking for a hot drink. She looked heavily pregnant but I didn't want to ask. Who knows maybe she was just a bit chunky ;)  I recognized her before she took her hood down but I couldn't think of her name. We chatted for a while and she went on to say she was pregnant. I asked her what help she was getting and she said none. She said she was homeless but stayed at a friends house down the road sometimes. To be honest, I don't believe that shes getting no help. The local agencies would not leave a girl pregnant on the streets without any help. Sadly pregnant or not, its down to the individual to accept the help. 

We moved on up the street. We approached one young man in a doorway who was new to Bournemouth. We gave him some food, drinks, etc and had a little chat. He had only just arrived in Bournemouth but was originally from Dorset. 

We carried on through Bournemouth and saw another local guy we know. We gave him some hot food and drinks and a few t shirts and warm jogging bottoms. He was really grateful and as friendly as always. While feeding him another man stopped us briefly to grab some food then we moved on. 

We carried on walking and saw another person we have known well over a year. We chatted about their partner, who is now out of hospital, and about them moving into a flat and saving money up for a deposit. Things seemed very positive, the partner was getting healthier and things were looking up. The partner had an infection on the spine about a month ago and has been in hospital ever since and at first we were unsure if they'd ever walk again. 

We were at our half way point pit stop. This is where we always buy a drink / snack. Non alcoholic I may add. The pregnant girl was close to us and someone shouted her name. As soon as I heard her name I knew who she was. I asked her if she was the girl who could sing, she laughed nervously and joked saying who's been talking about me. I reminded her how last year she had sang at one of my soup kitchens when I wasn't there and I had heard how good she was. She sang their and then for us. I can speak for all of us when I say we were blown away. This girl had damn talent. She sang Hero, Mariah Carey. When she finished my jaw was still hitting the ground. She went on to say that the songs she sings are pretty deep and filled with emotion due to her serious rough up bringing. She then sang Family Portrait, Pink. 

Anyone who knows that song, will know how emotional it must be to a young girl who had a rough upbringing. Shes having a boy and shes due in 6 weeks, she doesn't yet have anything. I will speak to her in more detail when I next see her, but without saying too much about her personal situation, we are not sure what will happen. 

We carried on walking through Bournemouth all the way up to Landsdown handing out more food and hot drinks.

We saw one guy who I haven't seen for ages. He was sat down reading a book. I crouched down and asked him what he was reading. He was reading a book, ( he didn't tell me the name but showed me a few photos inside the book!) about a man back in the 60's who was an alcoholic. He had hit rock bottom, was on the streets, had been stabbed various times, he would drink white spirit because it had alcohol in. He managed to turn his life around and now runs 4 rehab centers. Hes not textbook, he knows what hes doing. The lovely man we were chatting with told me it had taken him almost a month to read this book. Why ? Because he was teaching himself to read. He thought now he'd taught himself to read, he could do anything. 

We saw a few more people then outreach was over for another week.

Thanks so much to Darren and Tom for helping myself and Rosie this week.

 

Street Light Update.

Hey all, I thought it was about time I wrote a big streetlight update ! A lot has been going on behind the scenes as well as outreach, I used to write weekly updates but have been so busy lately its all just slipped a bit.

These last three weeks I have been back out on the streets helping on outreach and getting back into the swing of things. I hadn't done outreach for so long due to working shift work and my fibromyalgia. I'm a lot healthier and stronger now and have a lot more time to give.

Its been great being back out on the streets getting to know everyone again, but of course, it brings many mixed feelings as always. A lot of the people I knew before have either moved on to other towns, moved into houses, got clean or sadly passed away. A few I knew from before have gotten clean then slipped through the net and fallen back into the evil circle of heroin, crack and begging again.

One lovely man who I have known 18 months now is back on the streets. Six months ago he was completely clean. He was healthy, living in a dry house and was working towards seeing his family again. He was doing so well and I was so happy to see him do so well. Then a few months ago after a trip to London,  I was walking through the coach station and saw him. He was under the influence and told me he was back on the gear. He said he had been taken off some medication he had been on since he was 19, hes now in his 40's, and couldn't cope, mentally. So went back to using.

I sat with him on Saturday night ( last night ) for a good 45 minutes chatting. I gave him a hot chili and helped him open the pot and hold the pot so he could eat without dropping it. He went on to say to me that we weren't that different, we were the same inside, and at the end of the day, we all go the same way when we die. He said I should take a photo of his hands. My hands looked so perfect, so clean, and so pretty. His hands, in his own words, were battered. He wanted us to take photos of my hands and his hands, my hands reaching out to his hands and helping him.

He went on to say he hoped the photos would portray the truth about what we do. You can see the difference between our hands. His hands are rife with infection due to living on the streets and not having access to be keeping clean, hes at risk of loosing his fingers or his hands.  Heroin and crack have ruined his life. He wishes he could get help, get clean , AND have support once being clean rather than authorities saying ' alright mate your clean, off you pop'

We carried on chatting and he went on to tell me how he has gotten clean various times. He started using heroin at a very young age, 12. In his early 20's he was clean again and set up a professional window cleaning business. He specialized in tall buildings and has cleaned windows on the tallest building in London. Not the shard, this is years ago were talking !

After coming off his opiate based medication recently, because he missed one day, he went back to heroin after being clean for months. His heart stopped beating in a local super market car park and he died. He was resuscitated and taken to hospital where he rested for a few days then returned to the streets.

*********************************************************************************

The last few weeks on outreach have been the usual. Were seeing around 25 people at the moment. Not all of them are homeless, some are in wet houses. Some are genuinely street homeless. Were only seeing one dog at the moment but always take dog food along. Kaylee has been telling all the homeless about me, why I set it up, and why I'm not running it. Its great they all still know me. There's plenty of new faces about for us all to get to know, feed and help. There's a few young ones on the streets, around the age of 18. I always ask the young ones how old the are because if they are under the age of 18 there's emergency help available for them. We handed out shoes to a young lad who didn't have any shoes last week, we gave out warm fleeces to everyone who still needed an extra layer at night and gave away endless pairs of socks.

We saw this lovely dog last week. ( This photo was last year !) Hes doing well, hes healthy and stronger and seems pretty happy. His owners were also doing well.

One lovely couple who we have known over a year now have needed our help recently. One of them has been in hospital for the last month, leaving one on the streets, sometimes staying on a family members sofa. An infection has spread in the spine, at one point there was a high possibility they would never walk again, but I'm happy to report they are walking and are slowly getting better, they are on strong anti biotics, taking baby steps and getting there. With one left on the streets, and one in hospital, it was hard, it was very long walks to the hospital to visit. We started buying them weekly bus tickets so they could travel unlimited across Bournemouth and Poole for a week at a time. Each time the bus ticket runs out, one of us goes down to Bournemouth and buys a new ticket. So that's one thing we have been doing recently.

We helped another person get a cheap, basic phone. They sold the big issue to get half the phone price then we went to the shop and paid the other half. £12 and put some credit on. This person needed a phone to be able to contact us easily as they help us on outreach. They are now ex homeless, clean and giving back to the homeless community. Since us helping them to get a phone they have managed to get enrolled on a journalist course and are taking steps towards their future, so the phone has been a big help !

Last night we saw a regular. They were very happy and in good spirits, their granddaughter was due any day soon and they had been promised a visit.

We are still walking the streets every weekend, feeding as many homeless as we see and giving them clothes, toiletries, chatting and offering them any help they need and pointing them in the right direction of support they can get !

Big thanks to all the recent volunteers and everyone who still donates and supports us,

Anastasia, X X X

Day 1... again... and again...and again...

Yesterday was day 1. I'm never going to say day 1 again. Actually I'm never going to say never again. But hey, I'm sick of keep on saying Day 1 . I start then give up.

I watched the Jason Vale's movie about his retreat in Portugal and how all his patients were cured of their illness's in one month of juicing and came off their medication.

Two of them had Lupus, which is very similar to Fibromyalgia so It was great to watch and see them improve on their journey and by the end feel 1 million times better.

Half way through watching I felt so inspired to go and make a ginger shot and then a full juice.

I also made my first video then spent all day trying to figure out how to get it on the laptop then how to edit it then how to get it on bloody Facebook, I swear I nearly had a nervous breakdown. My ginger juice was lovely, packed a punch and gave me a nice warm feeling but was generally tasty. 

I did outreach last night. I set outreach up 18 months ago now, feeding the homeless, many of whom are heroin addicts, on the street of Bournemouth. About 45 minutes before outreach I had a green juice. I then needed to wee 3 times while doing outreach ! That's what makes you loose weight. ALL THE WEEING !!!!

Here's the Video that nearly made me smash up my computer. 

The juice that caused me to wee and wee and wee some more was delicious and so green.

Pineapple
Apple
Ginger
Lemon
Lime
Cucumber
Spinach

I tend to be leaning more towards green juices these days. There so tasty and full of goodness.

Have a great juicy day, don't forget to follow me on Facebook and instagram ! 

                                                                                     

Very cold San Fran, the pier and the bridge.

Back in 2013 I went to America for around 6 weeks, part of my trip was San Francisco. I loved it. It was such a beautiful hilly city I will definitely  go back. It was just so damn cold. I stayed in a lovely hostel called 

1. Green Tortoise San Francisco Hostel. It was nice and friendly if somewhat dated. It wasn't until my last day there that I realized I was staying in the red light district, but I never once felt unsafe. 

When you arrive in the hostel you walk, and drag your bag, up a narrow dark hallway with lots of stairs then go into a big old ball room style room where reception is. The receptionists were very laid back, arty and friendly. They made me feel very welcome, told me lots about the city and showed me my room. My room was down a hallway, to the left, up a few steps, to the right, down a few steps, a long a bit more then on the right. I was staying in a 4 bed dorm room with just one other girl. The rooms weren't particular big, but had what I needed. The decor wasn't great, dark wood. But hey, I was in San Francisco, I wasn't here to hang out in my room. 

I headed off out down the hill towards the water and ended up at a little pier. There was no snow, but damn was it bloody cold. I had just come from Kansas, I should have been used to the temperatures. 

I was at pier 23, which was pretty quiet and nice. It was foggy out, as usual, inst san fran known for being really foggy, all the time ? I walked a long a  bit more and it started getting busier. More restaurants and cafes and I soon ended up at the famous pier, pier 39. 

It started to rain so I went to explore the Aquarium for an hour or so to miss the rain. I have always been a sucker for aquariums. Not sure why, I have never been the biggest fan of the sea or all things to do with sea life, but I love a cheeky aquarium trip.  I looked like a right idiot taking selfies inside though. 

After the aquariam the rain had stopped, the fog had cleared and the temperature had changed, slightly. It was a little bit warmer. I was looking for somewhere to eat but didn't want to eat chowder. Chowder was everywhere. I cant remember where I ate, so lets just say I starved. 

I walked down to the beach and onto the famous bridge. It was getting pretty warm now. Well, it actually wasn't. I was probably just unfit and was getting hot. I headed up to the top of the bridge. On top there was a few flowers tied to the bridge, people were showing their respects to people who had jumped. I was pretty paranoid that everyone around me was a possible jumper after watching the film. The film / Documentary is all about bridge jumpers and ordinary people like me, and you, witnessing it. Needless to stay, I didn't hang around up there too long. 

I wondered back to my hostel. Well, actually I took a taxi cos I was a rich backpacker. At times. After too many taxi's I became poor. 

The area I was staying in was pretty cool and busy. I headed out for dinner in a small italian restaurant on the corner of my road with a few people from the hostel and enjoyed some pasta and a few beers before an early night. I had had enough of partying, I was all partied out from Kansas.

The next day was slightly warmer so I headed down to the beach below the bridge. I walked there from my hostel and walked by the pier again and surrounding areas. Someone had already told me about the bush man, so I was well prepared. The bush man is a homeless man who is famous for hiding in the bush and jumping out at people. Im so glad I was pre warned cos I would have literally shit my pants had he jumped out at me. I watched him from the other side of the road scare countless people and laughed my head off.

Down on the beach it was windy and there were loads of surfers. Pretty cool photo opportunities. Thankfully I had my tripod so I could do lame photos like these. 

It was a weekend so was pretty busy down there with familes walking, other photographers and surfers. Here I was right beneath the bridge and I was still pretty paranoid about someone jumping. 

Another photographer took these photos of me on the rocks and lent me his sunglasses as the sun was in my eyes and I was squinting way too much.

I started walking towards what I thought what be buses. I walked along the beach and along the path through the car park and then stopped in the little shop / cafe and used the toilets. After using the toilets and walking through the car park a man and his two children asked me if I need a lift into the city. I thought what the hell, he has two kids, hes pretty safe, sure give me a lift. He drove for around 20 minutes and we were near my hostel when I suddenly realised, shit, I had left my tripod in the toilets. Bloody hell. I had just paid 40 bucks for that. I told the man I would get out now and jump into a taxi and go back there and ask but he drove me the 20 minutes back to the beach and ran into the cafe for me, leaving me in the car with his kids.

The kids were so sweet. They had cute american accents and asked me lots of questions about England and myself. The man returned 10 minutes later, with my tripod. Thank god for that, he then drove me another 20 minutes back into the city.

I offered him some petrol money but he declined. The kindness of strangers here. So nice american man, if you ever find this blog, which I doubt you will, I thank you. 

                                                                

Happy Easter, make some energy balls on a budget

Happy Easter all, here I'm giving you a sweet treat to make, that's not an Easter egg, ( How would I know how to make a damn Easter egg!!!) but IS tasty, IS sweet, and IS very very cheap. 

Have you all seen these new balls that are trending the internet and healthy food world ? Some call them energy balls, some call them nutrition balls, others call them other names, I call them, Balls.

I have made them three times now and they are absolutely divine. Its a sweet little healthy treat rolled into a ball but it doesn't hold the guilt of a chocolate bar when your trying to be healthy.
Many many people think this healthy lifestyle is expensive, and there right, it can be.

I'm going to show you that you can make these balls on a budget. You don't have to break the bank to be healthy and you don't have to buy everything organic. Its not the end of the world and your not going to die if you don't shop organic.

I bought my dates from Home Bargains, ( Those brits reading this will know what a joy this shop is ) and the rest from Lidle. Coconut oil a lot of people already have in their house, but if not you can get it for around £6 in an oriental store, rather than a health store where they double the price.

My dates were from Home Bargains, a big bag for £1
Almonds from Lidle for £1.27     x 2
Pecans from Lidle for £2.99
A bag of Lemons and Limes for £1
Coconut 79p
Peanut butter from Lidle £1
Cocoa Powder £3

Altogether that's £11.32. Not that much really.  I made 50 balls, so they cost 22p each. NOTHING.

SO BLOODY CHEAP.

Now, tell me this lifestyle is expensive again.

So now you know it costs just 22p each, you'll be more interested in making them.

What you need for the lemon and lime balls :

Coconut oil
Desiccated coconut
Dates
Pecan Nuts
Almond nuts
Lemons / Limes

A blender.

Method :

These are sooo easy, simply chuck the nuts and dates in the blender together with some coconut oil and blend. Leave it to blend away for 3 - 4 minutes.

 While its blending grate the zest of 3 lemons and limes, and squeeze the juice from 2 lemons and 2 limes.

Add the juice to the mix and blend for 1 minute.

Your mixture is now done.

Now you need a large ish space to roll your balls out. I use two chopping boards. Lay out the zest from the lemons and limes you grated with some desiccated coconut. Using a spoon, scoop out some mixture and roll a ball in your hand. Then roll that ball around in the coconut and lay to one side. Its that simple. It takes around 10 minutes. I make mine small, bite size.

The photo above shows what your ball should look like once your finished. Pretty huh ? And tasty, healthy, absolutely devine. Did I manage to get across just how easy they are to make ?

Next up is making your chocolate and peanut butter balls.

What you need :

Raw Cocoa powder
Peanut butter
Dates
Almonds
Pecans
Coconut oil
A blender, of course ! 

Method :

So the same as before, just put the nuts and dates in the blender, and blend for a few minutes. Once that's all blended, add your peanut butter and coconut oil and cocoa powder, blend for a few minutes. Once that's blended, your all done. Simple. That took around 5 minutes to blend. Can you see why these balls are so damn great ?

The amount of peanut butter that divides between so many balls really accounts to nothing, so your still keeping these balls nice and healthy. It may look like a lot, but once blended and the balls are made, its not a lot.

I didn't roll these balls in coconut, but you can. Or you can roll them in cocoa powder. Your choice. 

At 23 p each, these balls are very cheap. I went to a vegan place in Amsterdam and they were selling these balls at 3 euro each. 3 bloody euro, when I can make them for 23 p. Ridiculous.

Your recommended amount of these balls a day is 3 to 4, so your not eating too many dates and nuts. 

I hope you make these balls and enjoy them as much as I do. You can make all kinds of flavors, you can add raisins, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, use any kind of nuts and any kind of flavor combinations. You can really mix it up and have fun, there so quick, so easy and delicious. 

Happy Easter all, enjoy your sweet treats.