Hey folks and welcome!
The inspiration for this blog
The idea for this blog came to me a number of years ago when I was volunteering with the Dublin Simon Community on the Soup Run project. I am not currently volunteering with Dublin Simon Community but am now volunteering part-time with the St Vincent De Paul, who also do sterling work to combat poverty and homelessness.For anyone who might be unfamiliar with Dublin Simon Community and that particular project, it's a charity organisation that works to relieve homelessness in Ireland. It's pretty well established here and there are a number of services that they provide to homeless clients such as emergency food and accomodation, supported housing and treatment services and service user participation which seeks to involve service users (ie. homeless) in the community.
About Me
My background is in customer service, languages and teaching. A mixed bag you might say but essentially, all involve dealing with people. I have worked as a teacher for the past 4 years and strongly believe in the importance of education and its power to transform peoples lives but am not sure it's my vocation. As a good friend once said to me," Do something you love and you'll never have to work a day of your life". That, in a nutshell sums up my personal quest. I want to work for an organisation and a cause that I feel passionate about and that inspires me.
Homelessness in general
Homelessness is an emotive issue and one that bothers me and many other people. I use the word "bothers" deliberately because every time I walk past someone on the street who is clearly homeless (and I appreciate the fact that there are probably lots of 'pseudo'homeless people out there too taking advantage of peoples naivety and goodwill), it "bothers" me at a fundamental level. Depending on my own mood when I'm walking past this person, I inevitably feel either saddened, annoyed, indignant or outraged. Rarely do I walk past someone "tapping" (begging) without feeling some sort of emotion. It's not an original thought at all but there is something fundamentally wrong with a society that allows so many people to be homeless particularly since we are, relatively speaking, an affluent country.
What I hope to learn
This is a personal project.The idea behind this blog is to learn more about the issue of homelessness in Ireland, the reasons for it and the services that are available to homeless people. I want to learn about homeless peoples' experience of those services and I also want to dispel some of the myths and preconceptions about homelessness such as the assumption that all homeless people are alcoholics and drug addicts, that they are lazy and are "wasters" and that it is their own fault that they are homeless. From my own (limited) experience from working as a part time volunteer with Dublin Simon Community some years ago, what I found was that there are of course people who have eneded up homeless as a result of substance abuse and crime but often it is a number of issues as opposed to one single issue that causes someone to end up on the streets. Family conflict, relationship breakdown, mental health issues and an inabilty to manage their own lives and make good choices are often some of the reasons that individuals become homeless.
Anyway, enough of that....what you'll find in this blog is a brief synopsis of the situations and stories behind homeless people I've spoken to. I've mainly been interested in acquiring some facts about their lives, how they became homeless and their experience of services in this country. . I am giving myself a simple target to start with- to talk to at least one homeless person every time I am in the city centre. I will try to engage them and find out a little bit about them. The first person I will start with will be Jacinta, I met her today
The inspiration for this blog
The idea for this blog came to me a number of years ago when I was volunteering with the Dublin Simon Community on the Soup Run project. I am not currently volunteering with Dublin Simon Community but am now volunteering part-time with the St Vincent De Paul, who also do sterling work to combat poverty and homelessness.For anyone who might be unfamiliar with Dublin Simon Community and that particular project, it's a charity organisation that works to relieve homelessness in Ireland. It's pretty well established here and there are a number of services that they provide to homeless clients such as emergency food and accomodation, supported housing and treatment services and service user participation which seeks to involve service users (ie. homeless) in the community.
About Me
My background is in customer service, languages and teaching. A mixed bag you might say but essentially, all involve dealing with people. I have worked as a teacher for the past 4 years and strongly believe in the importance of education and its power to transform peoples lives but am not sure it's my vocation. As a good friend once said to me," Do something you love and you'll never have to work a day of your life". That, in a nutshell sums up my personal quest. I want to work for an organisation and a cause that I feel passionate about and that inspires me.
Homelessness in general
Homelessness is an emotive issue and one that bothers me and many other people. I use the word "bothers" deliberately because every time I walk past someone on the street who is clearly homeless (and I appreciate the fact that there are probably lots of 'pseudo'homeless people out there too taking advantage of peoples naivety and goodwill), it "bothers" me at a fundamental level. Depending on my own mood when I'm walking past this person, I inevitably feel either saddened, annoyed, indignant or outraged. Rarely do I walk past someone "tapping" (begging) without feeling some sort of emotion. It's not an original thought at all but there is something fundamentally wrong with a society that allows so many people to be homeless particularly since we are, relatively speaking, an affluent country.
What I hope to learn
This is a personal project.The idea behind this blog is to learn more about the issue of homelessness in Ireland, the reasons for it and the services that are available to homeless people. I want to learn about homeless peoples' experience of those services and I also want to dispel some of the myths and preconceptions about homelessness such as the assumption that all homeless people are alcoholics and drug addicts, that they are lazy and are "wasters" and that it is their own fault that they are homeless. From my own (limited) experience from working as a part time volunteer with Dublin Simon Community some years ago, what I found was that there are of course people who have eneded up homeless as a result of substance abuse and crime but often it is a number of issues as opposed to one single issue that causes someone to end up on the streets. Family conflict, relationship breakdown, mental health issues and an inabilty to manage their own lives and make good choices are often some of the reasons that individuals become homeless.
Anyway, enough of that....what you'll find in this blog is a brief synopsis of the situations and stories behind homeless people I've spoken to. I've mainly been interested in acquiring some facts about their lives, how they became homeless and their experience of services in this country. . I am giving myself a simple target to start with- to talk to at least one homeless person every time I am in the city centre. I will try to engage them and find out a little bit about them. The first person I will start with will be Jacinta, I met her today
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