Christmas post

Happy Christmas to all!

Back home for a week or so over the Xmas period. Plan on posting a bit more in the New Year (let's call it one of my resolutions!). Did encounter a few homeless people while I was running around getting a few last minute Christmas presents but didn't get to have a long chat with any of them. One guy was Hungarian and didn't seem to speak much English....once we'd established where he was from, conversation proved virtually impossible. Threw him a few coins and went on my way.

Then I came across a youngish girl openly stopping passersby on Nassau street and she made no secret of why she was homeless. Told me she'd been in care and then went on the streets. Also told me that she'd been raped while on the streets and had a child and that was why she was begging- to get some money together for them. Looking back on our meeting,she told me all this in such a nonchalant, blasé sort of way that I wasn't sure whether to believe her and didn't really process the significance of the statement. In retrospect, assuming it was true (and from my limited knowledge of life on the streets) it could very easily be, it's a fairly shocking and traumatic thing to happen but just underlines the vulnerability of those who are homeless.

On an optimistic note, it's nice to see that so many people in Ireland really care about the issue of homelessness and are trying to do something about it. Was chatting to a couple of the organisers of a group of students from Belvedere College who were staging a sleep-out on O'Connell Street in Dublin in order to fundraise for Focus Ireland and the Fr. Peter McVerry Trust. Great way to foster civic responsibility and an awareness of social justice issues. Really nice, friendly bunch of guys too.Asked how much of the money raised went directly to the charities and they told me 100% which was reassuring to hear. Also restores your faith in humanity in general when you see people being proactive in this way. May be something I look at myself in 2012...spending a night on the streets.... After all, there's not much use writing/blogging about it if I've never experienced it myself, is there? Anyway, just a thought for now......Might see if I can join the Belvedere boys next year....