Yesterday evening I went out with the express intention of talking to another homeless person in order to update the blog as I haven't had a chance to post in a while.... I've been realising a couple of things as I go along with this project.....small things mainly and no doubt I'll learn a lot along the way too but a few major elements that have emerged already for me are a) the importance of that initial 'vibe' or feeling you get within minutes of talking to someone and b) what to say to someone to gain their trust and c) the importance of personal safety, principally my own in this case since I'm working on my own on this.
I didn't have to lok very hard or for a long time and within minutes of getting into town, I met Jimmy (*not his real name) on the Ha'penny Bridge beside the entrance to Temple Bar along the Quays. It's one of those spots that you are guaranteed to find someone tapping despite it being one of the most exposed (to the elements) bridges in Dublin and it seems like sheer madness at times for anyone to pick this spot to beg. However, I guess there's some logic to it as there's certainly plenty of footfall along it although you'd wonder how many people that cross it would actually stop to talk to or toss a few coins to the people begging/tapping on the bridge.
Anyway, I spotted Jimmy, who was sitting with his back against the bridge, immediately and asked him if he'd like to go to the Centra shop across the road which I'd scoped out earlier for a cup of tea/hot chocolate. I gave him what by now is becoming my 'spiel' ie. that I wanted to ask him a couple of questions, that I wasn't a member of the Garda Síochána or a journalist and that I simply wanted to talk to him and learn about his experience of homelessness for my blog.
Anyway, Jimmy clearly didn't have much else to do and must have figured that he'd nothing to lose by talking to me and agreed to come for a cup of tea with me pretty willingly although he did tell me he had to try and get into a hostel before 8 p.m. (seems this is roughly around the time they stop admitting people) and he'd have a 20 minute walk to get to the hostel so he'd have to go around twenty to 8. This suited me fine as I had a dance class at 8 anyway and was just killing time in a productive way, in a manner of speaking.
My first impressions of Jimmy were that he was young (by no means the youngest person I've ever seen tapping but young nonetheless), that he seemed fairly bright and together and that he was pretty forthcoming. I told him that I would not write about anything he didn't want me to mention and he assured me saying, "Don't worry, I'll let you know if any of the questions are too intrusive". As we walked into the Centra cafe together (me slightly nervous admittedly as it was the first time I'd ever gone for coffee with a homeless person), he spotted someone he knew at the coffee machine. As we were pouring our tea, the person he knew (an older guy) greeted him and I though I heard him ask Jimmy " Are you looking?" As it turned out, I had heard correctly and Jimmy referred to it later on during our conversation when I asked him what the toughest aspect of being homeless was . He replied, "staying clean" and said "You heard what that guy asked me".
So Jimmy it seemed, was a former heroin addict. He told me he'd been clean a year and was on methadone and attending a clinic in Castle Street. He was from Swords and had been on heroin since he was 14 and was kicked out of home by his Ma as a result. He had been living with his on-off girlfriend (though it was now very definitely off) in Naas but had no friends in Dublin he could stay with. When I asked him about this, he said,"There are no friends on the streets, only acquaintances". From this I inferred that he'd more or less cut all ties with previous 'friends' whom may also have been addicts, which must be a difficult thing to do in some ways. When I told him that he seemed like a bright enough guy and asked him if he had ever worked or had a trade, he told me he spent 2 years training as a chef but didn't finish the training (he didn't elaborate on the reasons for this and I didn't ask but presumably it was related to his heroin addiction). He would love to get a job now he said but it wasn't that easy. When I enquired as to whether he was able to claim any sort of welfare benefits, he told me that there was a homeless payment of some sort which he could claim. When I asked him what his worst experience of being homeless was, he told me about a night when he was attacked and beaten up by 3 guys who spotted him tapping outside of the pub they had been in. I was fairly shocked by this but guess it's kind of an 'occupational hazard' particularly here in Dublin. I enquired as to whether the men were staff working in the pub but he told me that they were just a couple of guys who'd been drinking in the pub....At this point in the conversation, Jimmy was making moves to go and reminded me that he had to try get into a hostel that night. I asked him what he did if he couldn't get in anywhere. He replied that he just walked around the streets all night as the streets were too dangerous to sleep on.....
I didn't have to lok very hard or for a long time and within minutes of getting into town, I met Jimmy (*not his real name) on the Ha'penny Bridge beside the entrance to Temple Bar along the Quays. It's one of those spots that you are guaranteed to find someone tapping despite it being one of the most exposed (to the elements) bridges in Dublin and it seems like sheer madness at times for anyone to pick this spot to beg. However, I guess there's some logic to it as there's certainly plenty of footfall along it although you'd wonder how many people that cross it would actually stop to talk to or toss a few coins to the people begging/tapping on the bridge.
Anyway, I spotted Jimmy, who was sitting with his back against the bridge, immediately and asked him if he'd like to go to the Centra shop across the road which I'd scoped out earlier for a cup of tea/hot chocolate. I gave him what by now is becoming my 'spiel' ie. that I wanted to ask him a couple of questions, that I wasn't a member of the Garda Síochána or a journalist and that I simply wanted to talk to him and learn about his experience of homelessness for my blog.
Anyway, Jimmy clearly didn't have much else to do and must have figured that he'd nothing to lose by talking to me and agreed to come for a cup of tea with me pretty willingly although he did tell me he had to try and get into a hostel before 8 p.m. (seems this is roughly around the time they stop admitting people) and he'd have a 20 minute walk to get to the hostel so he'd have to go around twenty to 8. This suited me fine as I had a dance class at 8 anyway and was just killing time in a productive way, in a manner of speaking.
My first impressions of Jimmy were that he was young (by no means the youngest person I've ever seen tapping but young nonetheless), that he seemed fairly bright and together and that he was pretty forthcoming. I told him that I would not write about anything he didn't want me to mention and he assured me saying, "Don't worry, I'll let you know if any of the questions are too intrusive". As we walked into the Centra cafe together (me slightly nervous admittedly as it was the first time I'd ever gone for coffee with a homeless person), he spotted someone he knew at the coffee machine. As we were pouring our tea, the person he knew (an older guy) greeted him and I though I heard him ask Jimmy " Are you looking?" As it turned out, I had heard correctly and Jimmy referred to it later on during our conversation when I asked him what the toughest aspect of being homeless was . He replied, "staying clean" and said "You heard what that guy asked me".
So Jimmy it seemed, was a former heroin addict. He told me he'd been clean a year and was on methadone and attending a clinic in Castle Street. He was from Swords and had been on heroin since he was 14 and was kicked out of home by his Ma as a result. He had been living with his on-off girlfriend (though it was now very definitely off) in Naas but had no friends in Dublin he could stay with. When I asked him about this, he said,"There are no friends on the streets, only acquaintances". From this I inferred that he'd more or less cut all ties with previous 'friends' whom may also have been addicts, which must be a difficult thing to do in some ways. When I told him that he seemed like a bright enough guy and asked him if he had ever worked or had a trade, he told me he spent 2 years training as a chef but didn't finish the training (he didn't elaborate on the reasons for this and I didn't ask but presumably it was related to his heroin addiction). He would love to get a job now he said but it wasn't that easy. When I enquired as to whether he was able to claim any sort of welfare benefits, he told me that there was a homeless payment of some sort which he could claim. When I asked him what his worst experience of being homeless was, he told me about a night when he was attacked and beaten up by 3 guys who spotted him tapping outside of the pub they had been in. I was fairly shocked by this but guess it's kind of an 'occupational hazard' particularly here in Dublin. I enquired as to whether the men were staff working in the pub but he told me that they were just a couple of guys who'd been drinking in the pub....At this point in the conversation, Jimmy was making moves to go and reminded me that he had to try get into a hostel that night. I asked him what he did if he couldn't get in anywhere. He replied that he just walked around the streets all night as the streets were too dangerous to sleep on.....
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