A formerly homeless man identified as David spoke to students experiences on Tuesday night.

Voices Of Homelessness Speak

By: Vanessa Joy

Posted: 10/24/07

An eye-opening panel organized by ConnPIRG spoke last night in Konover Auditorium about their experiences with homelessness. The three panelists, David, Kate and Jeff, presented honest and real stories that touched the hearts and minds of many in the audiences. Their testimonies reminded listeners that homelessness has the potential to affect anyone.

"The main goal of the panel is to educate students about homelessness, to kind of put faces to the problem, so they can really understand the different aspects of the issue, why people live on the streets, and kind of break through the stereotypes that people have about homelessness," said Amanda Ploch, a 5th-semester political science and human rights double-major, and the organizer of the event.

David

The first panelist of the evening, 33 year-old David was dressed in jeans and a basketball jersey over a t-shirt. He looked like anyone else, but his life was far from normal; he has schizophrenia. David painted the harsh reality that many people with schizophrenia are unable to distinguish reality from fantasy. Often they do not realize that anything is wrong with them. Unfortunately, David's mental illness cost him his job and gave him his first real taste of life on the streets. His first few experiences were not pleasant. Phoenix, Ariz. had soup kitchens that put him in "cages" and he was literally fed behind bars. When David wasn't inside a shelter or soup kitchen, he was outside in temperatures that were consistently soaring above 100 degrees. His experience with homelessness continue to intensify as he moved from one state to the next, finally ending up in New York City. David was beaten with a bat, had rocks thrown at him, was spray-painted and urinated on. It wasn't until he was arrested and was given an opportunity to get help for his mental illness that things started to turn around. From his experiences and the struggles he endured, he was able to start his own non-profit organization entitled "Until We're Home," and recently was elected to the Board of Directors for the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Kate

Kate's story was jarring and emotional. Not currently homeless, Kate lived on the streets for over 11 years. She was born and raised in West Haven, attended Albertus Magnus College, lived in Spain for a few years and finally settled in Hartford with a husband and job. It must be stated that up until that point she had struggled with drugs and alcohol, but was able to get clean at the age of 23. She held the same job for nine years and received several promotions. She attended graduate school at UConn in order to become a drug and alcohol counselor. But after a divorce with her husband and bouts of extreme depression, Kate turned back to the only thing she knew to help her cope: drugs and alcohol. These substances took her down a dark road, leading her into a relationship with a man that offered her cocaine on their first date. The same man also gave her HIV and Hepatitis C. Eighteen years later she is no longer with the man, but suffers daily with those diseases. She also has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the trauma of living on the streets. She was run over by a car, raped at knife point, had a 9mm gun held to her head and was beaten a variety of times, mostly by other homeless people. Her story however, was not supposed to be one of sadness, but of hope and awareness. She said she wanted people to know that you shouldn't ignore the homeless, as they are human beings just like everyone else.

Meredith Dow, a 5th-semester English major found Kate's presentation to be the most interesting aspect of the evening.

"I though the woman Kate was really interesting," said Dow. "I mean, she just put it right out there [saying], 'I have HIV; I'm a recovering drug addict.' That was in your face, so it hits home."

John

The final panelist of the evening, John, was introduced as the 'most requested' speaker of the night. John's story was of a boy growing up in a middle-class family, always having all that he needed. His father worked for the government, his mother was a teacher. He did well in school and got a computer job right after high school. He was successful at his job and soon became manager in the company, but years later was laid off due to the new owner's restructuring. Time and time again, John experienced hardships with his home burning down, his car constantly needing to be fixed and his inability to acquire a decent-paying job. As a result of all of these unexpected life circumstances, John found himself living on the streets, begging people for money and wishing that people passing by would acknowledge his presence and talk to him. John thought that losing his home and family was all there was to lose, but soon realized that the worst part of being homeless was losing his dignity.

The message that was relayed by all three panelists was that of compassion, kindness and consideration. All expressed their desires to be treated like human beings. More than wanting food or money, they just wanted people to talk to them, to be friendly and kind. Kerry Comisky, a 5th-semester English major, thought that each panelist presented the many sides to homelessness.

"I just think like each panel had a different story, like, they're so many reasons why people are homeless, things that you don't even think about," said Comisky. "Like the third man, John, he lived in a middle-class family, everything was fine. He went to school, he was educated, he had a job, and then all of the sudden, that series of events, and you wouldn't even think that that would happen."

Contact Vanessa Joy at

Vanessa.Every@UConn.edu.