The prison cell with no key

One of the main goals of our charity "You Have A Friend" is to educate students as to the fact not everyone is born with the same opportunities, no one was ever able to choose their parents and that greed is something we need to address.

Below is an essay written by a Year 6 student Will Fitzgibbons from a school who our charity has a great relationship with and who provide tinned food and clothing for the homeless each week. This is St. Anthony's Primary School in Kingscliff, NSW.

The essay by Will ---- enjoy
 

The Prison Cell with no key

You Look at me. I look at you. You quickly move away through the freezing mnight, hurrying to get back to your home, where you will be greeted by warmth and an inviting bed. I also quickly move through the freezing night to get back to my home, a few planks of wood and some cardboard, where I will still remain cold and only have a small blanket for warmth. I know you judge me for being homeless, but we are not that different.

Surviving as a homeless Australian means a harsh life; I am just one of 105,000 Australians that are homeless. I am forced to sleep in deplorable conditions; I poften find warmth at overcrowdede homes, some of which are dangerous to my health. I only live like this to survive; I feel pure hatred towards how I have to live. My only friends are others who are homeless, the ones who I meet when I go to get food at the charities who give it to me.

 Life is a day-to-day challenge for me. When I try to get a job my efforts are often in vain; there is a slim chance of getting hired if you have no address and practically no chance of getting an address if you have no job. This is why it is so hard for me to break the cycle of being homeless; I feel as though it’s a prison cell with no key.

Ther are many reasons why homelessness occurs; I myself was struggling to pay bills and trying in vain to dig myself out of my hole of financial worry. Others I know who are homeless suffer sever mental issues; others sleep on the streets because they are victums of domestic violence and family violence. It’s dreadfully hard to get a house when you don’t have money; besides, there aren’t many houses to go around. There are houses around that are vacant, but they are off limits as they can be harmful to my health and could give me terrible diseases.

Youth is very common in the homeless community I see it every day. It’s appalling that approximately 44,000 young people are homeless, they don’t deserve to be mistreated so much, and they don’t deserve to have to mature so quickly. It is a devastating truth that shows how homelessness can affest anyone; it concerns me that youth is such a common occurance with homeless people like me. I see so many who end up like this because of separation, being thrown out of home or simply being born into a homeless family. Those who I know of often couch surf (sleeping on friend’s couches) to have a warm and clean place to sleep.

As I lay in the cold I think to myself, “was it my fault.” But I know that if someone reached out I would be okay again. Then I see you again, you look at me. I look at you. You know who I am, I know who you are. It is because we are not that much different.

Written by Will Fitzgibbons

Do People Choose to become Homeless

One of the most frequent myths about homelessness is that people choose to be so. The general public, as well as some workers in homelessness and health services get this wrong, so don’t be too concerned if you got it wrong too.

The short answer to the question is NO.

People do NOT choose to become homeless.

The longer answer, however, is a bit more complex…

Precursors to homelessness
We know that some of the precursors to chronic homelessness can be family breakdown, mental illness, trauma, learning difficulties, disability, health problems and addictions.

To say that people choose to be homeless is a bit like saying that children choose to have their families break down, that they choose trauma and abuse. It suggests that adults choose to have mental illness, learning difficulties, addictions or health problems. These are not choices people make.

In regard to briefer episodes of homelessness, people don’t choose to have their house burn down or to have their house located in the path of a cyclone. Eviction as the result of financial difficulties is usually not the result of choice, but often the result of unexpected events such as unemployment, ill health or financial problems. Again, these are usually not conscious choices.

So, why do people commonly think people choose to be homeless?

There may be a number of reasons why people think homelessness is a choice.

Sometimes this myth is reinforced by people who are homeless. As already noted, people who become entrenched in homelessness can adapt to a street based lifestyle. This helps them to cope and provides needed support from other people who are homeless. In adapting to homelessness, some people may become used to a transient lifestyle and after a period may state that they choose to remain homeless. This is quite different to choosing to become homeless in the first instance.

Long term homelessness can impact on self worth
People who experience longer term homelessness are also likely to have this impact on their sense of worth and self esteem. They may prefer to state they have chosen homelessness to help regain a sense of control over what has happened to them. Some may also prefer to continue to ‘sleep rough’ in preference to using services who’s rules and requirements they may prefer not to live with.

Some people may be waiting for long term housing

Some people may not want to use crisis accommodation and may be waiting to access public housing or another affordable housing option. Again, this is quite different to choosing to be homeless in the first instance.

Many of us aware that there is a shortage of affordable housing options in many Australian cities. There is also sometimes long waiting lists for public housing. People who may be reliant on Commonwealth income support (such as Disability or Aged pensions or Newstart allowance) will have fewer housing options because of their limited capacity to pay some market rents.

Adaptating to transience and homelessness
There may also be a very small group of people who are chronically transient and genuinely have no interest in staying in one place for any period of time. This may be because of a transient lifestyle learnt from their family of origin, as a result of a traumatic event or they may be ‘running’ from family or financial or legal problems.
Some people may be helped by legal advice and assistance

There is some evidence to suggest that people who may be trying to escape from problems they perceive to be insurmountable may be able to establish a firmer base and sustain longer term housing if someone assists them to deal with these problems. Free legal services for homeless people or financial counseling programs can help some people to deal with these issues.

‘Romanticising’ homelessness
The other reason that many people in the community may believe people ‘choose’ to be homeless is because, superficially, it can appear quite an interesting and enjoyable lifestyle. Although homelessness is often a stressful experience, to the casual observer it may not look that stressful. It may look as if people can sit around all day, drinking on the streets and mixing with other people. To those who may be heading off to work, paying bills and meeting other mundane obligations, this might look like an inviting lifestyle.

Homelessness can be very difficult
These superficial observations and romanticism of homelessness fail to acknowledge the complete picture. It misses the part when it’s raining, when there is no dry shelter, when all your possessions get wet, when it’s dark and cold and you’re alone, have no money, you’ve lost your personal papers, you’ve been bashed up just because you look like a ‘derro’, when you’ve missed out on a crisis accommodation bed because the service is full or when you’ve been told to ‘move on’ from a public space. It also fails to explain what it feels like to be treated as if you are invisible. You may live in a large city but people walk past you day after day and don’t even look at you.

Homelessness is not a choice.

Key points

• A common myth suggests that people choose to be homeless.
• People don’t usually choose to be homeless, but some do adapt to homelessness and may state they choose to remain homeless.
• Some people may be homeless but are waiting to access affordable accommodation.
• Some people ‘romanticise’ homelessness. This fails to acknowledge the stress and difficulties inherent in becoming and remaining homeless.

Global Child Poverty - Alarming!

Source: State of the World’s Children, 2010 , UNICEF

Child Population

Number of children in the world - 2.2 billion
Number of children in poverty - 1 billion (every second child)

Shelter, safe water and health

For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)

Children out of education worldwide
121 million

Survival for children Worldwide,

Over 22,000 children die every day around the world. That is one child every 4 seconds.
10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation

Health of children Worldwide,

2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)
Some more numbers on the state of the world’s children

From UNICEF, the world’s premier children’s organization, part of the United Nations:

2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation
1 billion children are deprived of one or more services essential to survival and development
148 million under 5s in developing regions are underweight for their age
101 million children are not attending primary school, with more girls than boys missing out
22 million infants are not protected from diseases by routine immunization
8 million children worldwide died before their 5th birthday in 2009
4 million newborns worldwide are dying in the first month of life
2 million children under 15 are living with HIV
500,000 women die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth

Source of Statistics: State of the World’s Children, 2010 , UNICEF

The Seasons of Life - We Cannot Judge !

There was a man who had 4 sons

He wanted them to learn and not judge things as they see them.

So he sent them on a long journey to observe a pear tree.

He sent each at different times of the year – summer, winter, autum and spring.

When they returned, he sat them down and asked each what they observed.

The son who had gone in winter, said the tree was twisted, looked dead and gnarled and an ugly tree.

The second son said it was full of green buds and full of promise.
The third son said it was full of blossoms and so beautiful and smelt so wonderful and was the most beautiful thing he had seen.
The last said it was ripe and dripping with fruit and full of life.

The man said they were all right as they had only seen one season in the tree’s life.

He told them you cannot judge a tree or person by only one season in life
That the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it is winter you will miss the promise of your spring , the beautiy of your summer and the fulfilment of your autum.

Don’t let the pain  of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don’t judge life by one difficult season.

Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come.

Aspire to inspire.... before you expire

Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly and leave the rest to god.
Happiness keeps you sweet, trials keep you strong
Sorrows keep you human, failures keep you humble.
Success keeps you growing

God Bless you and keep you in his care through all the seasons of your life.

The Cost of War vs Feeding the World's Starving

A recent  report by students at a Berlin university noted between 1947 and 2006  over 170 wars have been fought, many are still ongoing. Millions of innocent civilians die of hunger, thirst and disease, fleeing these wars while the world looks on. The worst drought in 60 years has caused the world's most severe food crisis in East Africa with 3.5 million in Kenya, 2.85 million in Somalia and 3.2 million in Ethiopia in need of urgent humanitarian assistance (UN website). Why did it take so long for the UN to declare a major disaster exists when it appears hundreds of thousands had already died? Why are trillions of dollars spent on the Afghanistan war alone while over 25,000 children throughout the world die in poverty each day.

The UN estimates just 40 – 60 billion dollars a year would halve world poverty and yet we spend so much on weapons of mass destruction. “The Cost of War Calculator” (http://www.stwr.org/special-features/cost-of-war-calculator.html ) is a great website which lists what could be spent supporting the billions of people around the world living in poverty as opposed to the billions of dollars made by first world countries and major private arms manufacturers in weapons of war - mass destruction.

 

• Just one cluster bomb for example which kills and maims hundreds of people costs $8,660 – enough to produce 10 clean water wells, or remove 9 landmines from the ground, or 309 Chickens (eggs mean protein - vital for every diet. Three chickens can produce enough eggs to feed a whole family. They'll produce baby chicks too).
• The Cost of a Single MH-47 Chinook Helicopter is $67,000,000! This could provide 19,142,857 blankets for refugees as in emergencies, families often leave home with only the clothes they are wearing. Or it could provide 7,165,775 mosquito nets with two million people dying every year from malaria, most are children under five.
• The Cost of a single F16 Fighter plane is $80,000,000! This could provide 21,616 schools furnished with desks, chairs, tables, blackboards - vital things children need to build a foundation for learning. Or 4,280,364 children supplied with school books for a whole year.
• The Cost of a Single Uzi Sub-machine Gun Is $1,700. This could provide 152 Water Filters. Poor families in places like Cambodia, have no choice but to drink water full of bacteria and parasites. Water filters saves lives by screening out small but deadly bugs. Or 26 bicycles for a child to get to school every day.

Read what other weapons/planes etc could provide. A B-2 Stealth Bomber for example costs 1 billion dollars. See what 1 billion dollars could provide the poor on the "Cost of War" Website

http://www.stwr.org/special-features/cost-of-war-calculator.html

Gambling - Good News or Bad News?

 

“Bet Responsibly” - And have a great life !!!!

How often do we hear the "footie" commentators saying this just before giving the betting odds on a footie match the whole family is watching?

I am in regularly contact with people who sleep on the streets and have lost their homes, their families, their jobs, their children.

Why? Gambling...... and making it back to society through the many debts still owed is often a task insurmountable.

  It is a fact;

• Children  are prohibited by law to enter casinos and clubs where gaming machines or live betting takes place.
• The same does not apply to TV where gambling and betting are concerned. The TAB is invited right into our lounge room and we have no say who watches and partakes in the gambling
• For children to watch sport, hear the odds and the betting market, are our children being taught - Sport = Betting? 

 Consider this.

I know a family, who owns their own house, the parents have jobs and the

children are at school.

On a regular basis;

Dad has a few drinks in front of the TV while watching sport.

The latest betting odds are broadcast throughout the sporting event
Dad and the children have fun selecting odds and winners.
Dad makes a phone call and places the family bet with the betting agency
In the background the announcer can be heard to say

“Don’t forget to bet responsibly” !!!!!   

If the family wins - that goes into the kitty for tomorrow night’s betting
OR
to the kid's piggy bank !

 

If the family looses.... often dad fits the bill

The ultimate result for the child :
To bet and win - "I get money"
To bet and loose - "No problem, mom and dad pay for that"

A gambler is born !

Poverty - Is this necessary?

25,000 people will die today and each day from hunger while trillions of dollars are poured into weapons of mass destruction and new wars begin each year.

Since the 9/11 atrocity the US government has spent $1.121 trillion dollars on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq (2011) and in 2009-10 Australia’s Afghanistan war budget was a massive $1.2 billion for our nation of just under 25 million people.

43 million asylum-seekers currently wandering the globe, fleeing wars and poverty which for the most case are not of their own making while 1.2 billion people survive on just US$1.25 a day while a new billionare is made every second day to add to more than the 500 already existing.

The gap between the rich and poor is growing alarmingly, poverty is on the rise throughout the globe and yet the United Nations estimates just $40 – 60 billion a year would halve world poverty.