‘There is no love any more’ at home
THERE is nothing worse than the feeling of being unwanted in your own home.
This was the comment of a street dweller who shared a little of his life story with The Fiji Times this week.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he said he preferred braving the cold and wet weather because he was not welcome at the home he once lived in.
“There is no love any more,” the elderly man said, teary-eyed as he stared blankly into the horizon past the Suva sea wall.
He was sunning his only belongings – a bag and wet shirts – on a park bench to the edge of Ratu Sukuna Park when he was approached by this newspaper.
“My children are big now. They have their own children. Life is hard, you can’t blame them too.
“Living together, I used to hear them sometimes whispering; this old man needs to go. He does not help us. We have children to take care of.
“When you hear things like that it’s better to live like this on the streets. Make friends with other old people like me.
“Better to eat scraps and laugh with strangers then to eat well with family and know they don’t want you.
“I am OK. I will die soon and rest with God.
“I know I did my part. I raised my children. It won’t be long now. I hope they do well when I’m gone.”
THERE has not been an increase in street dwellers in recent times but there has been a huge influx of children roaming the Capital City.
This, according to Thomas Dean, a busker who has been serenading Suva City-siders for more than three years now.
The 67-year-old musician said from his perch outside a bank on Scott St, he had witnessed an increase in young children selling food and begging.
He said they usually combed the streets in the afternoons selling savouries.
“They walk around with their boxes, selling purini and some other baked goods up and down this way,” he said.
“There are a lot of them but they usually come out late in the afternoon.
“I don’t think they are homeless, they come out here with their boxes so they have to be getting the goods from somewhere.”
He claimed some of the children were selling baked goods as a front.
“They are really coming to choke for money and they have started snatching valuables from people.”
I don’t think they are homeless, they come out here with their boxes so they have to be getting the goods from somewhere