So rewarding to see Robert looking well
Just as we were waiting for the doors to open, I chatted away to one of the volunteers.
I was telling her all about a story I had covered at the start of the year, about a man called Robert who was living under a bridge next to Hamilton Asda.
She told me that he was a regular at the drop-in centre but she hadn’t seen him in months.
About two minutes later as the doors swung open, a vaguely familiar face walked in and it took me a good few minutes to realise that it was in fact Robert!
I couldn’t believe how well he looked. He smiled back at me and I wasn’t really too sure he remembered me, or if he was just being polite.
I walked over to him and asked him if he recognised me, to which he replied:“of course! The girl with the article.”
We shook hands and I asked him how he had been keeping. Robert told me he was doing great and had a job and a flat.
I said I would catch up with him after he had eaten. After the main course, I took a seat at Robert’s table and asked him to tell me about his life since sleeping under the bridge.
He showed me that he now had a passport, a phone, a bank card and a bus pass and he was really proud to tell me that he was working in a hotel but wanted to come along to the centre that evening as he had the day off.
This honestly made my night, as I always wanted to know how he was getting on.
Robert looked happy and as he grabbed his bag to leave he said:“thank you very much to everyone who helped me at the time, I really appreciate it.”
This made me smile; what a rewarding experience.