MY STORY: CIAN ‘I want to find a way out of this hell now’
CONSTRUCTION worker Cian, who grew up in care, describes what it’s like to hold down a full time job while sleeping rough in doorways.
The 29-year-old decided to emigrate to England after enduring months of violence, robbery and apparent red tape indifference.
He said: “I’ve had my teeth broken, two root canals, ribs broken, stabbed, nearly murdered at least three times.
“I’ve no addictions. I do drink but not when I work and I work five to six days a week. I have an alarm on the phone set for 5.30/6.
“You get up, you roll up the sleeping bag, you pick up your things you go and get the bus to whatever site you’re working on you do your day’s labour.
“You come back you have to try find somewhere to charge your phone – the point is to get enough battery so your alarm will go off.
“As soon as that is charged enough you wait til it gets dark and you find a spot. Walk around, get a hot cup of tea and a sandwich, hit the cold hard f***ing ground again. “Rinse and repeat, it’s a slave life.” During filming, Cian moves into a converted truck his boss spotted on Done Deal. But the commute to work and spending his cash on transport, cigarettes and food leaves him frustrated.
After six weeks he hands back the keys of the truck and quits his job.
He said: “My goal is to live out in the country and be self sufficient, but
I don’t think I’ll ever get that. I can’t do it any more, I’m building apartments and houses that I’ll never afford.
“I didn’t choose to be born, I didn’t choose to be in care, I didn’t choose to be homeless.
“I don’t know where I will go now, to try to find a way out of this hell. I’m not sleeping on the ground any more.”