A week in the shoes of the homeless
“It broke me.” Brian Francis, 42, said this about his recent experience of living on East London’s streets disguised as a homeless man.
The father of four spent seven days earlier this month living and sleeping on Buffalo City’s streets in an effort to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless and the need for a shelter in the city.
“The number of children on the streets hit me the hardest. It had drizzled a bit one early morning and I saw young kids scuffling and wrestling for a torn mattress and a piece of one of those plastic sleeping bags that are given to the homeless by Love In Action and other charities,” said Francis.
“They were sopping wet, they were sleeping with no shelter, just fighting to keep warm and covered. The youngest in that group was 12 years old. It killed me to see that.
“Why, when things like this are happening every day, is it such a struggle to have a homeless shelter in this city?”
Armed with a tattered backpack and not much more, Francis spent his days doing odd jobs, living off cheap vetkoek and sleeping at a 24-hour petrol station most nights, all in an effort to expose the realities of what many of us see every day, but know very little about.
“The goal was to try to gain as much support as possible. We desperately need a homeless shelter in East London and for the past year we have been trying to make that a reality, but it’s been a tough struggle,” said Francis, who runs Clean Slate, an NPO dedicated to reintegrating ex-offenders into society.
Clean Slate started working with the homeless in April.
After living in England for 15 years, Francis came back to SA in January to run his organisation, and his family followed.
Francis’s wife and mother of their three children, Chonise, said: “I didn’t realise how serious Brian was when he said we should move back two years ago, but he’s determined to make a difference here and do something practical to help the people in our hometown so I’m here to support him.”
For seven days, Francis immersed himself into the life of the homeless, cutting all contact with his family.
“I was very worried, especially when it was cold and raining, but I know Brian is very brave and he’s been working on the streets forming relationships so he knew what he was doing. I trusted that he’d be OK, but I never stopped praying for him and we counted the days until he was back home,” said Chonise.
While Francis’s stint as a homeless man was short-lived, he said his experiences would stay with him forever.
“It opened my eyes to how bad it is out there. I felt a lot of frustration with people in general, and with the government,” said Francis.
Spending his days on the streets of Quigney, Southernwood, Vincent, Berea and Cambridge, Francis was a car guard, a beggar and a taxi stopper during his time on the streets.
“I had to do something to earn enough money to survive, so I did a lot of car-guarding, a new trade I’ve now learnt, but also stopped taxis and for every taxi you stop, you get R1 per passenger,” Francis explained.
“I mostly lived off of vetkoek, because they’re cheap, they’re about R2, but because I’m not dependent on any substance I managed to buy myself fairly decent meals at night — mostly bread rolls and ham — and I had enough to share with another person at times,” he said.
Francis said his time begging at traffic lights was the most demoralising as the majority of motorists ignored him.
“There were many who have a heart, but most just rolled up their windows and completely ignored me. It really hurt and I wasn’t even there out of need.”
“People have become so desensitised, it’s like the person on the other side of the window isn’t even there,” said Francis.
“There are people who have responded positively. Now that it’s over I’m getting stopped on the streets and in shops by people who have a genuine interest in what I’m trying to do.
“I’m happy I’ve created awareness and I hope we can keep the GoFundMe campaign going until we get enough to make a start on a homeless shelter,” said Francis, whose campaign for funding ran co-currently with his time on the streets.
Francis said his scariest experience was the burden of trying to find a place to sleep each night.
“I was so worried about being mugged while I was sleeping, Every night was manic. I got really scared for my life on one of the first evenings when I got to the place I had hoped to sleep at and it was full — a BP Garage in Berea.”
Eventually finding shelter and protection at the 24-hour Total Garage in Oxford Street, Francis said he used a canvas sleeping bag and a hard floor to lie on.
“I’m extremely grateful to the Total Garage — they helped me with a place to sleep on most nights. There is a 24-hour security guard so it made me feel safer. I was also recording my journey, so I had a GoPro in my backpack and I was afraid I’d get mugged.”
“After speaking to some of the guys on the streets I realised they fear for their lives daily. People are desperate and will hurt others, even for something as small as a R5 coin.”
From women living a life of prostitution out of necessity to a 70-year-old with no birth certificate and no place to sleep, Francis met and interacted with many different people living their lives without shelter.
“All the people I spoke to had different reasons for ending up on the street. I met two prostitutes, one who wants to get out of that life, but has nowhere to go.”
Francis added that many youngsters had a home to return to, but refused to do so. “I spoke to a lot of the young guys and I heard a lot of the same kind of story. Many of them have a home to go back to, but the situation at home is so bad they’d rather live on the streets. There’s a lot of neglect and abuse so they feel safer on the streets.
“The youngsters, in their late teens and early 20s, have ways of surviving — they wash cars, and do odd jobs — but it’s the elderly and the children that really got to me. Most of the guys don ’ t have IDs so they can ’ t get social grants and they end up alone trying to survive on the streets.”
Francis said that substance abuse was a huge issue and many became intoxicated daily to survive the hardships.
“That first day I had my first meal of the day at the Salvation Army and I could feel the difference, that may have well been my only meal for the day. I felt so incredibly lonely afterwards. I had nowhere to go. I was directionless and I felt so vulnerable,” said Francis. “I was so down and so alone, but I knew that if I smashed day seven, I ’ d be back with my family and that kept me going.
“People on the streets don’t have that, they have nothing. Our people are broken and do what they can to survive,” said Francis.
Francis recorded his journey and videos of each of the seven days, which have been posted to the Clean Slate Facebook page. Clean Slate’s GoFundMe page can also be accessed on their Facebook page.