Let The Homeless Tell Their Story

LET THE HOMELESS TELL THEIR STORY!
Why let the homeless tell their story? The world has a
tendency to privilege and give the podium to many whose
policies and programmes contribute to homelessness. One
example is (ex) Dr (Hon) Robert Mugabe's Operation
Murambatsvina to restore order which left hundreds of
thousands of people homeless. An earlier example is Sir
William Chambers who was given the podium with his
larger than life statue in Chambers' Street, Edinburgh. His
improvement plan cleared 3000 homes close to the
University of Edinburgh and replaced them with 300
houses. In lieu of such privileging, this digital art
installation grasps the opportunity of UN World Poverty
Eradication Day to give homeless people the podium and
to stand up and tell their story.
What makes people homeless? Often it is an amalgam of
global politics, learned behaviour, family behaviour and
the Law. A few people have everything, but still wonder
the street in their unhappiness. Many families have been
made homeless because of land grabbing by those in
power. More recently the cause of homelessness has been
the banks foreclosure on a mortgage. In the present
global crisis, trade has plummeted and consequently laid-
off workers are embarrassed to face their families.
Earthquakes and tsunamis are but two of the many
disasters leaving surviving families homeless. For many,
often children, it is the rupture of family relationships
which precipitates homelessness.
The homeless persons concept of home varies. It may be
hugging one's son or daughter and laughing with them.
Thats a far cry from the dictionary definition of a house or
a building for shelter. For others it may be their ancestral
land. In some countries home for young children may be
in their mothers shadow. Amidst the digital age it may be
an SMS to Mum. For those addicted to drugs, home may
be the peace to sleep in the shadows of the graveyard
without paranoid hallucinations. For ethnic minorities in
many countries, home may be freedom from the fear of
an armed police raid or the communal torching of their
blue polythene shelter.
Being homeless also has different meanings. Many
homeless want to converse with people and talk to the
world. Others are ashamed at their situation and seek
anonymity. They too have a story, but their identity has
been denied. They cannot work the land to be productive.
Their cooking hearth is flooded. They are not allowed on
the bus. They cannot get into toilets nor have a shower.
They have no address from which to apply for a job or
access health care. They have no passport to cross the
frontier in the supposedly fluid world of globalisation. They
avoid the many gazes of CCTVs in order to urinate. They
cannot sleep beneath the moon because their city is
bidding for the Olympic Games.
What are the hopes of homeless people for the future?
Some have no hopes for the future, but dream their story
will be told! Others hope to one day cross the border to
get a job and remit money to their family. Many hope for
a world with less social prejudice. (That is the least the
general public can do for them!). Some harbour both
artistic talent and hope! Homeless people thrive in a world
of minimal consumption and creative recycling. Are the
hopes of 100 million homeless a knowledge pool for a post
crisis world?
Acknowledgements
Story Tellers
Claire McLaughlin, Joe Wu, Lavocaro and Bolero, Paul
Garner, Marigo, Lorena Gomez
UN Millennium Campaign and UN Regional Information
Centre
Edinburgh City Council
Councillor Reverend Ewan Aitken
Councillor Jenny Dawe
St Leonards Police Event Planning
Edinburgh University Settlement
The University of Edinburgh
The National Museums of Scotland
Academic Advisors
Professor R.J. Morris, Professor Richard Coyne, Dr John
Lee, Dr Gavin Wallace

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

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• homeless
• EUS
• Edinburgh
• Ron Butlin