Primary Research

Ideas for true stories

Gripping depressing ones:

Slavery

War

Someone who has made a difference to the world?


Video: 'I used to be a gay man - I was burnt alive and now I'm a beautiful woman'

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/video-i-used-gay-man-3197551#ixzz2v7W1RDod
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http://www.cracked.com/article_20105_5-inspiring-true-stories-anyone-feeling-cynical-today.html

Teacher Stops School Shooter With a Hug

Homeless to hero

Once a homeless teen, Melbourne’s Kirstie Papanikolaou, now 36, defied the odds and turned her life around. Now happily married with two kids, she’s helping others off the streets

- See more at: http://www.readersdigest.com.au/homeless-to-hero#sthash.mRvMZmaE.dpuf

Stories about survival

http://www.rd.com/true-stories/survival/

Orphaned on the Ocean: The Unbelievable Story of Terry Jo Duperrault

A young girl alone on a raft. A mysterious yacht accident. A missing family. It's a strange and tragic tale.

http://www.rd.com/true-stories/survival/everyday-heroes-when-his-family-fell-overboard/

Everyday Heroes: When His Family Fell Overboard

With his family adrift in rough waters, John Riggs swam for help.

http://www.rd.com/true-stories/survival/the-sailor-and-the-whale-survival-at-sea/

The Sailor and the Whale: Survival at Sea

A 40-ton gray whale lunges onto the deck, and Max Young seems sunk. What follows is the fight of his life.

Jen says: woman who pretended to be a survivor of 9/11

Under-aged Girls Rescued From Brothel In Ibadan Nigeria (PHOTO).

http://amazingstoriesaroundtheworld.blogspot.co.uk

inspired by book 'The Other Hand'

Detectives from Anti-Human Trafficking section of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Oyo State Police Command stormed Sharp Corner Hotel, Orita Aperin, Ibadan on Wednesday February 26 and rescued four girls being used for prostitution, two of who were discovered to be under-aged. A couple, Mr Temitope and Mrs Helen Falusi, who were running the brothel, were arrested.

Briefing journalists on Friday at the police headquarters at Eleyele, Ibadan, the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Indabawa said that the command received information that the woman and her husband were bringing the young girls from Benin, Edo State to her brothel in Ibadan for prostitution.

Homeless Stories

http://www.mungos.org/about/real_life_stories

Real life stories of homeless people

People can become homeless for many reasons. We would like to say thanks to the clients who have shared their experiences with us, and talked about their hopes for their recovery and the future

In 2011 our Oral History project Street Stories gathered the stories of 41 residents. Listen to some of their stories and watch a short video by clients who conducted the oral history interviews (please be aware - some of the interviews contain strong language).

I need to make myself aware of what I am going into with interviewing homeless people. It is a very hard-hitting and despressing topic and I need to know what I am doing. I also need to know what I am asking of people.

Robert’s Story

“Two years ago my life fell apart. I was homeless and on the streets, and the thing I learnt from it all is that it can happen to anybody. It didn’t happen to me overnight; it took me six months before I found myself sleeping rough. When you realise you are in trouble there are friends to help you, but there are only so many settees and floors you can sleep on.

People ask me if it was a shock to become homeless. I’d lost everything. I used to have my own place in south London, two part-time jobs, a steady life. I’d worked in the antiques trade for decades. Being honest, alcohol was a factor in me becoming homeless – and a lack of employment. No job means no money, no food and no roof over my head.

I came to St Mungo’s in December 2012; I was referred here by another homelessness charity in London. Immediately, I had somewhere to wash, to stay, the food was good and I was warm. But it was a cultural shock at first; I was in a hell of a state when I first arrived. I was very nervous around people, but they were here to look after me.

I recognise that I have a self-destruct button; I can get so down and defeatist about things. But the great thing about St Mungo’s is that when you’re fed and you’ve got a nice room you can start to rebuild your life – you get lots of encouragement here.

I spend my time getting involved in the Grow Your Own gardening project. It’s a scheme for St Mungo’s residents who are interested in horticulture but want to do something close to home. It’s been an absolute godsend; so far I’ve helped create a garden in one hostel and have plans to work on two others next year. My first ever job was working in a garden centre, and to this day I can still tell the difference between a Paul Scarlet Geranium and a King of Denmark.

Having worked in the antiques trade for so long, I have a very good eye for colour, shape and movement. I knew exactly how I wanted those flower beds to look. The big challenge has been getting other residents involved, they’re not confident about doing it sometimes, but when they see everything in bloom they want to sit outside and play dominoes and take part too.

The gardening has given me a focus I didn’t have before. I am rebuilding, I am growing. One of the things being at St Mungo’s has definitely taught me is to take each day as it comes, take it slowly. I find it difficult to think long term, partly because of my age – a lot of people who have slept rough are dead at my age – I’m 59 years old.

I remember when I moved to St Mungo’s that I used to get annoyed about people knocking on my door, but now I realise they were doing it to make sure I was all right. It seems such a small thing but it’s very important. Thank God for the staff here, they’re bloody marvellous.

I know my life will never be quite the same again; the five bedroom house and the Porsche 911 will never return. I have a photograph of the last antiques shop I ever had. My life was so different back then. But being in a safe and secure environment again is so important; and that’s what I have here. In the next 12 months I want to get stuck in to more gardening at St Mungo’s, and improving my own environment inside and out. I hope I can keep giving something back to people who’ve helped me so much.”

http://www.homeless.org.au

People who don't have shelter are houseless - not homeless! Homelessness has nothing to do with a lack of shelter.

Define Homeless: 'An inadequate experience of connectedness with family and or community,' (Dominic Mapstone). This fact is now recognized by Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme.

If the problem was a lack of shelters for the homeless why aren't all the homeless shelter always full? During winter they are more busy but more shelters won't solve the problem.

So often on the street I've seen people shake a set of keys with a big smile on their face saying 'I've got a place.' But often they end up spending most of their time on the streets anyway because they just don't know anyone else other than other homeless people and an empty room is very lonely.

Homelessness is about a lack of connectedness. Belonging somewhere is about belonging with other people. Like belonging to a family or local community.

The largest social demographic in first world countries that experiences homelessness are actually elderly people who are houseful. Quite often their spouse has died and their children live at a distance. They feel the same loneliness and abandonment as the person living on the street.

People in institutions including prisons or juvenile justice centres often feel the same loneliness or more accurately experience homelessness as the only people they have contact with other than the other 'homeless' inmates are people paid to be a part of their life. These people are the equivalent of people who work in soup kitchens or shelters on the streets.

Imagine that, only having contact with people who are paid to have contact with you! This is chronic homelessness.

Homeless People - Rebecca's Story In her own words this is our friend Rebecca's story... "Two things happened when I turned 12, my Father who used to beat the hell out of us left home and the other thing that happened is I started using drugs... One of my friends said 'Here try this it will make you feel better', and it did. When I turned 13, my Mum found a new partner who lived at home with us. He raped me regularly and abused my younger sisters as well. I was only 13. He also use to beat Mum up and it was hell on earth. For about a year I suffered through it but when I was fourteen I couldn't take it anymore, so I said to Mum 'You have to get rid of this guy, either he goes or I go.' Mum chose him and I landed on the streets. Initially I stayed with friends, and then slept with guys from the neighborhood to keep a roof over my head. Eventually I had to leave the suburbs for the city streets.  Sleeping in abandoned houses and buildings, I lived on the streets with other young people who were like me.  The cuts all up my arm are from slashing up. I slash myself to turn emotional pain into controllable physical pain. It's not usually to kill myself, just to help cope with the pain of the past.  I don't do it much, but if I'm having a shocker week I might just sit there and slash till I reach one hundred cuts.  If the only thing that happens to you in your life is you just keep getting hurt, you end up saying no this isn't going to happen to me, I'm not going to let myself get hurt anymore, I can't handle the reality of life I can't handle any of it why not end it all then I know that I don't have to deal with any of it. The last time I tried to kill myself I only had a syringe to slash up with so I was hacking at myself trying to get myself bleeding properly. Then I sniffed paint until I blacked out. [left] Dominic, Rebecca & Gerry I wanted to bleed to death but it didn't work because someone found me lying in the alley and called an ambulance. You just give up, that's it, it's the end. As soon as you get to that stage where you don't care if you live or die you end up so upset, so depressed, so hurt with everything that you just cant handle even the day in front of you. In the end it's a matter of well if I get through the day then great, if I don't doesn't matter, no big deal. It's not like anyone's going to miss whether I'm here or not. To have the confidence to actually do something about where you are is especially hard because you have to build up that confidence. By the end of the time you come on the streets you've lost all confidence in yourself and you think I cant do it even if I try I'm not going to be able to do it. [left] Rebecca. [right] Gerry (co-founder of Rebeccas Community) & Rebecca, talking on the street late at night 2001. Just to know that someone cares is the main thing I guess. Most of the people on the street don't have anyone. We end up with no one when we come out here and you think that no one cares no one worries about you and no ones willing to listen to what goes on in your life… what problems you have. Then I meet Dominic and Gerry and the volunteers, they are willing to give up their time to come and see you and worry about you personally and take the time out to listen to what you have to say, it's great. That's what people need is someone to actually be there and to talk with, to listen, to care, someone to trust. Knowing that there is someone there to care even if they aren't there 24 / 7. When they do come out you really know it's someone who accepts you the way you are and they are ready to listen. They care about me and they miss me if I don't turn up and that really makes me feel really special, well at least to someone." by Rebecca "We named the organisation Rebeccas Community after Rebecca because throughout the time she was on the streets she would put her own needs on hold to be there for others. Our volunteers need to be like Rebecca - by being generous with their time and being there for others. Young people like Rebecca need friendship, the kind of friendship that is offered genuinely by people who are not paid to care. It is one thing to offer people a handout and quite another to say I will be there for you as a friend. This friendship must be a commitment; they need to know that we will continue to be there for them and that our friendship will be a home base they can return to. This is how we rebuild the confidence they need to take positive steps forward." http://www.lewistesta.com/2013_04_01_archive.html SUFFER THE CHILDREN This is a series of pencil and charcoal drawings of children who suffer from hunger and homelessness. "The innocent collateral damage". There will be 10-12 in all feedback is welcome!!! The Big Issue Our Offices: Bath Sam Grief, Area Service Broker, explains how the small team in Bath works with an average of 30 vendors across the city. Bath is a small, thriving hub of activity, with pitches for our vendors next to some of the most beautiful tourist attractions in the city. Our vendors are a well recognised feature of the city, and customers and residents get to know them well as the centre spans such a small area. Our vendors are always ready to exchange a smile, joke or even a poem with the general public, whether making a sale or not. As we see a large number of tourists and visitors on a daily basis, we provide our vendors with training to encourage them to interact with the public, and to be respectful of other street traders. It can be quite daunting for a vendor to be approached by countless tourists asking for directions to the train station or one of our many attractions. But, as they are picked out because they are often seen as experts on the city streets, we make sure they are well prepared. We’re lucky enough to get support from some great partners here in Bath, and we have been working with The City of Bath College to give our vendors access to courses in Customer Service and Sales training. Five of our vendors have now completed the NVQ, and we plan to support more vendors in taking part in courses like these in the near future. The Bath office is one of the smallest in the UK, and this allows us to do a lot of one-to-one work with each vendor to give them the individual help and support they need – especially in relation to their goals and aspirations for the future. We run our ‘vendor of the week’ and ‘vendor of the month’ schemes, to reward those who have taken steps towards their goals and gone out of their way to help others. Everyone who is recognized as vendor of the month receives a certificate presented by a local stakeholder at a small ceremony at our office. It seems like a small thing but it’s an important way for vendors to feel acknowledged in our community. In the last year certificates have been presented by the Chairman of Bath & North East Somerset Council; Councillor Rob Appleyard, Our local MP; Don Foster, The Mayor of Bath; Councillor Andrew Furse, the Bath Business Improvement District and the Avon and Somerset Constabulary. Working with the local community is also important to us, and our vendors understand they must promote the organisations’ values and uphold our reputation. We work closely with local agencies that help our vendors on a range of issues; to collectively assist them with their move away from homelessness, these include: the Julian House night shelter and day centre the Genesis Trust, an organisation which runs nine projects across the city that benefits the vulnerable and homeless the DHI (Developing Health & Independence), which supports the homeless and those with drug and alcohol dependencies REACH, a consortium of local organizations who provide housing advice and support Here is what some of our vendors say about selling The Big Issue, and living in Bath: “I’ve been selling The Big Issue for a long time, in a lot of places, but Bath is the best - the people are very friendly here and you can make good money! I like all of the lovely libraries too, but I’ve now read most of the books that interest me. Selling the Issue means that I can buy myself things that I need, I’ve just bought some new boots, and I am saving up for a new rucksack and sleeping bag. I like the independence that selling the Issue gives me, it means that I don’t need to go to the job centre every day, or ask for help from other charities or the church.” Radek “I love working outside in Bath and meeting lots of new people. When I am not selling The Big Issue, I like to do lots of cooking at home, or go for long walks with my dog Boycie. Sometimes I also meet up with other people from pitch; we are all very friendly with each other. Thanks to being able to sell the Issue, I’m now able to manage my money well as I get it on a daily basis, and I am saving for the first time ever. Going out to work every day is so much better for my self-esteem than sitting at home watching the TV all day.” Ian “The public in Bath are generally really nice, and much more amenable to Big Issue sellers than anywhere else I’ve worked. Selling is a reason to get up in the morning, instead of lazing around all day, or staying on the campsite which I live on. In my free time, I go wood collecting with the other vendors who live on the same site, as we have regular campfires, and I also like to go on long walks by the canal.” Crispian “Chatting with people, having a laugh, and being outdoors every day makes selling The Big Issue in Bath something I enjoy doing. It suits me because I can sell at the times I choose, I’m self-employed, and it makes me feel independent. I’m now managing my finances well, and I can enjoy going to gigs and socialising with friends when I am not working.” Cathal Our ultimate goal is to help all of our vendors make positive changes in their lives so they no longer need us. One of the main ways we do this is to seek support from local organisations, who can share their time and resources to inspire our vendors. We recently ran our annual Aspirations Week, where sessions ranged from art, music and bike maintenance workshops, to training to be a tour guide! This year’s events also saw HSBC and staff from the Council engage the vendors in a workshop on ‘Being Your Own Boss’. It’s sessions like these that truly inspire the vendors, and give them the confidence to move forwards with their lives. I have something online that has really caught my attention which is 'The Diary of a Homeless Person'. This is the sort of thing I am looking for as I could make my publication about a day in the life of a homeless person. Rather than actually going into the heavy details of their pasts. As this is where it gets a little too personal to start questioning people. However I am not sure if this counts as being a 'True Story'. If I do it like a diary entry though it surely should? I will find this out tomorrow when in Uni.  http://lawrencehomeless.blogspot.co.uk The Diary of a Homeless Person After being homeless for a year and a half due to a debilitating mental illness, I have come to see the plight of the homeless in a totally new light. This blog is a collection of observations, stories, and experiences of both myself, and of others that I have met during my tenure as a homeless person. I was of the fortunate few that got off the streets. But many have been lost in that quagmire. I my stories and observations can help others better understand what it is like http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/news/arts-council-news/drawing-attention-art-homeless-people/ Drawing Attention: Art with Homeless People Date: 13 December 2010 Area: South West The Holburne Museum in Bath has been working on an art project with homeless people. Creative activities are inspired by objects and themes within the museum's collection and use a range of artforms including photography, animated short films, ceramic art, mosaics, and face masks and portrait busts. The museum works with Julian House which provides services to single homeless men and women in Bath and north east Somerset. The project gives participants the opportunity to learn new skills not normally available to them and to identify themselves as being part of an art group rather than just as being homeless. Participants share a sense of pride with their peers and the wider community in achieving something they had not thought they could do. The wider community have been engaged in their experiences through exhibitions, displays, media coverage and participation in public events. Activities as part of the project include Talking Heads, a focus on identity and self portraits culminating in an exhibition at Bath's central library. As part of Mapping Lives,participants created a mosaic in memory of Andy, a Julian House client who died in 2009.All at Sea was an installation of banners hanging from Bath Abbey on the opening night of the Bath International Music Festival.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13374361-being-and-homelessness

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Being and Homelessness: Notes from an Underground Artist

by John H. Sibley (Goodreads Author)

4.38 of 5 staJohn Sibley was a homeless artist living in winter on the streets of Chicago for six months. The terrain is Chicago's Loop, Near Westside and the now abolished Maxwell Street open-air-market between 1989 and 2005. His aim in these philosophical essays is to shed light on a growing global problem. "Being and Homelessness" is not as much concerned with the cause but the wretched anxiety and pain of being homeless, which forces one to live, to exist in an in-authentic mode of "being-in-the-world." Sibley uses an existential lens to focus on this ghastly problem because the homeless being-in- itself is forged in rootlessness, displacement, and their lives are governed by the existential D's of death, dread and despair. After his dark night of the spirit Sibley believes that being homeless in the world, displaced and rootless, is one of the most terrifying challenges that a human can experience. "I gazed down into the underbelly of the abyss. I am blessed that I escaped the stygian darkness of the nether world of alleys, bridge viaducts, vacant cars and subways caverns. To escape that region of dread and despair teaches you that pain and suffering are central to the human condition," he writes. In these essays Sibley uses the term "being-in-the-world" as an experience that makes one acutely aware of that gap between consciousness and objects in the world. Being-in-the-world makes the homeless aware of a distance, an emptiness, a gap that separates them from the region of things. This essay is a plea to maximize this nation's resources, both public and private to help the wretched existence of the homeless. "I cannot recall the exact day-to-day or month-to-month suffering that I endured, but the existential feeling of dread, despair, hopelessness, wretchedness and loneliness still clings to my consciousness. "I write to illuminate the plight of the homeless so that when you see them in libraries, on subways, city busses, local train stations or standing in front of missions like they had stepped out of painter Edward Hopper's canvas, you won't judge them, as Anatole Broyard noted, as 'creatures of the darkness, where sex, drugs, gambling and other crimes are directed against a bourgeois culture that despises them.'" The homeless problems have become a Malthusian nightmare not just in Chicago but in urban cities across the nation and worldwide. The large population of homeless men, women and children give most urban cities a Third-World urbanscape. It would be disingenuous to state that the homeless only need shelter when the problem is much deeper than that. The Government needs to invest in creating a new Integrative Holistic Rehab Center [IHRC] to combat the multiple cause of homelessness. We need to heed the words of the homeless, Danish genius, Kierkegaard, who believed philosophy must recognize the presence of man-in-the-world. The reality is that for millions of us in our times we are only a lost job, a breadwinner's disability or death, a business failure, a lawsuit, a divorce, a long-term illness or natural disaster away from homelessness. Let the experience of John Sibley inspire you with its honesty, faith and redemption

sarahw@julianhouse.org.uk 2:00pm wednesday 26th march- meeting with Sarah to talk to her and also to clients at Julian House