The Crisis Youth Volunteering Programme is offering young people the opportunity to create a short production looking at their experiences of being homeless.

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Friday Feb 22, 2008

Not just on the streets

Hi my name is Mo, I left home when I decided that I wanted to start a new life for myself. At home, I was very comfortable materialistically speaking but very unhappy. The constant disputes with my family about my lifestyle became very tiring.

My mum is a traditional and religious Asian women who practices her faith and tries to implement it into her own life as well as all the siblings in the household. This became an issue for me as I do not practice my faith on a day to day basis. Me and my mum could not see eye to eye for a while and as she felt very strongly about how I should live my life, we kept arguing.

I finally left home when my mum gave me ultimatums which I could not agree to and so I packed my bags and left with the little money I had saved.

My friend was kind enough to let me stay at her house and I am currently living in temporary accommodation. I should be housed within the next few months.

Me and my family are still in touch and I see them regularly and as I do not live in the family household any longer, I am no longer bound to the rules so we don’t argue anymore!!

Although I feel I made the right choice as I was ready to build a life for myself, I’m concerned as to why some young people move out of their homes and where their lives are headed after that. It often saddens me when I meet people in my situation and can see they have not reached the maturity level to live independently and are getting mixed up in the wrong things. I personally feel that unless there are extreme circumstances as to why someone wants to move out, I would not advise it.

I have been lucky enough to have got in touch with the right people and had a good support network, whether that was through services, friends or family. However, I know this is not the case with a lot of people and therefore another person in my position could have been very vulnerable and at risk to so many things.

This brings me to why I decided to take part in this project. I felt that as I am going through this myself, it made sense to try to help others that may be in a similar situation, especially for those who would not be able to handle homelessness as well. The aim of this project with Crisis is to make people aware that homelessness does not only apply to people on the streets; which is what a lot of people are led to believe. Also to educate young people and let them think twice as it isn’t easy to provide for yourself and to start from scratch. A lot of young people are under a misconception that it is ‘a walk in the park’ as it is glamorized by their peers. Everyone participating on this project hope to help them realize that in actual reality, it is a very different story and can actually have a very sad ending…

Posted by Crisis Youth Volunteers ( 11:03 AM )
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