Homelessness Has a Voice

In July of last year I wrote a blog post called “Homelessness Has a Name” about a homeless couple I met in downtown Newhall. During recent years I have been drawn to the subject of homelessness and just don’t know what to do to help. I was happy to meet and talk to people who are trying to survive without the basics that we all take for granted. I was happy to know their names.

This post is about the voice of homelessness    ~  A voice that seldom speaks, and resides in a body yearning for conversation.

Kalani – In Hawaiian means “the heavens”

I recently spent three weeks in Hawaii.  My husband is working there for about four months, so I go to visit.  His housing is in Waikiki about four blocks off the main street.  The main street downtown is where quite a few homeless people stay.  Some asking for help, some not, but visible, and many times in pairs or groups. 

A couple of times a day I would walk past a corner near the hotel that housed a bus stop…and a person.  It was a pretty busy corner with tourists and residents coming and going from the bus, and people hustling through the crosswalk like is common in the city.  Also on this corner is a concrete bench.  Probably big enough for three people to sit, but this bench wasn’t used by those waiting for a bus, it is someone’s daily perch, and home. For about my first five days there, I watched the person sitting on the bench surrounded by a pile of worldly possessions. Of the many, many homeless people living in the city, a large percentage have mental illness or some type of substance abuse.  I continued to watch and didn’t see any clues that lead me to believe that this person was a danger.  I think what a lot of people tend to not realize about the homeless is that many of them are people just like you and me who for some reason or another are down on their luck. Day in day out, I never saw anyone stop to talk or even say hello.  I decided that I wanted to say something; anything to this person who I thought must be so incredibly lonely. 

I am aware of the possible dangers of approaching someone on the street. On the news that week there had been two attacks by homeless persons. One who thought a storeowner was a vampire, and another occurred when a homeless person attacked a woman waiting for a bus for no apparent reason, causing her some slight physical injury and definite emotional anguish.

I decided to say hello and try to engage in a small conversation. I asked Bill to go with me and just be close in case something came up and I needed help. I was nervous and unsure of myself, but it was important to me.  Hello.  And that’s how it started. During the next two and one-half weeks I would stop numerous times. Her name is Kalani. In Hawaiian it means “the heavens,” such a beautiful name for a person who never gets to tell anyone what it is.  During our second conversation I asked if she needed anything. She said it was just nice to have someone to talk to.  Wow.  My heart crumbled at those words.

We yap and talk and interact all day, sometimes its meaningful, sometimes its just words flying out and maybe striking someone as important, or maybe not, and we don’t think anything of it.  Just nice to have someone to talk to.  I can do that.  This month is six years that she has been homeless.  She has a family, but as she said, they “don’t see eye-to-eye.”  She was born and raised there, and prefers to lay low and not be on one of the busy streets of the city.  I never smelled alcohol or saw any glimpse of mental illness.  We had some laughs, talked about different things to do on the island, and other small talk topics. I asked a few times if there was anything I could get her to make things a little easier. The only thing she said she could use that would be nice, was a new backpack.  I did bring her a couple things over the weeks, nothing major, just little things to help. I gave her a couple dollars here and there, never a lot, and she was very grateful.  Before I left, I took her the backpack and a little bag of necessities.  I explained that I was going home and that I would see her soon.  It was difficult walking away from her.  I wanted to be able to call her, but she doesn’t have a phone.  I wanted to be able to write her, but she doesn’t have an address.  I wanted to be able to help her, but I’m at a loss at what to do. 

Bill tells me what he sees her doing,; always sitting or laying on that bench.  He has heard her talking to herself quite a few times, but if you were the only person you had to talk to – well, its understandable.  I worry about her and am glad he keeps an eye out when he can.

A few weeks after I left, Bill told me that he had stopped to talk to her.  He asked how she was doing and told her that I asked him to tell her “hi” for me.  I didn’t.  He did that all on his own.  I can’t tell you how much that gesture meant to me.  If it’s possible to fall more in love in a minute, then I think I did.  I’m so happy that he understands and supports the things that mean so much to me.

I’m going back soon and am looking forward to sitting and talking with her.  I wonder about her family, and how this happened to them.  I worry about her and her loneliness.  The loneliness I think worries me more than the homelessness.  It’s the people in our lives who make life worth living, not the things.  I so wish that she had people.  I think about her often.  I have so many questions, but those aren’t for me to ask.  If she offers, then I will listen as long as she wants.  I look forward to seeing her, and letting her use her voice.

  

 

Kalani opening the last bag of goodies I took her.  After she looked in she said, 
"What did you doooo?"

This is where she spends all of her time. In three weeks I never saw her spot empty. I hope that in the middle of the night she walks around and goes places.

This is the view of the bus stop and her belongs from across the street.  The people there come and go and look at her and then look away.  Its hard, I get it.  I have trouble looking most homeless people in the eyes also.  Whenever I stood or sat there to talk to her, I would usually get strange looks from the people at the bus stop.

 According to City and County of Honolulu Mayor's Office of Housing, as of January 24, 2016, 4,940 homeless individuals across the island were counted. Of 2,173 unsheltered homeless, 631 individuals suffer from severe mental illness, and 623 individuals have chronic substance abuse issues.  Oahu is only 44 miles long and 30 miles wide,  It’s a pretty small island.  Anyone who is or becomes homeless is basically stuck there.  The only option is to move from one part of the island to another. Hawaii has the highest homeless rate per capita in the nation, according to federal statistics.