I met sat together , friends , James and Dirk aged 45 and 48.

I have decided to share their stories together as it seemed between them they had shared a lot of experiences and gained strong friendship from living in their circumstances.

The differences between them?

James had  been living homeless for 8 months compared to Dirks 2 years. Unfortunately , James was made homeless due to a fallout with his family and said he was a ‘victim of circumstance.’ He spoke very poetically and had many life experiences such as travelling to countries such as Hong Kong , Germany and Australia as an adult. After asking him if he had any regrets prior to becoming homeless he replied ‘ everybody has regrets ‘ but things work out just as they’re ‘meant to be’ .  He was completely optimistic which in that moment made me feel very privileged to be speaking to someone with such thorough understanding and acceptance of such an easily negatively looked upon situation, influencing me since to have an optimistic view even upon not so nice situations, a real life lesson. James gets by though benefits and the St Petroks charity. He estimated he would be homeless from a further 2 days – 3 months.

James’ story compares massively to Dirks , see why…

Dirk was working for a business which collapsed , he did not get paid and was made redundant , like many other homeless people I had spoken too. His regrets were that he was no longer together with the mother of his children who lived further up country;  which he particularly expressed he missed and seemed distant ; he could not be with them. Also reliant on St Petroks and the city ‘breakfast club’ for homeless people , Dirk has no idea how long he will remain homeless.

James and Dirk both shared one very important view , when being asked ‘ if you could have anything right now what would it be?’ , and instead of answering what you’d expect , a house , money etc , it was to be ‘content’, to ‘love’ and have ‘peace for everywhere.’

These men truly opened my eyes to how varied the circumstances can be that can lead to homelessness but how also how important it is to appreciate what you can do such as travel, and to be able to see certain family without being restricted , which you are when stuck in a hard to escape cycle of homelessness.