Where From? Where Now?

Letting it unfold

This evening didn’t go quite as planned.

But that is pretty normal in this project.

The person I was meant to meet didn’t turn up. I am having to learn to let go of being so used to having a set structure or daily target for my work and let things unfold much more as they happen. I bumped into her later on, so we did get the chance to talk in the end. Flexibility and time is key in this project.

Watching and waiting for the person I was meant to meet.

But I was out already, so rather than head home I thought I’d go on a wander and see what happened. It was my first evening being out on my own rather than with Outreach teams or someone introducing me. The area was safe and busy and it was early on so i felt comfortable in that respect. But when I came across a lady begging I wasn’t so sure how to approach her.  It is taking a long time to build up trust with the women I am working with in the hostel and I didn’t know how she would feel with me walking straight up to her like this nor what she would feel about my project.  But if I didn’t try I’d never know.  And 15 mins later I was still crouched down chatting away.

A man begs on the streets of London. It is much more common to see men out on the streets than women.

There are no photos to show or audio to play.  But we talked alot.  Some things are too specific for me to write about until i have her consent, but others backed up what many other women have told me.  You are often bullied by men, or asked if you are ‘working’ by passers by. The streets are terrifying places to be as a woman.   And so women will remain hidden either behind a partner or friend on the street, or will stay off the streets completely.  This lady sofa surfs alot and just comes out when she needs money. And only then. If she sleeps out she stays protected by a male friend of hers.  Never on her own.

I really hope she does want to talk again as she has so much to say that gives a real insight into the lives of homeless women.  We went through the consent form and she showed a definite interest.  But no photos or anything tonight.  I will keep in touch, i have her phone number and will see if we can meet again.  But for now i had to stop wasting precious time for her as she had to earn some money.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 8th, 2011 at 9:28 pm. It is filed under blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.