Home. What comes to mind when you think of ‘home’? You see a house lit up with lights, shining ever so softly on the sofa when you’re feeling tired. You see a fridge and scavenge through it to see if you have something to snack on. You see a warm, and well-loved bed waiting for you to return every night after a long day. That’s home for us, right?
When we think of houses, we think of a comfy and cozy place to live, to eat and to relax. A place where you feel safe, a place that is considered a castle to many. And as Darryl Kerrigan once said in The Castle, “It’s not a house, it’s a home”. Home is not just a place to reside in, but also a feeling of belonging and safety. For many of us, we’ve taken it for granted. For many others, it’s quite a luxury.
But what about those who don’t have a house? As autumn creeps in, the winds become harsher and the overall weather becomes chilly; or those hot summer days where the concrete floor becomes unbearable and the gust of wind feels like a heatwave. For those who cannot afford a house, there is no home for them. What do they do?
When I was a child, I didn’t think too much about homelessness in Cambodia. I, as I am sure many other children do, I thought they would return back home. Reflecting on those sights now, I ask myself what home is like to them. Is it the overcrowded homeless shelter, or the dark, cold and dusty back alley? As an adolescent, I saw an old man with a dog, sleeping outside the BKK Centre at Cabramatta. I don’t see him around anymore but I remember him being a kind person, smiling at every person who came across him. I hope he’s doing well.
As I grew older, I think of all the times I have moved houses and how fortunate I was in doing so. But it got me thinking, there are people out there who are struggling to get a meal on their plate or even a home or a shelter to get back to. For them, there is nothing to return to, because when one thinks of ‘returning’, they think of getting back to their home to rest and recover. For those who are homeless, there is no returning to a home. There is only a shelter they can hole up in. Seeing both my Cambodian (Phnom Penh) and Australian (Cabramatta) community go through such hardships. Could we go for a day living outside? Probably not.
Cambodia is a small country in Southeast Asia, neighbouring Vietnam and Thailand. Phnom Penh is the capital city of Cambodia and where I was from. Although it is not as well known or renowned as Australia, seeing my Cambodian community, as well as my Australian, community go through such detrimental effects, really pulls a heartstring or two.
These two links provide information about the homelessness in Cambodia, and “at least 10 million people in need of decent housings” quoted from the Borgen Project. That is almost 62% of the whole population!
This link below captures the reality of the Cambodian population and these statistics aren’t getting any better.
With a lower socioeconomic status, poverty and homelessness are common to see around Cambodia. In comparison to Australia, the homeless community in Cambodia is much more overt than their Australian counterparts. Tourism plays a big role in Cambodia as it generates some ‘revenue’ for the homeless community. A few US dollars may not seem a lot to us, but to them, it means that they can afford food to feed themselves and their family for a day. Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, tourism is now at a halt and the little benefit that the citizens get from the tourism industry have subsided with it.
The Australian community, however, has this really old stigma behind it even though homelessness is more covert here. It is said to be the old men doing drugs in some sketchy alleyway, the ‘crazy’ women hoarding everything she owns or those drinking alcohol to their heart's content are the ones who are homeless. But is that true? These are just an ignorant saying and a mere statistic that may be true, but it does not represent the whole homeless community.
We tend to believe what we hear without looking at the facts so, in the following, you will find what is homelessness and the misconception and facts we didn’t know about homelessness in Australia.
In the video above by Vinnies, they are committed to breaking the cycle of homeless in Australia. They are committed to providing sandwiches for the homeless, as well as provide warm clothing especially when it gets colder. If the greater community could start donating more non-perishable food or items of clothing that no longer are of use to them to someone in need, it would make this homelessness journey for them a lot easier. Passing on kindness is one way to make a tough life easier.
Home is where one feels they belong, and every day homeless people are stigmatised as drug dealers and crazy. There is no place of belonging for them. But when one homeless person stands up to help others, it inspires more to provide help for those in need.
One small act of kindness can inspire others to do the same.
