I hear the phrase root cause alot.
In order to work towards stamping out poverty
we need to get to the root causes.
In a previous diary of mine someone mentioned
that homelessness is just a symptom and he asked
if my time spent homeless was because of mental illness
or drug abuse.
These too are also symptoms.
Symptoms of a society gone awry.
Below the fold we'll see how I ended up homeless for the first time
See if you can pick up on the problems with society.
I come from a broken home,
mother and father divored when I was around 2 years old.
1st step-father was an alcholic former heroin addict,
they divorced when I was about 5 years old.
Only thing I remember of him is being beat for jumping on a bed.
Mom then had to work in a nursing home to support 3 children.
It barely paid the rent so we were on food stamps and medicaid.
Most of our clothes were 2nd hand from churches.
During this time period I dont recall much.
What I do recall is the doctors I saw got convicted of medicaid fraud.
I was made fun of for my clothing at school, and treated as sub human by 1 teacher.
This teacher tried to bar me from going to school one day for being late.
The principle got an earful from my mother and the teacher recieved a simple repremand.
We moved shortly after that incident.
In a new city my time at school was much better but homelife was not.
Many times we had no food or the food we did get was very repetive.
To this day I refuse to eat macaroni and cheese.
Mom spent alot of time getting aid from the township trustee and at times was turned away.
During one of her trips to the laundrymat
she met a man that would become her third husband.
She asked permission to marry him from us 3.
I was the one to say no, something about him didnt feel right.
He wasnt an alcholic like my father or first step-father,
But my life decended into hell.
He worked in the local steel mill so income level was above the poverty line.
You couldnt tell it from our lifestyle.
2nd hand clothes and cheap repetitive food.
Most of our toys were used or came from outside the home.
Soon after they got a house the beatings began.
Not us children, but my mother got the hell beat out of her.
He beat her on her back along the spine so bruising wouldnt show,
she is suffering from spinal problems to this day.
Then he blamed me for his actions.
One day he decided he was going to kill me, I had snuck out of the house
when he started beating my mother so my life was spared.
He assaulted the officers who arrived instead.
Soon after that he started boarding up the windows,
not to keep people out but to keep us inside.
The local church blamed his actions on my mother and set him up with another woman.
At this time period many women who got beat were told they must be doing something wrong.
We were not allowed to leave the yard and increasingly not even allowed to leave the house.
During one of the arguments mom packed up the car with us children and left.
In the process of leaving he jumped on the car and ended up getting his leg runover.
She felt sorry for him /rollseyes
She left him finally and we moved to the countryside.
A single mother now with 5 children.
Trying to care for 5 children was too much for her.
When a younger brother said he would be better off at his fathers
mom then began dropping off all the children at their respective fathers.
She then remarried her third husband.
At 15 I met my father for the first time since I was 2 years old.
My brother was sent back to moms because my father couldnt handle a mentally retarded child.
I wasnt to stay long there as well because Mom wanted me back to act as babysitter/dishwasher.
Dad didnt have custody and didnt know what to do.
Between a step-mother who didnt want me there and a mother who wanted me back
his solution was to drop me off at my maternal grandparents.
They couldnt keep me for long,
mom and the evil step-father from hell wanted me as a babysitter.
I wasnt to stay long there either, for a second time in my life he wanted to kill me.
I ran away and was sent to a christian childrens home.(A home that later came out had sex scandels)
From there I was soon back at my grandparents house.
Grandmother knew it wouldnt be long til mother would try to get me back.
She sent me down to Tennessee to live with my uncle.
He was a Vietnam vet suffering from agent orange in his spine and ptsd.
I spent time working for his landlord removing large rocks and boulders on his farm to help pay for the rent.
Mr Gore(supposedly related to yep VP Al Gore) was great to work for.Taught me how to drive in his El-Camino.
My Uncle didnt get along with him however.
The school system of Tennessee didnt allow all of my credits from Indiana
so I was going to have to spend another year.
At 18 and the prospect of having to live another year there
my uncle was getting unbearable to live with.
Between his increasing violence towards his children
and flashbacks I was afraid for my life again.
With nowhere to go I ended up on the streets of Nashville.
I spent a few months living in a carboard box donating plasma for cash to eat before
an officer showed me the way to
Nashville Union Rescue Mission.
Spent aprox 1 to 2 months there till I enlisted in the Army ending my first time in homelessness.
Aprox 13 schools in 13 years, a highschool dropout in the Army.
I have left out many things that occured,
will try to fill in things if asked and memory permits.
Part 2 and my second time being homeless at a later date.