The challenge of life on the streets with brother Abdul Hamid Faruki

“If we fail to help those who are in need, then know that we have failed society and humanity.”

As I child growing up, I always wanted to possess a super-power. If there was one that I really wanted, it was invisibility. I could do whatever I want and nobody would notice. As I hit my teens, I came out of fantasy into reality. However, recently I attained my super-power. I finally had the cloak of invisibility. It came to me in the most unexpected fashion. It was not like what I imagined and it came at a price. It was embarrassing and humiliating. I decided thereafter to be content and thankful for what I have and who I am. Invisibility is something I no longer desire.

The As-Suffa Homeless Outreach project conducted and documented a social experiment recently in Birmingham, England. Volunteers were asked to put themselves in the shoes of a homeless person, the project ran for an entire weekend, and volunteers gave whatever time they could. The project was dubbed as ‘Living the streets’. Five people slept, walked and ate on the streets of the city centre. No food, drink or money was taken from home. Whatever money was scraped was used to satiate the stomach and quench the thirst. We needed to be – the homeless. This article details the journey and experience of those that took part in the project.

I joined the men a night later after the start date. It was the last weekend of November so the mornings were fresh and the nights were cold. We all had a slight idea of what to expect physically, but it was hard to prepare mentally and emotionally for such a task. We had only heard of stories from those on the streets in regards to what they go through on a daily basis, and what resorted to them becoming who they were. We left our homes with basic supplies, mainly a sleeping bag, phone, towel and a few toiletries. The clothes we wore at the start, we were to remain in them till the finish. On my arrival I met up with the volunteers. They informed me of the events over the last 24 hours and the plan for the rest of the weekend. They managed to eat during the day with some money they raised, a mere £3.50. A sense of what was to come. We spent some time with a few homeless men, getting their stories and being advised on how to survive the streets. We watched them for a while working the shops and the public for money. It looked all too natural for them, this was their way of life.

Since it was a weekend, the city centre was hectic and trouble was expected. As the time neared midnight, our priority was to find a relative safe and comfortable place to sleep. It took the men almost three hours the night before to find a spot to spend the night. When you’re sleeping outside, you have to be cautious of the elements and dangers that one can be affected by. The best thing for us was to remain as a group, common sense and respect for the streets was the best approach. Our bedding was set out in a car park behind a fast food restaurant. We were fortunate to have an overhead shelter, at least we would be dry if it was to rain. No doubt, there were some that slept without this small luxury. No place is reserved for you, its first come first serve. It was now past midnight and time to experience the sleep in the nightlife of the city.

“A thug thinks he knows the street-life. A homeless lives the street-life.”

The night passed with relative peace, the body had rested well. When you sleeping outside you have no choice but to ignore everything that is going on around you and hope for the best. Just before the sun rose we awoke to the sounds of city. The homeless do not have the luxury of having a lie in, surviving the day by finding food and asking for money is the priority. They have no idea when their next meal will come from and how much money they will earn. Sunday morning saw five of us hit the streets with the intention of understating more about those living on the streets. The gang included myself and Brothers Abdul Lateef, Muhammad Umar Farooq, Ityash Ilyas (Shaka) and Ateeq Azer. Another volunteer Safraz Hussain gave his time the day and night before. Later during the day we were to be joined by two youngsters, Zain Mohammed and Faris Arif, who would document the project. First task of the day was to get breakfast. It came to our attention that there was a drop-in centre run by a Birmingham charity. They are open seven days a week and work with some of the most vulnerable adults in society. On average they provide 1031 breakfasts, 2009 lunches and 429 showers each month, with no charge. So naturally, this was the most obvious place to start from.

On the way, we made a couple of stops. We met a mature woman by the name of Victoria. She was on her way to get breakfast, but not from the same place as us. Unfortunately she was barred from entering the drop-in centre. She had previously displayed inappropriate behaviour. What led her to do this was unknown, and whether the response to this was justified is also of concern, especially when we found out that she was a few months pregnant. It’s not easy for these people. They get harassed by the public and police daily, aggressive verbal sentiments are directed towards them, they are looked down on, ignored and sometimes even physically abused, including Victoria. She told us that recently she was almost a victim of an attack and made very clear to us that she carries a weapon. Do I blame her? Not really. Survival is common sense. How will she give birth, where will it happen, and what will be the future of the child, only time will tell. We need to understand why people like Victoria are filled with negative emotions and may behave in a way which is against social norms. Not all of them have access to help and support, nor do they have family and friends to turn to and there is a stigma attached to them. Their trust for the public is not always the best. They need to be given guidance and support, the blame is not on them solely.

The next stop was accompanying a group of homeless people into a shop to buy their legal daily fix. We were told about this the day before and questioned them as to how they can buy drugs over the counter. Basically these products are known as ‘legal highs’. The substances cannot be sold for human consumption so they are often sold as incense, salts or plant food to get round the law. The packaging may describe a list of ingredients but you cannot be sure that this is what the product will contain. You would think that if you are struggling to survive, you would spend your money wisely. Not on drugs or alcohol. However, they see this as a coping mechanism, it helps them to sleep through the cold and noisy nights, and let them see out the day. When society turns its back to them, they turn to the bottle and drugs. We could only take their word for it, we don’t live in their shoes so we were in no place to judge, but naturally concerned. When consumed, it gives a person the similar effect to drugs like cannabis and cocaine. This shop-keeper knew well that these homeless people were not going to use the ‘legal highs’ for plants or fragrances. She took their vulnerability as an opportunity, and in the few minutes we were there, she easily made a hundred pounds.

Once breakfast was out the way, we needed to plan the rest of the day. Next on the agenda was lunch. We had come across many stories of how the homeless get their money to survive, be it busking or begging. We had followed a 24 year old male approaching people for money. This same person had made just over £40 the night before playing his guitar for the public. This time he tried a different strategy. At one time, he asked almost fifteen people for money before finally someone gave him pound. It had become a way of life for him, the dignity and self respect is lost. It’s not natural for one to do this, but after doing it for eight years he had no choice. It was now time for us to try it out.

We decided to target the area near Birmingham Cathedral, it was busy and was surrounded by retail stores, including House of Fraser. A shopper’s paradise, and what we thought was the best place to get money. Ateeq and Umar were together, Shaka and I sat opposite each other, and brother Abdul Lateef manned a section near a walkway connecting two streets. I had just sat down, put my cup out and in under a minute a man came by and donated a full loaf of bread. I was ecstatic. It was like receiving a gift and he had a beautiful smile on his face. I thought to myself that this was going to be easy, but that thought changed very quickly. A few minutes later a police car pulled up in front of me. The officers signalled to me that I should get up and shift. I walked over to the police and explained to them our social experiment. He was initially very sarcastic and rude towards me, maybe he thought I was making an excuse. It took brother Ateeq to convince him what we were setting out to do and he finally understood, but we were not allowed to beg. I was told that I would be arrested if I kept on begging, because it’s a criminal offence. He told me they actually have officers in plain clothing who keep an eye out for beggars. Nine out of ten times a beggar gets arrested and spends the night in jail. None of us had any talents, a musical instrument or a singing voice, therefore we couldn’t busk. We had to rely on people to assume that we were homeless and give us money out of their good will.

It seemed that the homeless of Birmingham pose more of a threat to the city centre than drug dealers, gangsters, pimps, rapists, and yobs. The homeless are going though enough as it is, they do not need undercover officers targeting and entrapping them. Why not go undercover in other things? Even if they do, then focus on those real crimes. Surely the police force and public funding can be used more wisely and efficiently. Even if begging was illegal, there is no need for a derogatory attitude towards it.

“Sitting on the pavement feeling cold, getting cramped begging for my living, generated a feeling of helplessness. Not knowing when I would eat my next meal created uncertainty and being ignored just made it a hopeless situation. May Allah’s mercy be with the few people who give food or money to the homeless people, without them I couldn’t have survived on the street.” – Brother Abdul Lateef

For three hours we sat on the floor watching the world go by, hoping for money or food. If we did get any donations we had a choice, we could either use the money to buy food and then donate that money to our homeless outreach charity or give it back to the donor and explain the project. If food was given, we either passed it on to those that needed it more or donated its monetary value again to our charity. Hundreds of people passed by and I never got a single penny, the other brothers did slightly better. It was embarrassing and awkward sitting there on the floor, the very same streets that we would walk on to shop, we were now living on it.

We all agreed that it wasn’t the fact that we never got any money that upset us, but it was something much deeper. Something which had become apparent during the weekend, and that was invisibility. When asking for money, we would greet and try to converse with the public. The public ignored us, no smile and no eye contact. I could understand if people had no money, but at the very least acknowledge the fact that we are here and reply to our greetings, we felt sub-human. To make matters worse, brothers Ateeq and Umar had a few abuses voiced at them, the word tramp came up twice. Not being recognised was really hurtful and makes one think how others feel when they go through this every day. Before I left my house the day before, I had this feeling that people would more likely connect to the homeless and needy if they shared something in common. For example colour of the skin, religion, language or nationality. White would ignore white, black would ignore black and brown would ignore brown. As Muslims, we approached other Muslims with the Islamic greeting, and one out of ten replied back. It had become clear that regardless of our background, the discrimination and ignorance towards us was because of who we had become. We were judged upon our position in society.

The sun was setting, cold creeping in and our stomachs were rumbling. We found a chip shop and ordered our dinner, an English favourite, chip butty. We hadn’t collected a lot of money, so we were restricted in what we could buy. We shared four cans and a bag of chips between the five of us. It was a humbling and much appreciated meal. This was the last evening, and a few hours remained before we crossed the finish line. We walked around the city centre trying to get last minute interviews and just absorbing the fast life of society, and the invisibility of the homeless. There surely were two different worlds under the cold black sky. We gathered our thoughts and selves back to our homes, and were left to contemplate.

The experience was an eye-opener and a reality check for all of us. Living in one of the richest countries in the world, we don’t expect to so much poverty in our cities. We give millions to countries abroad, whether it’s financial, military or medical aid, yet we neglect those on our doorstep. Charity starts at home, and if we improve our own society then we will be in a better position to help others. As of December 2013, approximately 2500 people were sleeping rough on any one night and 185,000 people were affected by homelessness, and that’s just in England. Poverty has become an issue that has been largely ignored by our government. Many charities are working hard to eradicate this problem but they need the public support. It doesn’t take much for one to lose everything, a house, job or persons wealth. It can literally happen overnight.

Sitting in our homes now, we realised how we take our luxuries for granted. Having a shower daily, using deodorant, brushing the teeth, warm food, fresh clothes and all the others things we have to make our lives comfortable. The homeless don’t know when their next meal will come or even if they will survive the night. We heard stories of them being beaten, urinated and spat on by members of the public just for a laugh. The police need to work more effectively with them too, arresting them will not solve the problem. We need to recognise and acknowledge the existence of these people, they are not invisible. Even a smile is much appreciated. Tomorrow you and I could be in their position. We would make sure of our survival by any means necessary, if we were living the streets. What we did was merely a drop in the ocean. It’s not just about creating awareness, but also pushing on from here. Now that we have a slightly better understanding, as a community we can hopefully find a solution, and bring hope to those in need.

“You can’t think long term, I am not thinking about tomorrow. It’s all about your next meal. Right now, I am thinking about how I can raise some money for lunch.” Brother Abdul Lateef, As-Suffa volunteer

ABDUL HAMID FARUKI

‪#‎LivingTheStreets‬ As-Suffa Homeless Outreach As-Suffa Homeless Outreach Bolton As-Suffa Homeless Outreach Walsall As Suffa CoventryAs Suffa Homeless Outreach Sheffield

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad.  Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. (She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”)