Having recently friended a lady who survived being homeless and living in her car for three months - my spoiled eyes have been brightened to some new outlooks, I wish to share...
1. In my town, there really is no place to park a car overnight to sleep in. I was told that almost every night the police were called regarding her and her car. (People are so suspicious these days!) She wasn't allowed to park on streets that touched city parks, not in parking lots to restaurants or stores, and not even in the desert.
2. Communication is limited. The radio was her only source of news...and her car radio barely worked. So when she could tune into a channel it was for brief moments. Like for instance, she asked me what happened in Japan, because she heard about an earthquake but didn't hear the rest. And one night, she said that she heard an emergency broad cast regarding flash flooding, but didn't hear where. Now, that would be scary! Out in the middle of the desert somewhere at night, not knowing where exactly, and no one knowing you are out there and a flash flood is on its way!
3. Your car isn't equipped with a shower. So either you have to rely on friends to take you in to bathe at their homes, or you have to do a half-job in a public restroom with their hand soap and paper towels.
4. Also to the effect, cars don't have washers and dryers. Again, public restrooms were used to hand wash clothing, then clothing was slipped in a bag to take out to the car without people noticing, and then used the air dry method to dry from the windows.
5. Food is more expensive when you have to buy it daily. In a car there is no refrigerator, no where to place leftovers. So everyday you have to seek out food for the day.
6. A car is just a car. You can only carry so much stuff around with you. What do you bring? What do you leave behind? In my friend's instance she had only two pairs of jeans and three pairs of t-shirts.
7. Employment becomes difficult. How do you show up to work on time, cleanly dressed and bathed? She had secretarial skills, but had a difficult time finding work in a professional office because of her lack of attire and inability to properly bathe and get ready. And, how do you dress or when? Privacy becomes an issue.
8. I invited my friend to a church event and sat across the table from her and another lady, not knowing her situation sat next to her. We were having conversation and got onto the topic of homemade pasta noodles (there I go, always bringing the conversation to food!). And the church lady mentioned how she needed to go out and buy a $150 attachment for a kitchen machine in order to make these noodles. What I learned here is what really matters. God bless this church lady, she didn't know the situation, and she is a generous giver, but what I learned is that of giving. Here, just right in the seat next to this "big" spender was a lady who had nothing. And do you know how far that $150 would go if placed in her hands?
9. Living out of your car alone, is lonely. When I took my friend out to lunch recently she said that this was the first time in several months she actually had a conversation with another human being.
10. In this case, homelessness affected the person but not her spirit - but this is not always the case. My friend knew that she had to go through being homeless for a short period of time to get her life back on track. But more often then none, the situation takes a toll on people's spirits and they start to blame God.
