#2 My musings on the Landaid Sleep Out challenge -Homeless Youth 28/03/21

As you may or may not be aware, I took on a challenge to raise money for Youth Homelessness. This challenge was organised by Landaid, and involved myself and some other volunteers to sleep outside for one night to simulate the kind of environment homeless people have to sleep in. As the challenge and the donation period comes to close, I thought I would share my thoughts on this particular topic.

This was an enjoyable experience, creating videos, raising money to go towards the charity Women Centre (www.womencentre.org.uk). But this was enjoyable for only one reason - I have a safe space I can return to. I had my little camp out, then, once it was completed, I immediately went inside, laid in front of the fire and promptly had a nap (like a cat, but far less graceful). Homeless people cannot, obviously, do this. They have to brave the weather, no matter what Mother Nature throws at them. What choice do they have? They can never feel truly rested, or truly safe. You don’t have four walls and locked doors protecting you when you are sleeping rough. You don’t know whether there is someone waiting around the corner ready to take advantage of you. This is especially true for young women on the streets. The inherent societal discrimination towards women has been in the spotlight in recent weeks in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard at the hands of a male police officer. This has highlighted how public attitude needs to change, and how the only way to achieve this is by calling out male friends, family and colleagues on their attitudes towards women to treat them with the respect they deserve, so they can go out at night without constantly looking over their shoulder. Young women on the streets are especially at risk. Predators approach these women, offering a place to stay in return for ‘favours’. When you’re choosing between sleeping on the streets for the umpteenth time, or on a strangers sofa, the sofa becomes much harder to turn down.

There are many reasons that young people end up in these situations. Centrepoint (a charity dedicated to ending youth homelessness) recorded 121,000 young people asking for help with homelessness last year. A major cause was as a result of family breakdowns; they had to leave home because of arguments, relationship breakdowns or being told they are no longer welcome. They often become homeless because it’s no longer safe for them to stay, or family life has become too hard. The uncertain streets are deemed to be safer. There are many other causes leading to youth homelessness: as a result of physical or mental health, exclusion from school, after leaving care, because they are refugees or they have been affected by gang-related problems. Many young people sleep rough every night, but there are thousands more sleeping on sofas, floors, night buses or with strangers. These are the ‘hidden homeless’. There are so many people you don’t realise are fighting their own battles. Some are fighting to find a roof over their head for the next night.

I’ve always been lucky. I’ve never found myself in a position such as this, I’ve always known that I have people I can rely on, a place to feel protected, a place I can call home. Many of you will feel the same. Of course we are all fighting our own battles and solving our own problems. But a bit of perspective will show you that things could be a lot worse.

Those of us who are luckier than others, we should be doing our part. We all know there are people out there suffering from problems that you can’t even conceive of happening to yourself. You also have friends and family who suffer other issues, relating to race, gender, mental health, poverty, any number of things. If people are suffering from a problem, you should show compassion and understanding. If you are in a position to help, then you have a duty to do something, no matter how small, as long as it is something. You’ll feel good for doing it, knowing that you’re helping others. You don’t have to be some pure, selfless person who always puts others before themselves. Just do what you can and enjoy it whilst you do. As I said, we’ve all got our own battles.

That’s what I wanted this brand to be all about. Accepting that you can’t be perfect, that we all seek to feel good about ourselves and that we have our own trials & tribulations to solve before we can reach this goal. And that’s okay. As long as you want to help, and feel good about yourself, then I hope the Selfish Spirits Company would be an appropriate way for you to realise this. We like to feel good and help too; why not do it with a rum in your hand?

We will be doing what we can to continue supporting worthy charitable initiatives. We’ll keep you posted as to what else we are getting up to in the future.

Can’t wait for you all to help yourself to a drink to help the world!

(All facts and figures for my musings were found through Centrepoint (www.centrepoint.org.uk))