The Significance of Courage and Hope

           Courage and hope play an important part in everyone’s lives. No matters of what you do or what you have been involved in, chances are that we might have had a courageous or hopeful moment in our lives. If it was not for courage, lots of ground-breaking or important events may have not happened in life, like Martin Luther King’s speeches or the French and American Revolution. Courage is important in or lives along with the hope that people can succeed in what they are doing, but sometimes people will have to do courageous things in their lives whether they will like it or not. D-Day for example, the first major offensive that the allies performed during the Second World War against German occupied France. The reason of why I am talking about this major event in history is because what the allies did toke lots of courage and hope since the area were they landed in was highly undefended and over a thousands of them died within an hour. If it was not for this event in history, France may still be under German control to this day.

         Other examples of courage and hope may be found in some of the texts that I have studied in class. One of my favorite texts in particular is a story written by Steven King and directed into a movie by Frank Darabont. The text that I am talking about is The Shawshank Redemption. In this text, a man by the name of Andy Dufrense is locked up in the Shawshank for a crime that he did not commit. He was sentenced only by pure suspicion and lacked the evidence that would have set him free. During his time at that prison, he needed to use courage and hope in order to survive his ordeal. Some examples of the ordeals that he faced were the sisters, the corrupted guard Hadley, and the warden of the prison Warden Norton. The sisters, they were a group of prisoners who tried to seek dominance over some of the new and vulnerable prisoners that arrived, much like Andy. The corrupted gurad Hadley that I metioned was a notorious man who lacked any means of common decency and is depraved of any moral values and standards towards the prisoners. And the last person is Warden Norton; this man I believe is the reason of why Andy Dufrense choose to escape form the prison. Norton was a very religious man who tried to act like the “god” of the prison that he ran. Up until Andy received actual evidence of his innocence later on in the movie, Norton locked up Andy in solitary confinement and killed the man that carried the evidence of his innocence. From this point on, Andy’s only motivations were on escaping the prison. His motivations were best described in a couple of quotes that he told his fellow prisoner Red. His quotes were “You can either get busy living or get busy dying.” And “Hope is a good thing.” His two quotes can best be explained by the situation that the prisoners faced in the prison. Starting with the first one, this quote was behind Andy’s motivation on escape and later motivates Red to break his parole. His quote has some truth behind it since some people choose to give up in a time of despair instead of acting courageously and facing the situation. The other quote were Andy tells Red that hope is a good thing is in response to red saying that hope is bad. Reds reason behind his view on hope will probably have to come from his experience of never getting out of the prison through a constant denial of his parole.

But the way I see it, hope is a good thing and so is courage because without them, no one will ever accomplish any in their lives, just like Andy Dufrense escaping out of prison and the historical events that have taken place in life.

-Jerry Liniweski

Overcoming the Bumpy Road on my Trail

The last two years my life has been like a rollercoaster, just when things start to turn out for me like a new job, or having an understanding about things ,then things start to spin like a wandering wheel. I got in a fight with my co-workers that cost me my job, well it didn’t really impact me cause I never enjoyed what I did being a gas jockey. Weeks later I nearly broke my ankle, good thing it was just a stretched tended that got me limping for months. Lots of things were running in my mind, saying to myself, ‘’Why is this happening to me?   I’m barely getting by for money and I can’t do anything about it’’.  Things kind of calmed down for the next few months then until December 2012 when my treaty rights were in jeopardy, with this BILL C 45 it was just another way for the government to take away our resources. I was a little mad since my ancestors and the government made an agreement, but the government never kept their word and they still want to take over all the resources just for money.

 I thought to myself that I try so hard to make my life decent and nothing but bullshit comes my way. It’s like some people like to focus on the common good but get nowhere and face nothing but negative things in their life and slowly die of exhaustion. The liars, cheater and stealers get to sit back and look at all the people trying to make their lives good. I thought I was going to give up and was on the brink of a break down. I was lost, so I prayed every day for at least answers, but nothing  came I felt like I was going to fall. My mom was there she told me, ‘’they’re two paths one is the easy path that everyone chooses, but it's short they have an short trail at the end and there are people like you and me who go on the long narrow path, but it leads to hardship, discipline and at the end that leads to success lots of achievements.  That’s why we are facing this struggle but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stay like this’’.

After the lecture with my mom I continued to try hard during that time. I had a lot of faith the only hope I had was my family friends and myself. It motivated me to do the best I can do.   The hard ship I was facing didn’t make me weaker but it made me stronger. Now I’m graduating with a better chance of going to school and I'm going to have an awesome summer job that can land me on my feet. Nobody’s perfect but everyone has an purpose, so we must remember not to let things get the best of us.

-Lou Crosschild

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH3hrtp1T84

Marked for Life

Just after I turned sixteen I went camping with my family and I just HAD to chop wood… That was the worst decision that I have ever made. I wanted to show off to all the guys that were there with my family. I wanted to prove to them that I could be just like them.

So I asked my dad and he said no a few times, and the last time I asked he finally said yes. Unknown to me that last thing that my mom said to my dad was “ready for a trip to the hospital?” I was so excited to be allowed to chop wood… I was all ready to chop the wood and I had the axe in the air and then, I swung. I was waiting to hear the wood crack and hit the ground but…. nothing.  I heard nothing, no crack or the wood hit the ground. So I proceeded to look down the axe and saw that the blade was in my foot. All I saw when I looked down was blood and a little white thing in my foot. On my way to the hospital all I could do was pray that I would be okay. The entire ride there I was fine, but after that when I found out that I had to get needles that is when I lost my mind; I was ready to get out of the hospital. I was so mad that I had to get needles, they are my biggest fear. When the Doctor brought them out and showed my mom, I flipped and I kept trying to get off the table. My dad had to lay on top of me so that I couldn’t move and she could put them in. I was not impressed. I had to sit there for ten minutes waiting for the stuff to work, as I was sitting there crying I was also praying to God that I would be okay and that nothing too bad had happened to my foot.

During this beginning process I had to have so much hope.  I was hoping that I didn’t chop anything that was vital. When she finally took a good look at my foot she told the nurse to start to get some of the things for surgery ready just to be safe. I was so scared at this point she had to stop everything because I was crying so hard that I was moving too much to do anything. Once I settled down she took another look at my cut and thankfully I didn’t hit anything that was important. I was a millimetre away from my tendon and if it went half a centimetre deeper, it would have went through my foot. After that she was able to go ahead and start the first layer of stitches, they took ten minutes to get put in, then she had to put the outside stitches in these took a little bit longer. All together I had sixteen stitches. During this time I had to have courage and hope that I would be okay and still able to do my regular everyday things.  She told me that I had to have my mobility atan all-time low. I was not allowed to go anywhere or do anything. That made me really mad because I don’t like to do nothing all day.

The next morning everyone was packing up and getting ready to go home, and I couldn’t do anything; I felt so useless. Then to make it worse they all wanted to take a WALK down to the river… I wasn’t supposed to do anything of that sort, but I was determined to get there myself, even if it meant I had to crawl part way. I started by hopping on one foot and then I used my heel every once in a while. Then I had to take a break and I was just outside of the campsite. I was not impressed. Eventually my dad asked if I wanted help and I said no. I was going to do it by myself. He asked if I wanted him to carry me down there, and once again I said no. I made a big mistake by saying no, because when I got to the rocks that is when I had the most trouble.

I had the entire ten days ahead of me of doing nothing. After that long ten days I was so glad that I could get my stitches out. But because I was walking the first day I had to have my stitches in for an extra four days just to make sure that they would be okay. And that it had healed properly and that it wouldn’t re open and I wouldn’t have to get stitches again. After that I got them taken out I was finally able to sit cross-legged.  I was so happy that I could finally do all the things that I wanted to do. I still couldn’t shower without a bag on my foot.

Now I am okay and can do all the things that I usually do. My foot only hurts once in a while. And if I have my feet in cold water then the scar gets all dark purple and it is weird. There is that odd day that it will start randomly start hurting but that is okay, almost every day it is all tingly because all the nerves are still healing and fusing together it will be like this all the time but that is okay because I have to have hope that it will one day eventually heal as close to normal as possible.

The Bravest in the Toughest Times

         First off, what is courage? Courage in my opinion is being confident in yourself to do something which you once feared without fearing the consequence.  Not a lot of people have courage or hope, there is always something holding them back from doing what they want to do. I know not a lot of people have the guts to really stand up for their values, it depends on the type of people they really are. There has to be something fearful in order for you to feel courage. There’s a time when I played a very anti-leaders soccer team, it didn’t work out well at the beginning, but at the end I found that through courage  and hope you can manage to push away what is stopping you from doing what you love.
 

I remember having a friend name Draven who I used to played on the same soccer team with, and on the team there were leaders, team captains, and also the coach’s son who basically ran the team. There were lousy leaders on the team. As a matter of fact, you might say that the captains on the team were anti-leaders. They personified everything a leader should not be. They were negative and always focused on the dark side of things.   Draven and I didn’t like that but we kept it to out selves. We figured out ithat n reality leaders on the team wouldn’t listen to us, even the coaches. In games they yelled and swore at teammates who committed mistakes or failed to pass them the ball. If another teammate was open in these games, they held onto the ball themselves instead of passing to the open man. In practice they set a wonderful example by consistently dogging it and looking for corners to cut. When and if they were benched in games, which was not often enough in my opinion, they’d complain that the coach was an idiot and didn’t know what he was doing. Furthermore they refused to take responsibility for their behavior, pointing the finger of blame at everyone else. All in all, they were selfish players.

  Draven and I weren’t very happy about the team leader’s crap. They dumped on us regularly and jumped all over us whenever we gave up the ball. I think Draven was a much more skilled player than many of the guys who called them selves “captains” he was also a class act, he was  more mature than most. When the captains made fun of a players in the changes room and tried to get everyone else to join in, Draven and I refused to play their nasty, immature games. We didn’t care if it meant not getting along with them. We, many times, did the courageous thing, standing up to them  in front of the whole team, telling them to grow up and stop acting like losers.  Unfortunately our responses only brought laughter.  To make matters worse, the coaches were totally oblivious to the team .They ignored the yelling and did nothing to protect the underclass of the team.  Apparently they didn’t seem to have a clue that building a winning team starts and ends with the coaches! Furthermore the coaches didn’t even seem to care. The coaches make it so unfair that captains were allowed to play regardless of how they practiced or how they acted during games.

 We decided that we were no longer going to let this situation get us down. We had chosen the most difficult road to travel for ourselves. This road somewhere between courage and standing up for our selves, When captains swore at us in games we didn’t let their immature behavior get us down. We responded by working harder in practice and being more positive to ourselves.  When other teammates were being put down Draven and I tepped in to support them and confront the offending captains when the coaches benched us after playing well while unfairly allowing their favorites to keep playing despite a sloppy game of soccer and selfish play.  We maintained our motivation and kept positive attitudes.

           Over all we decided to approached the coaches after practice one day. Draven and I expressed our concern that the coach was being unfair and rewarding the upperclassmen’s poor play and rotten attitudes. The talk didn’t necessarily get us much more playing time in the next game, but we figured that despite situations like that, we weren’t going to let that stop us from playing the game we love.

 - Koffi Nyavor

I’m going to talk about how being a female in society takes so much courage. Being a girl growing up is tough as it is. It takes courage to be a girl; we have had rights taken away from us, we are looked down on compared to men, and we live in minor fear of men. Woman and men compete in the work place all the time, woman are just as capable of doing whatever a man can do, yet in some situations men are paid more than a woman that’s doing the same job as that a man is doing. Growing up I have always been told to watch my drinks when I go out anywhere because I might get drugged, and taken advantage of.   I’m told to not walk home alone if it’s dark because I might get kidnapped or raped.   Even at school we have these same problems, girls aren’t allowed to have their shoulders showing because it distracts the boys? I find this completely unfair and stupid, instead of telling guys to not rape and not drug us, woman get told how to dress and to watch our drinks. It takes so much courage to be a woman. Being a woman is powerful and something that we should be proud of. We shouldn’t feel ashamed by how we dress or what we do. We shouldn’t have to fear being raped and be told it’s because of how we dressed or that we might provoke someone. I have hope for the future that this will change.  It’s changing and yes it’s getting better from what it was, but we still have a long way to go, considering people have an easier time believing a shark attack rather than a woman being assaulted.

-Katie Scott

Between the Pipes

Being a goalie is a not just a dream. It is a focus I have. It is my focal point. I need to be on the ice. It is my passion, it is my goal. I am not alone out there with this passion to play. Hockey players are unique in a community sort of way. We have our own community and way of speaking and doingthings. We live like nomads during the season, but it is our way of life. That being said it is great to win, but is it not just the winning, not just the losing. There are ample examples of courage and hope every day on every ice surface in every rink. In every dressing room, in every coaches office.

Courage and hope are the wing men you need to walk on the ice again after you lose a game. It is easy to step back on the ice in front of the home crowd after a big win, it is harder to do so after a loss. But hockey is not just about winning and losing. There is a lot of behind the scenes where courage and hope come into play. Now imagine how hard it would be to lose your courage and hope and not be able to do what you love. Not be able to physically or mentally face doing what you live for because you have lost your courage. And you feel there is no hope but in a bottle, to chase away the nightmares?

Clint Mararchuk was a goalie in 1989, who almost died on the ice infront of fans, team mates and with the camera rolling his mom. He took a skate in the throat. He was 1/8th of an inch from dying. He got off the ice and 300 stitches later he lives to tell the story. It was not all roses for Clint. He did not come back strong and be "an after school special.' His career declined. He suffered terribly from obsessive compulsive disorder, and it all came back. He had fear, he had doubts. He lost his courage and he lost his hope. He turned to alchohol and suffered nightmares.

But he found his courage and he found his hope. he returned to hockey as a player and then as a coach and is now in Calgary acting as goalie coach.

It took courage and hope, strong will and support of family, team mates, loved ones to help him to come back. To make his strong.

But I look up to all he has over come to come back and then to teach. His nightmare was not over, he had to face it again when acting as a coach a player suffered a simalar incident on the ice. But Clint did not turn to alcohol this time, he used his faith, to look it straight on and relive his nightmare.

He is just one example of how hope faith and courage can help to centre and bring you peace. If you have a stong centre and a solid foundation, you can build on those and you can over come your adversaries.

-Donovan Flobert

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Malarchuk

What Is Fear?

    What is fear? Fear is that unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or harm. There are so many people in other countries where they have to live with fear every moment of their lives. Fear of getting killed or hurt by someone who they don’t even know. They have to be ready for anything because if they let their guard down just for a second then they might get assaulted or hurt. Those people are used to seeing violence everywhere they go, so what they see doesn’t even surprise anymore, but the fact that it doesn’t surprise them anymore it doesn’t mean that they are not afraid because they know that at any moment it could be one of them being killed or being threaten that a member of their family will be killed if they don’t pay a certain amount of money.

    Where I come from is a very beautiful with some of the most beautiful views and places to visit, but sadly violence and fear has taken over the country. El Salvador is in fourth place for homicide rates. Just last week while I was watching the news from El Salvador they said that they had found 20 dead bodies from 7 am to 7 pm. In the last few weeks homicide rates have raised in a significant number, usually the number of dead bodies that police found in a day could be around 8 to 10, which is a very big number, but people still have the courage to do everything they have to do throughout the day.  They overcome their fear of getting killed, kidnaped, or assaulted. They take great risk by going out of their houses but that doesn’t stop them from doing so, because they have to provide food for their family. Those people show a lot of courage by going out of their homes and going to work, and they provide hope to their family by getting back to their houses safe.  Something they rely on to never lose their hope is God because, in times of difficult situations God is the only one that can get us through those times.  God plays a major role in society in El Salvador also family has a big impact, because they have to stick together as a family when they are going through those moments, and also family is something that encourages people to go out there to their jobs.

          When I lived there I didn’t leave the house because we were too afraid to go out because where we used to live there were shootings probably twice every month. My parents sometimes didn’t sleep at all because they were afraid that if they let their guard down something bad could happen.  My dad was the only one that worked because my mom was afraid to leave us alone.  When you live in a place like that you can feel death following you and fear never leaves your side either. Whenever me and my little brother walked to school we usually walked very fast because the sooner we got to school the sooner fear disappeared. Me and my family prayed every time we were going to leave the house.  We prayed to God to protect us and to never leave our side.  God was the only thing that gave us courage to go out there and gave us hope that we would return safe to our houses.

      There are some memories I wish I could forget like when I saw someone getting shot for the first time and the sound that the gun made when they were shooting that guy or when we had to bury my best friend because he was killed by bullet in the middle of a gun fight. but things like that are the things that had made me the person I am now. They give me courage to go on and never give up, and I hope that someday I could return to my country and not be afraid. God blessed my family by getting us out of that place to live somewhere where we can be safe, and we can prosper and have the freedom to do anything we want and to go everywhere we want.

-Alexis Ariza

The Beauty of El Salvador

El Salvador Crime Rates Increasing

 

Find Courage in Grief

I remember the day like it was yesterday. We were on our way to Fernie to camp for a few days and were stopped on the highway for what seemed to be a highway accident or some type of emergency ahead. My brother was driving his own vehicle, as he was going to attend a hockey camp in Fernie and would hopefully be offered a position on the team, so he would possibly  need to be staying in Fernie if he made the team. My Mom was concerned at first that he had been involved in the accident and was relieved when he texted that yes, he was stopped on the highway ahead of us, also waiting for the emergency vehicles. We drove by the emergency vehicles a short time later but were unable to see anything other than what appeared to be rescue divers in the creek.

That sense of relief was short-lived as a few hours later my Mom was talking back and forth with her sister who indicated that our Uncle Clark had gone on ahead of her to the campground and she hadn’t heard from Clark for a few hours and was quite concerned. My brother and I rode our bikes around the campground to see if he had just set up camp at one of the sites and we were not really worried, after all, Uncle Clark had relatives in the Pass and it was very likely he was just visiting his Mother, as he did on every occasion he could, and just lost track of time. That was Uncle Clark, just a wonderfully happy soul, who lived in the moment.

We were shocked that by the time we had to go a practice that evening that he had not been heard from and then ultimately saddened and shocked to find out that our wonderful Uncle Clark had been the victim of the car accident we had passed earlier in the day. He had apparently driven off the highway and ended up in the water.

Our lives were never and have never been the same. Uncle Clark and my Aunt and her children were like our extended family and we did everything, I mean everything, together. How could we go on? What would we do without Clark? Was there any real reason to smile again? How would we ever have the courage to heal from this horrific loss? Grief is such a horrible thing. I remember that achy, empty feeling every morning that reappeared each day.

But, as a family, we were able to bond together, hold each other up in love and through our faith have hope that we could recover, or recover at least to the point that we would be able to smile when we thought about Clark and all the good memories would overcome the tears which would someday end. This is me and my families’ story of how we struggled with the courage to live each day without Clark and the hope that we would find strength in our love for each other.

My Mom attended a Grief counseling session with my Aunt (“The Grief Recovery Handbook” by John W. James and Russell Friedman) listed the steps to healing which she shared with us. One important step was to allow ourselves to share our feelings of grief. Also it is good to talk about our feelings and those things that we wish we had the chance to say to our beloved Uncle before his life was cut short.

-Spencer Barthel

http://ezinearticles.com/?Finding-Courage-in-the-Pain-of-Grief&id=6656776

 

 

Courage & Hope

Courage ­- the ability to do something that frightens one.

The thing that gives me courage and hope in my life is my parents. My mom Tinka and my dad Mijo. They have done so much for me and my two older sisters. They moved here from Croatia 18 years ago while the war was still going on over there, and had to live in a refugee camp for sometime. They had to leave their home, friends, and family. They came to Canada not knowing the language or anything for a matter for fact. When they came to Canada my oldest sister Dajana was only 3 years old. Coming to a new place with a little baby girl was probably really scary for them, but they stayed strong.

After moving here only a couple months later my other sister Marija was born. It gave them hope that everything would be alright, the courage to stay strong for us. Later on, the rest of our family came here as well. My dad went to school to learn how to read and write, and my mom stayed at home with us. Both my parents got jobs at a bingo hall as cleaner, later on, they found better jobs. My mom worked as a cook at Lugies with my grandma and my dad worked a maple leaf as a meat cutter and had another job as well. Around that time is when I got really sick, they had to show their courage because they had to for me and my sisters.

I have asked my parents before if they would like to move back there. They say no, they know the life style that goes on there and how it would be. They want us to go to Croatia one day and see the beauty of the place where they grow up. The house that my parents and older sister Dajana lived in is still there, but in pieces. The foundation of the home still exists, but the rest of it is destroyed. My parents lost family and friends during that war but stayed strong through it all.

Now both my parents work at Costco and we live in a house that we have for 11 years. Even though we might have not had the greatest life style at first we always made the best out of it. I had a good childhood and I’m thankful to my parents for that. My parents have shown so much hope and courage through the years. From the war to the refugee camp, to moving here and rising me and my sisters. I look up to my parent and how strong they are. So much has happened and yet they still have that courage and hope within them.

-Snjezana Kristic

Run for the Cure!

Does anyone know what this image stands for?  Some of you might and some of you might not.

In 1992, this image became the official symbol for Breast Cancer Awareness.  It is proudly worn by many people throughout the world.  Fear of breast cancer but Hope for the future is deeply associated with this image.  You may see them more often in October each year, as this is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Many people do fundraising and even companies raise money to help fight the courageous battle against Breast Cancer. 

I believe this image stands for Courage and Hope.  It represents people, people like my Grandma.  In 2001 my Grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She had to go through surgery to remove the lump and lots of chemotherapy.  My grandma lost all her hair and was very sick.  We were very lucky that my Grandma is a survivor.  This image of the running pink ribbon reminds me of the battle she faced with Hope and Courage.  Whenever October comes around each year and I see an abundance of pink ribbons, I am reminded of Breast Cancer Awareness and the Courage and Hope for all of those affected by this disease.

Cancer is a scary word for people but what exactly is breast cancer? Breast cancer is the first site of a cancerous growth or tumor in the breast.  Sometimes this can be inherited from our family, linked to how our bodies repair cell DNA when it’s been damaged.  Breast tissue covers a larger area than you think it goes up the collar bone from the armpit to the breast bone. There can be different kinds of cancer in different breast tissues.   Diagnosing this disease happens typically through a mammogram or breast examinations by a health care provider.  Sometimes a biopsy is needed where they remove a small tissue.

There are two types of treatment for breast cancer.

Local Treatment is a method of surgery and radiation therapy only used on certain parts of the body.

Systemic treatment methods are chemotherapy, hormone therapy and HER- two therapy all given when there’s a possibility of breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.

Careful considerations about you, your condition and your cancer go into finding the right treatment for you. Treatment options are very expensive to our health care system. This is why so many people around the world join causes to raise funds around breast cancer and the treatment of breast cancer. One of these fundraising events is the CIBC Run for the Cure. This fundraiser happens each year and I had the privilege to volunteer last year in Lethbridge. My family got involved to support the families of those who have lost their battle with breast cancer and for those still battling the disease. It was great to see all the support in our community to raise awareness around breast cancer. If you’re around for this year’s run, I encourage you to stop by and show your support.

-Kylie Jorgensen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QKxsiRYC9Q

Chance for a Life

My dream job is to become a lawyer but my passion is fashion.   In some ways I can't see myself being a fashion designer because I would want to use my passion for a good purpose, so I would like to start a non-profit clothing and make up line.  A portion of the money collected could be used for a building shelters for a homeless. But how is this related to this topic? Well, it does not give hope to me but will give to those who need it. After visiting a soup kitchen my will to do that became even more stronger. After visiting a soup kitchen I realize that what I consider courage or hope  to be is actually something different. People who visit a soup kitchen have a lot of courage and hope to continue with their life even they don't have a lot in their life; however, they will come in soup kitchen with smile on their faces and most of them will say "thank you". I grew up in totally different surrounding, back home in  Europe I went in private school and you would expect that people who have more would be nice and act with respect because they came from "good families" but in reality it is different. In the soup kitchen I saw a family with a little girl and that touched my heart because they didn't give up on her just because they don't have enough to support her. Those people have so much hope for their life. Usually when we saw a homeless person  on the street asking for money first thing that crosses not only my mind, but probably 99% of others, is that he needs money for a alcohol or drugs especially if that person is a youth, but actually we don't know the real truth. I want to focus on building shelters for homeless youth because it is hard to be homeless but especially when you are a youth. I want yo give chance to those kids to continue with their life, to finish school and get an education. I want to give them hope and courage for life. I found a lot of stories on the internet about youth who did not have life that they deserve and need. We all need a chance in our life, chance to live life on the way we deserve. 
-Franka

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq4qOtg4LXY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaWA2GbcnJU

 

Here are some stories:

"Lee left home at 15 after his relationship with his parents broke down and they asked him to leave.  He moved out at and lived in a number of youth hostels for a few months. Lee then met a girlfriend and they moved in together, but after the relationship ended Lee found himself alone again, with no support and nowhere to go.  Lee was once again homeless and he moved into a hostel in Poole, where he stayed for 4 months. This was not a not a happy time for Lee as he was one of the youngest people in the hostel, he felt vulnerable and many of the other people there were violent and agressive.  Lee was forced to move on again, and although he stayed with a friend for a short time, he was soon asked to move on and he ended up sleeping on the streets.  It was then that he was referred to New Forest Nightstop, where he stayed in the home of a local volunteer whilst our trained staff worked with Lee to find a solution to his housing crisis.  He is now in temporary accommodation where he feels comfortable and secure and is being helped to access long term housing and get back into education and gain his GCSE's."

-Lee's story

"Alison's parents were unable and unwilling to take care of Alison and she lived with her grandparents in the North East of England for most of her young life. At the age of just 16, she was made homeless when she was asked to leave her grandparents' home.  She spent a long time staying in friends  houses and different hostels, having to move on constantly. Unfortunately, Alison had a difficult time in many of these hostels, she was shy and nervous and found it hard to settle anywhere.  Some places made her feel scared as people were violent and were using drugs. She eventually fled, hoping to find a better solution.  She met someone who talked to her about Nightstop and who put her in contact with someone who could give her more information.  She was referred to Nightstop North East and was accepted.  She was provided with a safe place to stay in the home of local volunteers for three nights, whilst Nightstop staff helped her to access the benefits to which she was entitled.After discussing her housing options and talking about her experiences in the past, Nightstop staff managed to find her a place in a hostel more suitable to her needs and her situation. She moved into Simonside, a hostel run by Depaul UK in Newcastle.She is now hoping to get into full time employment, and is being helped to look for volunteer and training opppurtunties to help her succed."

-Alison's story

 Stories like those are around us all the time we have to just open our eyes and not follow stereotypes.