Paulo

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TRANSCRIPT
 

“Hi, my name is Paulo, I’m from Pernambuco. I fell into a deep depression—I couldn’t stay at home and ended up on the streets. I spent about three years living on the streets. It wasn’t easy—it was very hard. But we did take some good things from that experience. I went back to studying, started taking some courses. As a professional in metalwork and carpentry, I used to find it very easy to get jobs, to find work. But after I ended up on the streets, I couldn’t anymore. Why? Because people looked at us differently. Because they think all homeless people are thieves, all are addicts. No one is going to give a job to someone who has no address, no reference. When I was taking a harm reduction course, I did some research to understand why people end up living on the streets.

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Most of them came from other states looking for a better life and didn’t succeed—and ended up on the streets. When you get to the streets, you get to know alcohol, you get to know drugs. If you’re looking for someone to invite you into the job market, you won’t find it. But if it’s to invite you to use drugs or do something wrong, that’s what you’ll find the most. Many people use substances to try to fill an emptiness inside them. Sometimes it’s to forget prejudice, to forget family abandonment. Sometimes you don’t even have anything to eat. Why? Because I was too ashamed to go up to someone and ask for food and be told no. When I left home, I told my mother I wouldn’t come back—not even to visit. It’s been 11 years since I’ve been back.

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My mother said to my face that I was the disgrace of her life, that she should have taken something to abort me. And that hurt me deeply—I carry that pain in my heart, and it still affects me a lot. That’s what led me into depression and onto the streets. I felt very sad because of the prejudice. I’ve seen people walk by and throw cups of beer in the faces of people who were lying down. Here, where the old BRB used to be, we were lying down, and someone we call a ‘playboy’ came by and threw beer on someone. The person was just lying there.

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But here’s the thing—if today I’m working, if today I have a place to rent, it’s because there were people who believed in me and gave me an opportunity. And that’s what the streets need: people who believe in them, who give opportunities and open doors. People who don’t judge only by the substance use or the situation someone is in. That’s the hope—that we can create more job opportunities and help guide these people back into the workforce.”