Any change, please?
by Rukmagat Aryal ~ September 11th, 2010. Filed under: Fraserview.Joe is probably not the only homeless person in Vancouver. According to Streetohome Foundation, there are about 3,700 homeless people in Vancouver.
On Sept 9 evening, when the hustle bustle at 47th and Fraser was reducing, Joe was sitting on a bench at a street corner, pleading with the passers-by “Any change, please?”
Reluctant to talk at first, he said he does not have a name and later identified himself as Joe. He does not have a place to call home and is living like this for the last 30 years in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. That particular night he had a plan to go to a friend’s place somewhere in SW Marine Drive but he did not tell the name of the friend or his exact address. At other times, he said, he passes the night wherever on the street-side he likes.
He said he does not know his age and later said he is 57. “I don’t know. I have lived day to day in this jungle. I guess I am 57.”
He lighted a cigarette and added, “I just wandered; and I don’t know from where and when I came here.”
He said he is a born Canadian. He was born in East Coast. His six brothers are living in the East. According to him, they are into fishing and probably “surviving.” Joe is never married. His brothers know he is somewhere in Vancouver but not exactly where.
Dressed in a worn-out jacket and jeans, Joe said he has no idea whether the government has opened any place for homeless people. But he said the government provides some money for people like him. However, he has never got the money. “The government gives money if I can work but I cannot work,” he said, and showed a long scar on the wrist of his right hand. He could not recall how it happened.
When he was young, he was also into fishing in the East. He used to earn enough for a survival. He said he had to quit it and become jobless as “there are no more fish in the East.”
Joe does not look like a mugger as portrayed by some websites like virtualtourist.com where beggars, homeless and junkies have been called a security risk in Vancouver.
Nicole Adams, director, Communications and Community Relations, Streetohome Foundation, says she had no data to support that homeless people are a security risk in Vancouver. “I have no data on this,” she said.
At 8:30, when night started prevailing, Joe was still asking “Any change, please?” And, sure, he needs change.
