Willem, 52 - Homeless

“I’ve been living on these streets for seven months now. It’s not too bad, but I miss my sister. I lived with her, but she’s dead now — lung cancer. Now it’s just me and Jacque; he’s my best friend. We stay together in a tent on the side of this road. He looks after me. We share things. I give him money, and he goes to buy us food because I’m in a wheelchair now. You see, my leg is gone. One day it turned black — all the way up my leg. The doctor said he must cut it off. I still don’t know why it turned black.

Every day is a big struggle. It’s difficult to get to this spot. I’m not very strong at pushing my wheelchair. But there’s this man at the Engen garage — the man who puts petrol in the cars. He pushes me here every day so I can beg. I can’t remember his name, but I’m thankful for him. We look out for each other here, all the time. We are all just humans. If someone doesn’t have food, we give them something — some peanuts or something else we have. How can I go to sleep if my neighbour is hungry?

I had no dreams growing up. I didn’t want to be anything. I was happy just to be with my sister. You see, I couldn’t finish school. I was at a special school. It’s called a special school because I’m special. I also get this thing where I shake like a crazy man, and I spit a lot. It’s called epilepsy. I’ve had this since I was a very young boy. It’s okay because I get medicine now.

Before I ended up here on this street, I was a security guard. I worked doing that since I was 19 years old. I liked it. The money was enough for us. But I’m here now. I’m not lonely, because I have Jacque with me. We talk with each other every night in our tent. Sometimes Jacque goes away. I get sad and cry a lot. But he always comes back. Life is so difficult, but I hope to one day have a house — and for Jacque to get a house too. I want to be comfortable, and I want Jacque to be comfortable too.”