The SLEEP OUT (Part 1)

All right, the post you've been waiting for. On May 11th, a not-quite summer evening, I joined about eighty other students on the streets in Leicester for twelve hours, hosted and organised by student group HOMED.

The first question you would probably ask is "why?!" Three reasons I can think of: first of all, it was to raise money and awareness of the homeless. Secondly, I personally wanted to know how it felt to be on the streets. And thirdly...well, when would I ever get another chance to do something as brilliant, and as mad, as this?

No matter the reasons, that night was something more to me than an impulsive moment. I think I've reached a point where I no longer want to just accumulate knowlege - I want to use my time and abilities to do something useful.

In either case, everything kicked off at 5.30pm at the university, where we all gathered with sleeping bags and other kit. After some handing out of food items and mingling, we wandered off to the clock tower, which was conveniently stocked with cardboard sheets. There was a fair number of other people around, including some people from the Salvation Army and Action Homeless, the charity for which we were collecting the money. Also on site was a big man called Carl, who had been homeless and was at the time being housed by Action Homeless.

Let me tell you, if you're ever out on a cold street, cardboard is essential - not to keep you clean (let's admit it, you have bigger things to worry about when you're on a street), but to keep you warm - the concrete pavement is an excellent conductor and will happily absorb your precious body heat, even if you're wrapped up. Dry cardboard, no matter how grungy or thin, will insulate you from the pavement and allow your body heat to build up in that sleeping bag.

Within minutes, a brown field of overlapping cardboard sheets sprang out around the clock tower, and patches of friends had mushroomed up in their own little groups, chatting or playing cards. I planted myself among a few acquaintences and listened as the CEO of Action Homeless gave us some information on what exactly they did, and how the money we raised was going to be spent.

It turns out that the UK has quite a decent support system for the homeless. There are two groups of homeless in Leicester - the ones who want to be, and therefore reject help, and those who don't want to be, but don't have access to help. People from the latter group tend to be out on the streets for about a week before being picked up and provided accomodation in a hostel (A week is nothing really in the tropics, but over here a week in winter is quite literally deadly if you aren't properly clothed). As soon as is reasonable, they get moved out of the hostels into semi-permanet housing, which is provided by Action Homeless and paid for by the government. The challenge after that is to bring these people back to their normal lives - the two major barriers are the lack of available accomodation, and the people becoming habituated in their hostels. Of course, then the people need to deal with whatever reason they were homeless in the first place, mostly revolving around too much drink, too little work, and relationships that go sideways.

It was about 7pm, and still bright, when we'd finished discussing the ins and outs of everything. The mayor of Leicester appeared, fully kitted up with a man-in-black bodyguard, and stayed chatting with us for about an hour, even after the cameraman stopped taking pictures. I didn't speak to him, but he seemed like a nice guy. The best way for me to describe him was Michael Caine wearing a graduation robe and some serious neck bling.

We got quite a lot of attention from shoppers and other passers-by until it started getting dark around 9pm. As the crowd thinned out, tedium started to set in until a frisbee and rugby ball appeared, both of which would remain on scene for the better part of the night. Still, it made me wonder what exactly the homeless do for fun - and the answer is, not much. Alone on these streets, you rapidly become invisible.

All was well until the temperature started dropping...

To be continued.