Homeless and Hungry

The week I graduated from high school I left my parents a note. I told them I was off to find myself and God.  While those things might have been true, I also left because I was pregnant and did not want to tell my parents.  

With very little  money in my pocket I hitchhiked out to Vancouver where I experienced what it is to be homeless and hungry.  I remember seeing some bread crumbs left for the birds. I thought seriously of picking them up for myself.  

My boyfriend and I broke up and I took a job as a live-in nannie for a well known doctor.  What was less well known was how domestic employees were treated. I don't remember  a day off.   I was not fed what the family ate.  They ate bacon and eggs or waffles, but made porridge for me. I was accused of stealing when I added just a little more milk to make the porridge more palatable.  The food I was allowed never felt like enough. One day the doctors wife had me wash the bathroom floor with a toothbrush. 

I left their employment and applied for welfare which was granted because I was five months pregnant. The words of the teller when I tried to cash my first welfare check live on in my mind, "what are you stupid or something, you can't cash this check here."  I had not noticed that the only place the check  could be cashed was down on Vancouver's skid row.  It was a frightening experience for an eighteen year old to walk down those streets alone.  

Everyone we meet has something to teach us in our journey of self discovery and change. The doctor's wife and the bank teller gave me an example of what I did not want to be.  The experience of being homeless and in poverty has made me more compassionate than I would have been. So I look back with some sense of gratitude.  All things do indeed work together for good.  (Romans 8:28)