Homeless for 3 5 Years

Imagine getting on a plane to go to a foreign land with only a few dollars in your pocket, no particular plan, no place to stay, no place to return to, and because you’re on a tourist visa, no way to work legally.  Now imagine doing that and criss-crossing the U.S. while being officially homeless and jobless for three years.  These two sisters, age 25 and 28, have been living that life.  Coming to America in November 2008, they’ve been having no shortage of adventures across the U.S. and seem to take their entire transitory lifestyle in stride.  It's a pretty amazing story.

[Editor's note: Other than the fact that the picture above was taken with wireless flash and a Lumodi beauty dish, story has nothing to do with photography.  I'm sharing this with you because I found the story fascinating, and I thought you'd be riveted too if I told the story well.  (I'm sure you'll let me know how I did. :-) )  -GF]

I first heard about these two from mutual friends.  Upon hearing of their story my mind instantly filled with questions:  “Homeless with no income for three years?  And they’re traveling around the U.S.?  How do they manage that?  Where do they bathe?  How do they deal with the cold?  Why don’t their clothes look tattered?  What do they do for money?  What’s it like to be homeless and hang out with that community?”  

A few months later I heard even more stories:  They were camping out in the Malibu mountains for 3 months.  They met Martin Sheen.  They had thousands of photos documenting their trip and a ton of possessions they’ve been accumulating.  (Where did the money for THAT come from?)  And then this strange tidbit: They’re bicycling through the Pacific Northwest – on bikes that they BOUGHT.  ???

That’s it.  I had to meet these two and interview them.  (Hey, if nothing else it might make an interesting blog post!)  Back in April 2011 they were in Southern California and my friends arranged a meeting.  The only condition was that their names could not be used, and I couldn't run the story until I got their approval.  Fair enough.  They also allowed me to view some of hundreds of scanned photos (from a film point-and-shoot) documenting their journey, a few of which are sprinkled throughout this post.

So let me give you a condensed version of their adventures.  And let me start with the obvious questions:  They felt they had to leave a very bad home environment.  They have no bank account or financial support to fall back on.  They go from city to city relying on homeless shelters, churches, and the kindness of complete strangers. They are well-educated and articulate.  And I’m sure their youthful appearance opens a lot of doors for them.  While they can’t officially work for a paycheck they certainly can barter and because they’re both natural networkers, they were able to house-sit, care for stables, do language translation and other odd jobs in exchange for having a place to stay for short periods. 

They spoke of many adventures in many cities across the U.S., and most of their stories go something like this: They get a handout at a homeless shelter or church; they use the money to buy a bus or train ticket to somewhere, they strike up a conversation with a friendly stranger while en route who eventually volunteers to help them out – sometimes to put them up somewhere, sometimes to provide more funding.  Then they’d find an obscure place to camp and hang out for awhile, surviving on the local feed-the-poor infrastructure. 

Here are some abbreviated stories:

• They arrived in Washington, DC the month Obama was elected.  Were there for the huge mob of people on the Washington mall.  They then flew to Florida with the goal of finding their way to California and seeing as much of the U.S. as they could along the way.  But they ran out of money on the way to Gallup, New Mexico.
• “What happened then?”  They spent their last $40 buying two train tickets from Albuquerque to Gallup, NM.  As soon as they were on the train they met an 86-year-old gentleman.   “Would you like to have dinner with me on the train?”  They told their story over dinner.  He said he wanted to help, so he paid for their tickets to California + money for breakfast.  This is the first of many “miracles” where people just appeared to help out at the appropriate time.  They arrived in California with $20 in their pockets.  

•  “What happened then?”  Went to downtown LA (Union Station) and were scared.  Too big.  Took the bus to a smaller town (Malibu) almost immediately.  Found a place where they could camp out.  No tent, no blanket.  Went to the public library – asked librarian where could they get help, or churches close by.  A woman said the thrift store in Malibu often helps people. (There are homeless folks in Malibu?  Yes, they’re worse off than homeless anywhere else because they’re hated so much by the residents.)  They met a guy at the thrift store who was a big help.  Thrift store gets leftovers from Starbucks, so they got sandwiches, muffins, etc.  They asked the girls to write an essay for $50 and they also gave them a supermarket gift card.  And blankets.   

• “Then what happened?”  Camped out in Malibu hills for two months.  (Malibu has mild winters – it only rains a lot.)  No umbrella or other shelter.  Would often walk an hour to the public library, use the internet, get some food, come back.  Malibu police got rid of them by driving them into Santa Monica (“the home of the homeless”).  Came back later and stayed for a year.  Bathed in the river.  Coyotes ate their food.  One night one of them woke up and the feet of a coyote was on her body.  "It’s so strange how you get used to these things."

• “What did you do all day when you weren’t walking into town to get food?”  They wrote a lot.  Song lyrics, poems, maybe a diary.  No playing cards or books.  They didn’t have much paper – they found what they could in the trash and wrote on the white spaces.  When not writing, they’d just sit around and sometimes talked.  

•  They met Martin Sheen one night – the only person in Malibu who ever gave them a ride and then gave them $120.  

• Went to a church; the pastor gave them access to a hotel room.  “Really don’t want you out on the street.”  Gave them a Ralphs gift card.  Met an old woman who gave them $10.  That kind of thing happened a lot. 

• Went to Santa Barbara, then Salinas, sleeping on the front porch of the Steinbeck house, a neighbor came out with coffee and $100.  Then slept in a Methodist church.  Then to San Francisco (a person gave them a ride); stayed with a friend of the driver.  Then to Reno.  (Didn’t gamble).  Freezing cold.  Women’s shelter took them in for one night but not after that – they have a 30-day program, you know!  Cops brought them hot chocolate and blankets outside the shelter. 

• “Tell him about Georgia” said the mutual friend in the room.  Okay.  While in San Francisco they met a couple from Georgia who said “We’d love to have you!”  They were out of things to do so they went.  The hosts actually paid their way there – another miracle.  It was a Christian home for women (drug addicts) in southern Georgia.  It was empty for some reason, so they had the place to themselves.  2 female ministers run the place.  “Please, stay!”  But once they arrived, it felt wrong.  Their personalities changed.  Racism emerged.  After 2 ½ weeks they were kicked out by the same people who bought them greyhound tickets to come out there.

• They went to Northern Georgia.  No place to go; they were on the street.  In a public library bathroom; they met a woman who took them to a church.  Attended bible study that night; minister was opposed to illegal immigration, but he liked them so he felt obliged to help somehow.  (That seems to be a recurring theme!)  Some woman there gave them $100.  “There are not too many good people but the ones who are good are really good!”

•  One guy named Job was the only one willing to take them in while in Georgia.  He was living in the forest on a dirt road in a little hut.  He was a religious fanatic; had a huge cross in the house leaning against the porch.  Someone said he carried the cross around town for a year, lived in the forest on berries.  They were intrigued by these qualities.  He was homeless in Turkey for a year.  He survived the same way.  He had negative opinions of women; he wanted to marry one of them.  Always trying to coax one of them into his bed.  One day a woman showed up, asked what was going on, and she told them about Job and said it wasn’t safe for them to stay there.  The woman whisked them away.  They have a picture of the moment Job found out that they were sneaking out of the house.  He came storming out of the house.  They took a picture.

The entire trip has been like that.  They estimate they've traveled through about 30 states so far.  According to the girls, they never actually went around ASKING for money – they just start conversations, people like their story, people then want to help financially.  “I wish I had done that when I was younger!” the strangers would say vicariously. 

Some pointed questions during the interview:

Does the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service know about you?  Yes, they did have some run-ins with the INS, but it’s their policy (probably due to budgetary constraints) not to deport people who are here illegally if they haven’t broken any laws.  (Especially if that deportation involves an expensive plane ride.)

What does their future hold?  They can’t say.

Do you want to be living like this 20 years from now?  Probably not.  They might get married and settle down one day, but it would have to be a legitimate marriage; not one of convenience.

Was sex ever involved to help you get by?  They both say no.

I heard you bicycled your way through the Pacific Northwest.  How were you able to afford bicycles?  After two years they finally communicated with their parents, who sprung for the bikes.  They got flat tires every day and their backs were sore carrying all of their material possessions with them at all times.

Any other wisdom?  “Don’t ever have anyone call you collect.  It’s cheaper to get a throw-away cell phone and toss the phone.  Two collect calls a few minutes each cost almost $100.   (Collect calls don’t go through the phone company anymore – it’s now a private company.)

Their story is epic and is difficult to encapsulate in a blog post - in fact I've only touched on a few of the stories they had to tell.  I guess part of my fascination is that their choices and actions were completely the opposite of everything I was ever taught when I was their age: get a stable job, save your money, plan for the future.  These two live for the moment and the future is rarely an issue.  I wonder how far I’d get (being a less-attractive half-centurian) if I ever found myself in their situation.

This story was written in 2011.  I'm not sure where they are now, but I do know they're still out there.  Last we communicated they were in Virginia heading to Philadelphia.  I'm sure their adventure would make a good screenplay someday.

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