guides_hazel.markdown

Hi, my name is Hazel and I’ve been asked to write something about myself here. Well, the first thing to say I suppose is that I’ve been homeless for years. Living on the streets, especially as a woman, is stressful. Looking back, it’s head down and get on with it. Make sure your back’s safe. I now sell the Big Issue, to whom I am grateful for helping me get my confidence back.

I was asked by The Sock Mob last year to be a London walking tour guide for the London Bridge Festival (now the London Fringe). I really enjoyed doing it and even went on the radio to tell others about it. I met a load of great people and must have impressed somebody because this year I’ve been asked to mentor other homeless people to be tour guides, which is challenging but exciting!

Please come on our tour as it is a tour with a difference and helps the people out here who literally live on the streets. Losing your home and family can happen to anyone, and I think it’s great that people like The Sock Mob take the time to stop and care. Thank you.

guides_henri.markdown

Hi, I’m Henri, and Old Street is the closest thing I have to home. I’ve been in London for 15 years. I first came over here from Latvia to study sculpture, as I’ve always been passionate about art. I was accepted at an Arts college in London and decided to go for a degree in interior design instead – my dad was a sculptor and said he could never make any money out of art, so I decided not to make the same mistake!

After my studies, I worked as a painter and decorator for seven years, bought a house and got married… and then my relationship broke down and I ended up homeless. I’ve been homeless now for two years, living mainly on the streets in Old Street, the area in London I know best.

I was very interested and happy when I was offered the possibility to do these tours, which involve the area where I live and which I love. I can show other people the places and the regular aspects of my life. I’m just happy that life on the street hasn’t put me in the situation where I’m a drug user or heavy alcoholic. So I hope that by meeting me people might re-think stereotypical perceptions of what it means to be homeless – not all of us are so bad.

I used to beg in the evenings and I only work part-time in a warehouse at the moment, so I’m hoping that doing these tours will be a way to stop begging. They’ll also be much more interesting and I’ll be earning money every day at a certain time, so they will change my daily routine completely… in a good way!