Olivia's Story

Location: Wellington

Olivia - My story     ( Homeless  Forums  Post ) Hi everyone, I'd like to share my story. I was homeless for about two years. It started when me and two of my friends got kicked out of our flat. We were working minimum wage jobs and had no savings so we couldn't pay for bond on a new place. We moved into our car. It was cramped with three of us in there but we were all good friends so it was sort of fun too. We used to take turns on who got to sleep in the back seat and have the most room. It was luxury! My friend Sheena had some health problems and had to give up work, and then Tim left his job so we tried to live off my earnings. It was hard. So was finding places to wash and safe places to park the car at night. Eventually it got so hard that we turned to prostitution for some extra money. We met a girl called Mariah who was being pimped so we told her to leave them and come with us. Next thing, her old pimps are threatening to kill us so the four of us skip town. It gets kind of complicated after we got to Wellington, so to cut a long story short, we all split up. It was horrible because not only was I on the streets in a strange place, I had lost my three best friends. I thought about killing myself a lot. Especially on really cold nights when I was trying to sleep on cold concrete with only my clothes for warmth. I was working the streets as a prostitute so at least I had money for food and smokes. Sometimes I got to stay in backpackers but it was hard because I didn't have ID so most places wouldn't let me stay. At the local youth centre I met up with lots of teenagers who became my friends. Some of them were homeless too. After a while I was able to buy a van to stay in. Some nights I had up to 7 teenagers sleeping in my van because they had no where else to go. If I had a good night at work I'd buy everyone McDonalds for breakfast or dinner. Then I got into drinking. I drunk every day for 3 months. I lost my van, along with most of my belongings, and ended up back on the streets with nothing but a bag of clothes. I didn't care though - I just got drunk. It was easier to stand the cold if I was drunk. I slept in an abandoned petrol station sometimes. Sometimes in the stairways of parking buildings where at least there was no wind. Then I met this guy named Sean. About a week after I met him I got really sick. I was living in an abandoned car at the time. I was so sick I didn't move for 3 days, not even to go to the bathroom. I didn't eat and could only take tiny sips of water. When I was well enough to move Sean took me back to his place to stay, and basically I've been with him since. I quit drinking and fell in love with Sean fast. I remember saying to him not long after we met "You know, I could spend the rest of my life with you, and just be happy." It was a big thing for me because I hadn't been truly happy in a long time. We now have our own flat and I'm nearly 4 months pregnant.I'm on the benefit. I worry about the future but right now, I'm doing ok. My Comment - You never know what you will do to survive