From 5pm this past Saturday, until 5pm on Sunday (December 9
th
2012) I made myself homeless, along with quite a few other crazy people, in a
bid to raise money for Street Kids in Uganda. I had a sleeping bag and a
cardboard box; I wasn’t allowed to bring money, or food, and I was therefore
forced to rely only on donated rations – but I was allowed to keep Twitter up
to date throughout the night.
The following is an hour-by-hour account of how it went:
Hour One (5 – 6pm): “Fully installed myself at the Sleep Out. Picked my cardboard box
and sitting by a fire.”
Hour Two (6 – 7pm): “Very thankful to the person who donated bacon!”
Hour Three (7 – 8pm): “We have marshmallows.”
“There's a guy doing the full 48 hours of the Sleep Out, plus a
fast and being sponsored to have bare feet throughout. #Hardcore”
Hour Four (8 – 9pm): “Starting to feel the cold in my knees. I have never worn so many
layers in my life!”
Hour Five (9 – 10pm): “There's smoke in my eyes, in my throat, my hair and clothes.
Looking forward to a hot shower tomorrow!”
Hour Six (10 – 11pm): “More donations of food have arrived at our cardboard city.”
“We're like the most well fed (temporary) homeless people in history
(aside from the dude fasting that is).”
Hour Seven (11pm –
Midnight): “I'm about to try my first ever s’more.”
Hour Eight (Midnight –
1am): “Newsflash: It’s cold!!” “And it’s starting
to rain!”
Hour Nine (1 – 2pm): “The surrounding drunk people have me rather worried.”
Hour Ten (2 – 3pm): “It's now VERY cold, but the drunk people seem to have calmed
down.”
Hour Eleven (3 – 4pm): “Bedtime. A fantastic point to discover the zip on my sleeping bag
is broken! #Fail”
*Hours Twelve to Sixteen:
Twitter Silence*
Hour Seventeen (9 – 10am): “I'm awake. Not that I slept much...”
Hours Eighteen, Nineteen
and Twenty (10am – 1pm): “Just guillotined 1,000
leaflets. If I couldn't feel my fingers before, I really can't now!”
Hour Twenty-Three (3 – 4
pm): “Almost there!”
Hour Twenty Four (4 –
5pm): “Last Girl Standing!”
Upon Arriving Home: “My hair is like a particularly messy bird's nest”, “I do believe
it's now sleepy time – in my own bed!.”
To sum up the experience I’d say it was fantastic, aside from the
actual attempting to sleep part, and that was mainly due to the fantastic
people who took part with me. There were quite a lot of laughs and it was
generally just good ‘banter’.
Would I do it again? I really don’t know, but what I do know is
this: I am incredibly thankful to everyone who helped make this event possible,
and I am truly humbled by the fact that, for so many people around the world,
sleeping out on the streets isn’t a choice, and definitely isn’t fun.
As a group, we may have gotten a lot of support and food delivered
right to us, but I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that that isn’t the case for
those who sleep rough on a permanent basis. I ask that you spare a thought for
such people, and take them into consideration when deciding what to do with
items that you no longer want or need.
If you would like to make a positive difference to this planet, but
have no clue where exactly to start, the donation page for my
completed sleep out is still open. Donate there and Abaana,
the charity in charge of the event, will make sure it gets put to the best use.
Thanks for reading.
Stay blessed.
P.S. You can follow me on Twitter here, if you want.