The night I slept rough in Wolverhampton

These are the words of Michael, a 22-year-old who ended up on the streets at just 11 years old.

Michael describes himself as a badly behaved child, a youngster who would walk out rather than accept punishment. That’s how he ended up on the streets. He just walked out one day and never went back.

He said: “I started off being in the streets for a day or two, at 11, then that progressed to two weeks, then indefinitely.

“I would try and find woodland or places where I could build a den. In some ways, remembering what it was like then, it was exciting. But also I was just constantly worried. All the time.

“You could never sleep unless it was in the middle of the day, even then it wasn’t really safe. That’s why I tried to keep out of sight and build places away from the streets. It’s about survival at the end of the day.”

Fighting

Alex, aged 19, has a different story. His parents divorced, and he says he was kicked out by his mother when he was 15.

“There were a lot of arguments, fighting all the time,” he said. “Then when the divorce came through we had to pick who we wanted to go with.

“I guess I chose wrong because I went with my mum and she kicked me out at 15 for smoking weed and that. I was a bad child. I ended up on the streets.

“I was put in a hostel where there were drug addicts and prostitutes. Then I found the YMCA.

“They put me with different hosts and the one in have now is a lovely man in his 60s who is just the kindest man who would never hurt me or anything. I’ve got a job as a chef at a pub in Stourbridge. Things are on track again.”

Rowena now works for the YMCA but her story was a very different one, not that long ago.

She said: “When my mum and I decided to leave our abusive, violent and horrible home, it was the most difficult decision for us but the best thing we ever did. I was 12.

“We spent days on the streets because we’d run out of favours, there was no one left to ask. We slept in doorways, shop doorways and on occasion, church doorways. One time, we slept in a doorway of a Baptist church.

“The minister saw us in the morning when he was opening up and invited us invited, gave us a cuppa and listened to our story. We ended up living with that minister for six months before we could get our own place.”

The group’s stories are all different, all harrowing and totally beyond comprehension for many of us listening.

Yet we were all gathered to listen to them as part of an special annual event aimed at raising awareness of homelessness really is. The YMCA’s national Sleep Easy event 2017 sees people from all walks of life join together to sleep out in the open for one night.

You get a cardboard box to sleep in and can bring your own sleeping bag, which is often more than real homeless people have to their name. Lenny Allan, housing manager for YMCA Black Country group said: “This is not about experiencing what it’s like to be homeless, as at the end of the night, you get to go home and have a hot shower and sleep now your own bed.

“What this is about is raising awareness about what homelessness is and the types of challenges homeless people face every day.”

During the night, the group of 52 people gather in the University of Wolverhampton courtyard, play games, get to know each other, have a hot meal and hot drinks as well as access to a bathroom and shelter.

We all get our own cardboard boxes, which we decorate for a competition, and warm ourselves by the fire. Someone plays the drums, we dance, clap and laugh.

“But life on the streets is a very different story. This is nothing like what it’s like,” explains one man, who wishes to remain anonymous.

“You don’t realise how vulnerable you are really.

“It makes you stronger sleeping on the streets, because you don’t have an alternative. You don’t know how strong you are until you have to be.”

The Sleep Easy event also raises money for the Moving Forward Fund, one of the many initiatives that the YMCA run.

The fund provides training and qualifications, preparation for job interviews including purchasing suitable clothing for people as well as something as simple as providing a bicycle for someone to get to that interview.

It is also used to pay for furniture in a new flat, in some cases, funeral expenses, travel passes and suitcases so young people don’t have to move their clothes in bin bags.

“I’ll never forget what it was like to be nobody. To have people walk past you and not even acknowledge you exist. That’s why I do this, work for the YMCA, to make people see those that need them the most” Rowena added.

To find out more about the YMCA, including the Sleep Easy events and hosting, visit www.ymca.org.uk