2019-Wesley-Mission-Annual-Report - Flipbook - Page 31
David, moving
forward with his life
In his early fifties, David thought his
life was over, in debt to the wrong
crowd, he found himself homeless
and adrift.
friends several times. The invitation of a warm bed,
a hot shower and meal was extended twice before
David accepted.
“My main reason for being homeless was debt,”
David said. “I had a $5,000 loan I couldn’t repay. I
was getting less work as a bouncer because I was
an older security guard. The younger guys came
into the scene and took all the work load. From
there I ended up surviving with desperate people.
Where does a bouncer go after all these years: up
or down? I started slowly going backwards.
On the third visit, workers from Wesley
Edward Eagar Lodge arrived on a bitterly cold
winter’s morning.
“I was brought up as a Christian kid. I had a security
licence and I was useful to other people. That’s how
I survived. Some of these people had gambling and
drug problems. I had neither. I just wanted enough
money to stay alive, but you still got caught up in
the whirlpool.”
In 2014 he left the inner-west and headed to
Parramatta to link with family members who sadly
shunned him, fearing that David’s recent past would
catch up with him. David returned to Bondi, one of
his old haunts.
An old friend paid for his accommodation in a hotel
but when that ran its course, he meandered down to
the Bondi Pavilion with his swag in hand. Homeless
service outreach workers visited David and his
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“They did explain who they were and what they
were doing,” David said. “They were observing me,
and I was observing them. It was to do with trust.
You go back to those survival things.”
“They offered us transitional housing,” David said.
“I didn’t know what they were talking about. On the
coldest day of the year, I declared I was ready.
It was to do with trust not pride. I had been
testing them to see if they were loyal in what they
were doing.”
“’This time I’m ready’, I told them,” David said.
“I grabbed my sleeping bag and swag and my
fishing line and rod and ended up at Wesley Edward
Eagar Lodge. From there the training began… the
training to do with social and with all the other
people who had suffered homelessness. The room I
had was warm… it was heaven! The caseworkers
were kind. These people were helpful, and I got
involved with the centre’s activities.”
David received health and medical support,
participated in Career Pathways training and got a
part-time job. “It was my ticket out from the hole I
had dug myself into,” he said.
He lived at Wesley Edward Eagar Lodge for about a
year before securing a unit in the city’s inner-west
with Wesley Community Housing. It’s here where he
has been learning living and budgeting skills which
are preparing him for independent living.
“I’m saving money and getting myself sorted out for
the next house move. I’ve bought a vacuum cleaner
and I’m feeling like Mrs Doubtfire!” he quipped.
“We all want to be
loved and wanted…
just like God who says he’ll
never leave or forsake you.”
He’s also learning how to better manage his anxiety
and depression and is attending regular doctors’
appointments.
“David’s a lovely guy who cares a lot about the other
people who live at the property,” said Liesa,
Tenancy & Community Worker Wesley Community
Housing. “He is helpful for the other tenants.”
Part of his growth and support also finds purchase
with his continuing relationship with Wesley Edward
Eagar Lodge as he attends a Bible study run by its
chaplain, Michael Tang.
“He’s a teacher of the Word… you’ve never met
such a cool man,” David says of Michael. “He will
meet you one on one and talk to you straight. He
never judges. He thrives when he sees us growing.”
David is looking forward to becoming a community
worker or nurse and maybe even a husband and
dad. He insists that he wants to “keep moving”.
“It’s up to me to encourage those who help you,”
David said. “We all want to be loved and wanted…
just like God who says he’ll never leave or forsake you.”
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