It was the luckiest day of my life when I moved into All Saints’. Nobody is as lucky as I am because I am safe, secure, and loved. I used to have a $400 a day crack habit that I supported by doing sex work. I had been living on the streets and hadn’t seen a doctor in over seven years.
Within a month of coming here, I had housing, disability support, and had quit sex work and drug dealing. I had the chance to become involved in a 15-week program that taught me how to become a peer worker. Since then I have been hired to be a part-time peer worker, doing outreach to women who are still on the streets.
I go out every Friday morning carrying a backpack filled with clean drug kits, condoms, warm socks, snacks, whatever the women need, and invite them to come to the drop-in for breakfast, to see the nurse, get their hair cut, and just to be with other women who don’t judge them.
They helped me set up my Facebook page and by the next day 33 of my long-lost aunts, uncles, and cousins had accepted my “friend” request. When the drop-in is closed in the summer, I go to visit them. After all I have been through, and all that the people here have given me, I want to give back and maybe help someone else stuck in a bad spot. Now that I don’t have to worry about things like housing and food, maybe I can help someone else move out of the pit.
