Elvis

When your life falls apart

Elvis, a current Emmaus Greenwich companion, spent four and half years living rough on the streets. He first found out about Emmaus when he was watching television at a day center in Weston Supermare and saw a TV program featuring Emmaus Bristol.

When I left school, I worked on the building sites, setting sites up, then I went into electrics, fixing TVs and videos and all that. Then when I got married, my first child came along, and my wife said, get a proper job. I went to work in the factories, 12-hour shifts.
I was devastated when my marriage broke up after thirteen years. I was on the drink and I didn't want to see the kids, I didn't want the kids to see me in that state, so I moved as far away as I could.
I lost direction for a while. I just traveled around, slept in a sleeping bag wherever I could. Some people can get used to living on the street and then they can’t live indoors again. I’ve seen that happen. But it’s not because they want to, it’s just that they’ve got so used to doing it after so many years. They couldn’t manage to live in a place, a house or anything.
The worst thing is being cold and lonely because you can’t trust anybody. In the daytime you’re in day centers and you’ll chat to people but then at night you get out of it, find a quiet place for yourself to sleep. I used to see beggars on the streets and I used to chuck things in the hat, but I never really thought that I’d be there, begging, myself. Then it just suddenly happened.
There are teachers, all sorts, solicitors, on the street. Their life’s falling apart, and they just can’t handle it, so they just disappear.

The reason I like Emmaus is it does give you support and it does try and iron out the problem rather than just saying, you can go, we don’t want you. I used to stay in hostels for two weeks just to charge my batteries up, then go back on the road, but I couldn’t stay there.
Emmaus Bristol is what I class as my first home in Emmaus, I was there 18 months learning to read and write. I’d never signed my name before. They had a lady called Julie, an ex-teacher, who came in as a volunteer. I felt silly, to start off with, but the Companions used to correct my spelling when I used to write things on documents or price lists. They used to make me feel comfortable with it, and I think that’s the best thing - that’s how Emmaus works, Companions do come together and help each other out. You don’t get that anywhere else.

• Mark (Greenwich)

  I’d heard about Emmaus in Poland. I’d heard the name but then I heard about it here when I phoned Emmaus on behalf of a friend who was also homeless. The whole idea of Emmaus, it’s mission statement, is wonderful but as everything man-made it is imperfect but we are trying to do our best. We are doing something positive, contributing. I care a lot about Emmaus. You don’t have… Read full story

• James (Greenwich)

  Emmaus is a new way of life that was created 50 years ago to show society that we have a new way of doing things. Emmaus is not really a charitable organization and it’s not just about homeless people, it’s a philosophy. Emmaus does not just take someone, give them a job and tell what their room number is. Emmaus is a stage of life for people who have lost… Read full story