It is not easy

His school carier was not easy too. He nearly failed three times, but he started to study hard each time so he could finish the school in time. He failed only once when the gym teacher instructed them to perform an exercise whihs was impossible. His classmates tried it but failed, while S. refused it. At last he finished elementary school and started vocational school. During his school years he developed a horrible illness, epilepsy. Now he explaines it with the very bad relationship with his foster mother. He remembers, that the illness developed after his father brought her to their home.

His choice of profession would have been to become a carpenter – But because of his illness it was not possible. Out of lack of other options he chose tob e a tailor – he calls it a “gay profession”, what shows his feelings about his profession. But at last he liked it. He was thinking about completing high school and taking a graduation exam but he did not trust his own abilities so as he left his home he postponed his study plans.

How do you end up homeless as a teenager

The “dragon” – that is how he calls his foster mother – brought her older kids to her house. They rarely stayed with them, but S. describes them as prostitutes. The foster mother was very hostile with S. from the very begining – they had many conflicts. At last the mother called the police, saying that S. ment harm to her and the little girl. She even added that S. used to smoke joints. That was not far from the truth, but S. did not use smoked much of it. So at last S. had to leave his home. “You can pack your stuff” – these were the last words of the mother.

Moving on?

His problems are getting more serious as he grows up. Without family, home, support – all alone in life. He is too fragile for any hard work. He has his special needs – cigarettes, food, social relationships, but he had no income, no family, no friends. We summarized that he's is in need of a trustworthy mother. Some of the social workers at the homeless hostel felt like S. found his mother in her, some of them felt like S found a sibling in her. Since he is so fragile all of the social workers tried to help him. They help him with food, chocolate and helping words. He was even more fragile when he was having an epileptic seizure, what happens from time to time. One of the ideas to help him is giving him some tasks to do – there was a job opportunity in the hostel, to clean the door handles with disinfectant – due to the Covid19 epidemic it is a must. He tried it for a while but then the social workers realized that he was not doing his job anymore – he forgot his job more and more frequently. So he finally got fired from this job . He was not very motivated to find another job after.

A postitive twist

One day two very nice guys arrived from an elite high school. They were volunteers, both of them were talented and commited. They were interested in the homeless service users, the hostels life. They became even more involved when they met S. He was not that far from them by age. They had similar interests. They understood each other very well. We found a very good task for them: The community room of the hostel was very depressed before. Some decoration allready had been painted, but there was nobody to finish it. Then S. and the two volunteers finished nearly a whole wall in one day. The room became amazingly beautiful in just one day. Paradise birds, palm trees started to bloom – it was realy magic, the genesis of a whole new world. S. and the two guys were so content – they wanted to continue their job. Unfortunately next day the whole project got forbidden because of the virus danger – but the volunteers promised to call him. They plan to finish the picture after pandemic, but until they can meet again in person they will keep in touch. Since then S. is a lot more motivated in job search and also in moving towards a meaningful life. If S. had a more supportive family and a better life he could have been a great artist – but it's never too late.