Chant'e
Part 1
We used the car as a napping space. My dog kept my daughter company while she slept especially at this very windy campground. She was starting to get really chapped cheeks being out in the elements all the time. While doing my homework in the car, I had to plug in my phone because it had gone dead. I remember looking back and her being asleep and I was like, "Oh my God." I remember feeling really, really overwhelmed that this is what our life had come to. Especially for higher education. The thought crossed, "This is what I'm doing to go to school?"
I was lucky enough to have a vehicle because that vehicle was a space where we could charge our phones, we could hide from the cold, wind and rain, it stored our belongings and things we needed to continue this journey in education. Having that vehicle was a key tool to keeping my family going, if we didn't have a vehicle, we wouldn't have been able to go to campsites. Campsites were where we could take showers and be semi normal. Without our van I would have been like some of the other students who just walked from here into the forest right above campus, but I wouldn't have had the pleasure to posses many of the items that created our own normalcy at the time. We also wouldn't have been able to keep up that perception that our family was "ok”. I probably would have lost my child. Having a vehicle helped us access resources in the community like Cal Works, which is a social service that helps pay for textbooks and keeps Justin and I continuing our education. Having the vehicle helped us get to that resource, to help us keep accomplishing our dreams, our goals. Social services was not what we thought we would have to utilize, but we ended up on them and I thank God for it. Quickly our van got overused and eventually died in December, it was irreparable which lead us to hastily buy a replacement with yet another loan so that we could continue fighting against the struggle.
Honestly, my ideal step would be to have a social works hub on every campus. Something that had all the local resources that people can sign up for, something that had access to lockers, showering, something that was 24 hours, like a 24-hour library and emergency parking spaces for people who are living in their cars. I think that safe space for parking and sleeping is critical. I definitely believe that that would make all the difference for many other students, not just homeless. So that students don't get criminalized for sleeping in their car. Something that happens all too often here in Humboldt County. It would also be very helpful to have access to vehicle repair centers that help homeless and low-income persons, since a vehicle can be ones home and an great tool to build resiliency.
Part 2
This is a receptacle to collect coins for showers. Basically it tells you how many quarters you need for the amount of time that you want to take a shower. Our family took a shower every morning or every night, it would be a family shower. The process to that was getting the towels, making sure we had the right bags, making sure we had our clothes because you can't walk out from the shower unprepared. Having our flip flops, making sure that all of that stuff is in line. Making sure we have the quarters. Then going in as family. Taking showers this way can be quite a process and expensive after awhile. I bleached out a few of the campsites showers where we stayed, for cleanliness and because where we stayed was our home for the time.
Fortunately I took the swim class, they have lockers and showers there. I utilized them as long as I had swim class. I was taking a shower afterwards just to recoup, to breathe in the hot air and to feel good again. To feel human.
I think that because this is one of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, just taking care of oneself, it is important others have understanding, students need access to warm running water to be able to care for their physicality of life. If one has the resources, like the University has, they should be used! The campus has several showers around campus, but they're locked up and they're just sitting there. Only students who have PE have access to showers. It would be amazing to open those up in some way for students who are experiencing Housing insecurity and don't have the same access that I did. Also, if we do raise our health and wellness fees, maybe there could be a center in there for places to rest and to take a shower.
Part 3
This is an RV park with cabin rentals and some back campsites that are hidden. It was one of the safest places that we stayed at, mainly because it was not a common camping space, so people weren't coming in and out all the time. We felt at home here because we could actually leave our items there to some extent and the owners had promised us, "We've never had anybody steal here." We trusted them, and it was so. This particular day was the last day of our second stay with them. We had packed up camp and we were getting ready to go to hotel for two days.
You know, it follows suit that this picture shows the organization that it takes for a family to function properly, and it, I suppose, transposes on how I practiced going to class, doing my homework, and just keeping it all together. Keeping organized. Keeping a scheduled system. Knowing the process from one space to the other. Also transitioning. For students, just maintaining organization throughout their lives and their school work, in order to keep those grades up and to keep it all flowing is imperative. Schedule and organization is huge in every means of the way, no matter how you're living. Especially when you could be consumed in living like this. I think it just translates into the type of care one has for themself and what a struggle it can be to maintain even in the best circumstances.
It’s hard because if you don't have access to homeless students, you can't necessarily educate them on how to maintain daily life. In the understanding that we have access to teach people, I would teach on how to be strategic and plan…. everything! Offering tools for organization and schedule keeping could be very useful. It's very easy to lose your time and keep schedules when you're living this way. It's very easy to lose things and items and so forth when you don't have anywhere to put them.
It makes perfect sense though, just thinking about our system and being able to keep organized in a way, might be a natural inherent trait I picked up from mentors along the way, or learned I had to be this way in order to survive. Some people might struggle with that idea a little bit. In fact, probably a lot of people do struggle with that. Balancing, and organization is a source of resilience, to actually have and to be able to say, "I figured out a system that worked for me." Even if a person doesn't have a car, if they're couch hopping, they need a system still. I think this concept is something that could carry over across all areas of life. It would be helpful if organizations could have free bins to give away or donations for organizational tools that help keep paperwork safe. Even having charge pods in places. Just like airports. For people to understand the need to charge your phone ... perhaps handing out remote chargers. So that one can keep their phone on for alarms, homework, and access to schedule planners. So they have some form of connection in what seems to be a very lost and lonely lifestyle.
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