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| Daniel Strickland Manager of Missionbeat |
Alexandra Carlton of madison magazine recently spent a wintry evening with Daniel Strickland, the Manager of Mission Australia's Missionbeat service, which patrols the streets of Sydney supporting the inner-city’s homeless population.
As Daniel explains in the article – which is featured in this month’s issue of madison – this vital service is sometimes the only lifeline that rough sleepers have.
“Social isolation is one of the hardest things to deal with when you’re homeless,” he said.. “People ignore you or make no eye contact.
“We’re here to do what we can to assist people who need us from point of crisis to point of safety. But sometimes a simple “Hi, how are you?” is the best we can do.” You can read the article on the madison website, or pick up a copy of the magazine.
You can also learn more about how Missionbeat reaches out people living on Sydney’s streets by viewing Pearls - a short documentary by Central Coast film-maker and Tropfest NY 2008, Jason van Genderen.
Pearls is “told by the voices and experiences of Sydney's homeless”. Watch video below:
Pearls from jasonvangenderen on Vimeo.
I work in this sector , and it is so true what these guys are saying. Homelessness does not make one a lesser person than another. So often consumers say to me; "I am so happy to have spoken to you today, it is the first time in a long time that someone has treated me like a human being in a long, long time"
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