“Everything hit me all at once,” Josephine Allen said.
Josephine had been living with domestic violence for more than 20 years. Through counseling, she finally began to understand her situation.
“I finally realized, at a late age, that I can’t change anyone,” she said. “So I chose not to be the person I used to be and find the person I want to become.”
She moved out and got her own apartment. She was learning to live on her own. But then her rent increased drastically, and she could no longer afford it. Her life changed again.
“I didn’t want to be on the streets. It wasn’t by choice,” she said. “I’d never lived in a tent before. This was all new.”
Then the pains of arthritis started — first, in her hands and then spreading to other parts of her body. One day, she woke up and couldn’t move. Just like that, she was in a wheelchair.
Living in a tent while relying on a wheelchair and suffering from arthritis for the past four years, Josephine has learned to adapt and has stayed true to herself. One bright spot of her life has been selling Street Roots, which she has done off and on, at various posts in North and Northeast Portland.
“I liked to meet people, tell them about Street Roots,” she said. “It helps us come together, helps people to realize that everybody who’s on the streets isn’t on drugs.”
Josephine is thankful to be living with her partner in one of the camps Portland has established since the COVID-19 crisis began. There’s a ramp for her wheelchair, people clean up before they enter the camp, and they keep trash picked up. People wear masks.
“The sanitation is awesome,” she said.
Josephine is working as part of the Street Roots Coronavirus Prevention and Action Team that is disseminating supplies and health information to camps. Due to the outreach, she said, she’s finding that people in the camps are becoming very knowledgeable about sanitation and how to protect themselves from COVID-19.
She’s anxious about the next steps.
“I hope when I leave this tent area, I have somewhere else to go,” she said.
She’s done the footwork and found the programs that can help. But she missed out on applying for two apartments that came up. She needs photo identification, and the state offices that issue it have been closed.
Josephine is still discovering that person who had the strength to leave a bad situation four years ago for something unknown.
“I still want to get my degree, go back to school and strive for a career,” she said.
She also wants to get a replacement for her wheelchair, which she fondly calls “the power chair from hell.”
But most of all, she said, she wants to meet her two new grandchildren who are due in November.
“Right now, I just want to hold my grandbabies,” she said.
“Never give up,” she said. “Stay strong. And if you don’t know or don’t understand something, find someone that does understand. Get some support.”
Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. It is an award-winning, weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Learn more about Street Roots . Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today .
© 2020 Street Roots. All rights reserved. | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657 , ext. 404.
