Street Dwellers

The image presented above was taken driving along the streets of Port-of-Spain and was captured in such a manner, that protects the identity of the individual. It is heart- wrenching  to know that these conditions exist within the  city capital. Photo taken by: Shantal Shankali

The term "Street Dweller" was defined by Merrium Webster (2002) as one who has no established residence and wanders idly from place to place without lawful or visible means of support.

As students of the university of the  West Indies pursing a major in the field of Geography we conducted a study on the thoughts of our local people highlighting their views on vagrants. Whilst conducting interviews from several social groups of citizens from Port-of-Spain, the question asked was " Using one word, describe what "Street Dweller" meant?" The responses were not ideally what we had in mind,  and we were quite heartbroken by their views . Some of which were; Dirty, Dumb, Poor, Flithy, Vagabond, Losers, Homeless, Tramp, Hobo an etc.. these were the responses of our society.

 This is a way of life that existed in many cultures for thousands of years. It is associated with "homelessness." "Homelessness" wrote sociologist Peter Rossi, "is most properly viewed as the most aggravated state of a more prevalent problem, extreme poverty." This can lead to economic stresses in society, and reduction in the availability of affording houses. The image was taken along Luis Street pavement in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and displays one of many who are unable to cope with financial and social requirements of our society.

 Darcel Choy (2008, March 23) published an article in the Newsday papers titled ' The Nowayrians' which shows that vagrants are getting lazier. The term 'Nowayrians" is a local term that is used for people who have no where to live and no one to take care for them, according to Dr. L Trevor Grant, author of the book 'The Nowayrians: Homelessness in Trinidad and Tobago'.

Grant, who has a doctoral degree in Social Welfare, collected data and research from 1996 to 2007 by sitting down with the homeless and learning about their lifestyles particularly in Tamarind Square- "the capital of homelessness in Trinidad".He has also written seven other books saying that he was disappointed with the current Government's plan to eradicate homelessness in the nation's capital. He stated " As a matter of fact, throughout his book, the homeless said that they had more faith in the UNC government because they actually started doing things to help them .Moreover there are a lot of sick homeless people , who are often shunned by the hospitals because they are smelly and dirty , and therefore are unable to get the medical treatment that they are in need off. Which is indeed baffling , as its the role of medical professionals to always seek the best interests of the patient regardless of social standings in society . 

He listed five factors of what he wants to achieve with his book:

1.    The people of Trinidad will finally get an opportunity and hopefully understand the plight of the homeless in this country.

2.    People will be able to change the perception of what the reality of homelessness really is.

3.    Institutions of higher learning will utilise the book in their classrooms, to not only educate but motivate and to propel students to conduct studies similar to his.

4.    The lives of Micheal, Ronald, Indian, Foxy, and those who died did not die in vain as the book is dedicated to them.

5.    The PNM government now has a tool to use, to understand homelessness which will assist in developing effective policies to eradicate vagrancy once and for all.

The task of city design involves the vaster task of rebuilding our civilization. We must alter the parasitic and predatory modes of life that now play such large  a part in these present times .We must create, region by region, continent by continent, an effective symbiosis, or co-operative living together. The problem is to coordinate, on the basis of more essential human values than the will-to-power and the will-to-profits, a host of social functions and processes that we have hither to misused in the building of cities and polities, or of which we have never rationally taken advantage ( Mumford, 1938)

References 

Knox, Paul and McCarthy, Linda "Urbanization" 1994 Pearson Education, Inc. pg, 434, 2005. Accessed 5 April 2016.

Merriam Webster Dictionary: Street Dweller. Merriam Webster Incorporated, 2015.

Choy, Darcell. " The Nowayrians" Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, 23 March 2008. Accessed 5 April 2016.http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,75537.html