As I make my way from dinner to home I see the the St Vincent De Paul food van pull up across the park to hand out food to the homeless. I stop to think how did these people end up in their current situation, living on the streets.
Not every person is using drugs or abusing alcohol, however how did they end up here? No family to turn to perhaps? divorce? sickness? debt?
As a current university student I realised that for the entirety of my degree I have worked part-time and full time in order to maintain a better lifestyle, rather than rely on the government support programs. Sure working full time and studying is not easy, yet it offers greater security and independence.
During my time in college I have been well aware of the struggles of being a university student without family support, first hand and also from witnessing my friends during their struggle.
Not every student lives at home and is offered support by their parents or family members, people seem to forget how difficult it is to be young and alone - trying to make a life for yourself (especially when you are 17 and starting your degree in a city where you know non one from a small country town).
An average university student working part-time with a full time degree earns approximately $18,000 and some as less as $10,000. Some of these students go without food especially from low socio-economic backgrounds where they have no family or government support. They scrape by with their money from their part-time job to pay for the rent to just have a roof over their heads. The rent, bills and university books come first before being able to purchase food.
I remember friends surviving off cereal for dinner and rationing bread in the freezer and baked beans as a staple diet (we would swap ideas on cheap and healthy substitutes - who knew that frozen veggies have the same nutritional content as fresh ones?!) though we would just laugh about it and stay up chatting eating our cereal together. Looking back it is a great memory, that you don't have much but you have the best company with the concept that you and your good friends are trying to make a life for yourselves.
I see my friends today and see how well they do, their difficult times in university (with various things they went through) have shaped who they are. I think above all, struggling is not such a bad thing it shapes people to become more compassionate for the homeless and needy. With any struggle it shapes you to become more refined and to strive to be better.
If I never struggled I don't believe I would feel as much compassion to help others I see in need.
Seeing these people lining up for the St. Vincent De Paul's van across the street has inspired me to sign up to help these other volunteers. I'm excited in involving myself in these programs in my city.
For all the students who are struggling, supporting themselves - hang in there, no matter how large you think your problems are you need to realise that you are on a good path, you are studying to enhance your future. You might not be where you want to be, yet realise everything happens for a reason - just remember you can't always control your circumstances although you can always control your attitude and your perspective.
