HOMELESSNESS
“How do ideas of home and homelessness shape our sense of self or security?” This was one of the opening questions on the course description for this class, Digital Humanities. Throughout this class, I have learned that being homeless can severely impact your sense of self, which is one of the main reasons the lower-class people in Rio De Janeiro struggle to become an entrepreneur and start their own business. The depression that surrounds being homeless can lead to a severe lack of self-confidence and the disappearance of a “can-do” attitude, both of which are necessary in order to take on the burden of starting your own business. Yes, a big reason homeless people shy away from going down a business route has to do with the fact that they don’t have the capital resources on-hand to start it up right away - that is something my non-profit could definitely help them provide. But the area where I see my organization playing an important role is by empowering these homeless individuals by boosting their confidence and sense of self-worth.
Take Michelle, for example: a homeless woman who was video interviewed in the streets of Los Angeles by invisiblepeople.tv, a blog dedicated to changing the way we think about homelessness. When asked about what it was like being homeless, she replied: “I’m a human being, but sometimes I don’t feel like it anymore.” It is clear that many homeless people struggle with keeping a positive sense of self, and that situation is no different for the homeless people in Rio De Janeiro. Leandro Generoso, a homeless man in the favelas of Rio, told a reporter, “I can’t sleep at night anymore because too many people, we are rats, garbage or whatever thing.”
Homelessness in Rio De Janeiro has nearly tripled in the last three years - you can see the change in the graph below, and you can see how these people really live in the video that is also below. It is a problem Rio has faced for years that is still growing, and through my research, I have discovered that its impact not only on the resources these people have but also their decline in self-esteem is a substantial cause for their lack of initiative to become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses.
