On the 26 September I, along with 25 others, took part in Midlands Simon Community’s Sleep Out for Simon at Birr Castle Demesne, to help raise funds and awareness for homelessness.

I’m still reflecting on the experience and the lessons it brought. I can never liken what I and my fellow sleep-out participants experienced to what is endured on a nightly basis by some of the most vulnerable and unfortunate members of our society, but my brief glimpse into the world of homelessness was illuminating.

My preparation for the sleep-out involved plenty of layers and appropriating my wife’s yoga mat – I naively thought that this would protect me from the ground. I was under the impression that it would be easy – not exactly a camping trip, but given the temperature and the good company, there would be little hardship involved. After identifying a place for my mat, I spent the evening drinking copious amounts of tea.

At midnight, I decided to clamber into my sleeping bag. Fully clothed, I convinced myself that I was protected from the cold. My sleeping bag came equipped with a ‘pull-cord’ that turned the whole bag into a type of a cocoon, great for a little extra warmth, I thought - not so great if you have a habit of twisting and turning during the night and tying yourself up in knots. By 12.30am, as my nearest neighbour who shall remain nameless was snoring away, I realised my yoga mat was no defence for the cold that permeated upwards from the ground. Why hadn’t I sought some of the cardboard that had been helpfully distributed earlier in the evening? It’s funny how the state of half sleep, half wakefulness can make idiotic thoughts seem reasonable. Turning on my side, I attempted to minimise the contact of my body with the exceptionally hard and exceptionally cold earth to just three points – shoulder, hip and knee. Every 20 minutes thereafter, I found myself turning over, akin to a roast chicken on a rotary-spit, except this was the exact opposite to a spit-fire! At about 1.30am, I nodded off into my longest sleep of the night and found myself awake again at 2.30am.

A nightly reality

Chatting and laughing was coming from the far end of the yard and it was comforting for me to know that civilisation was not far away. I nodded off again and woke once more before 3am. The yard was quiet and the sky above was filled with stars. I doubt it dipped below four degrees but it felt to me like minus 10 degrees. In the stillness, I was struck forcibly by the horror that homelessness is a nightly reality for human beings. The thoughts returned at intervals during what remained of a fitful night’s sleep.

At 5.30am, I noticed that my neighbour was already awake and up. With difficulty, I crawled out of my cocoon. In the nearby bathroom, I got an almighty shock on seeing my reflection in the mirror. Red and raw, my face looked as though I’d fallen asleep in the sun. I was unrecognisable to myself and I thought of this as a profound addition to the long, inexhaustible list of indignities faced by those who are homeless. If you don’t look like yourself – and if your fellow citizens either look at you with contempt, or worse, look through you, how do you maintain any sense of identity?

As dawn broke, there was tea and breakfast and I exchanged goodbyes with the other participants. We went our separate ways, back to our ‘real’ worlds.

Finding a solution

After having spent an evening in the company of the Midland Simon Community, I am glad that I was able to help in raising some money, but I feel guilty that I haven’t done more. I’ve been trying in vain to solve the problem in my head – that’s how my mind is accustomed to operate from running a business – give me a problem and I’ll find a solution. Unfortunately, there are many layers on this cake.

The causes of homelessness are many and complicated – and often interlinked; substance abuse, mental health issues, family dynamics, poverty, traumas … the list goes on. A long term strategy is required to address the causes, but my experience taught me that we have to address the symptoms and address them now.

Under no circumstance could you describe my experience as resembling genuine homelessness. On a dry night, during what surely must have been one of the mildest Septembers on record, my abiding memory of the night is still the cold and discomfort from sleeping rough. We slept in a safe environment and were never in danger of assault, abuse or theft of our meagre possessions and yet I still felt the absence of security. I was neither alone, nor unwell, but the sense of isolation was evident.

So yes, a long term approach is required, but right now, today, we need to work to take people off the streets, because allowing human beings to sleep in doorways, alleys and under bridges is unjustifiably inhumane. Simon Community is working tirelessly to provide beds for those in need of emergency shelter. We were asked by Simon to raise €2,500 – a figure that makes a real, practical difference, providing 100 emergency beds. I’m pleased to say that we met our target thanks to generous donations; but there is still an opportunity to contribute. If you’d like to make a donation, however small, you can do so here or by texting SIMON to 50300 to give €4.

No one individual can fix all of our societal issues but society has responsibilities and harnessed correctly, we can make that difference.

Visit www.simon.ie for more information or to donate. This article was originally published on the Midlands Simon Community's website