On the Other Side of the Fence: A Reflection on Living Homeless

Welcome back to This Person I Met! My name is Kayla, and I'm the host of this podcast.

Jaenika, like many others in the Delonis shelter in Washtenaw County and shelters around the country, never had a chance to run from unstable housing because she was born into it. The homeless issue within the United States has only grown since the pandemic, surging to record highs in 2024 of around 770,000 homeless persons in the country.

When I first saw Jaenika coming through the door to the interview room, I noticed she had a notepad full of notes she had taken to prepare and was ready by the first question, which surprised me, because most interviewees came empty handed except for the experts. She looked well put together and proper. She mentioned holding jobs in the medical field and having children who went to good universities and who had successful families of their own. To me, she seemed like a regular person I might meet at the supermarket. And yet, her story reverberated the simple message of empathy in a raw way that I admittedly have never truly opened myself up to to hear in such a light, and her words begged that humanity choose to be kind, to listen to others, and to help those who were never given the opportunity to help themselves.

After our interview, I continued my conversation with Jaenika and I asked her if there was anything else people like me could do to help. She told me to listen. To see with my own eyes the struggle of others, and to hear the stories of those less fortunate. To give warmth not just through blankets and donations of food, but empathy. The simplest and most seemingly obvious answer that has been drilled into us since we were kids, one that we as a society have yet to embrace as not just a concept, but a necessity.