- [Interviewer] Rhoda, we're here in a hospital in Saskatoon
and you're homeless.
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Tell me about that.
- Well, prior to coming to the hospital
I was an IV drug user.
Basically, it was everything that I lived for
so me and fiance never looked for a home
because all that was on our mind
was how are we gonna get our next fix
from when we woke up 'til we went to bed,
and we had nothing.
We had no place to live.
We had people that would abandon us
and just let us go wander around in the streets.
A lot of nights we didn't sleep
because we didn't have a place to sleep.
We finally eventually got some blankets
and started sleeping under a tree,
and then it was like there's bugs everywhere.
It was just gross.
- [Interviewer] And you said you were homeless
since you were 14.
- Yeah, since I was 14 I've been transient,
in and out of institutions because of the homelessness.
I kind of got used to living in jail
'cause I had food to eat, I had a place to sleep,
and when I did get out I wouldn't have a place to go to
so I'd end up back on the street again
and would be sleeping in stairwells or wherever we can
and the winter was the worst
because it'd be minus 50 and we'd be so tired.
We'd have to try and get warm
and sleep in a stairwell somehow.
We managed to get into a laundry room
and sleep on a board and use a rug to cover up with.
- [Interviewer] In wintertime.
- It was so cold, yeah.
We were so tired and people are not considerate about it.
If they see you sleeping in their hallway
they kick you out and they don't care
how cold it is outside.
They phone the cops on you
and literally they're really ignorant.
They have no heart in the city.
There's a grocery store over here that we slept in.
It was pretty gross because we tried to
make a shelter out of it.
We put a board and there was actually a little mattress
but there was so many bugs.
It was disgusting.
We woke up with little black bugs crawling on us
and worms and everything.
- [Interviewer] People don't understand drugs, though.
Have you tried to stop?
- Yeah, numerous times.
I actually did good and I had a home for seven months.
That was the first time I ever had my own apartment.
It was nice.
I was on methadone.
I was going to programs.
I was working with AA Saskatoon and doing presentations,
telling them the story of my life.
I was sober.
I was going to school.
I had a baby and got him out of foster home.
I had everything.
I had such a beautiful home,
but then everything came crashing down
and my son got put back in foster home
and then everything just started leaving my house.
We got evicted and then from there
we didn't know where we were gonna go,
and so we just ended up wandering around
on the streets again living in our bags,
sleeping here and there
until they didn't like the drug problem,
so eventually just ended up on the streets
having to sleep anywhere like in the bush and shit
with blankets 'cause it was too cold.
- [Interviewer] How long have you been in here?
- I've been here for two weeks now.
- [Interviewer] And why did you come into the hospital?
- It was after we got the blankets,
we managed to improvise and get a tent,
and then from the tent we managed to get a mattress
'cause we were sleeping on the bare ground.
I was sick and I kept having fevers
and I didn't know what was wrong with me.
My hand got really swollen and I kept having these fevers
and I couldn't get up.
I was constantly tired.
I had a bad cough.
My throat hurt and my hand went really, really swollen.
I came to the hospital here
and the doctor must have been just being plain ignorant
because he knew I was sick
but he sent me home with prescription.
- [Interviewer] Back home being the streets.
- Yeah, back to the tent.
I was so sick I couldn't even get out of bed most days
and so everything just kept getting badder and badder
and my husband asked me to come to the hospital.
Me being stubborn, I kept saying,
"No, just wait, just wait."
Well, it got to the point where we left the tent
and we came up here over to my aunty's
and she said I looked really pale and I told her I was hot
and I was feeling weak, out of breath.
I couldn't breathe and so she took my temperature.
She said that it was near almost a heart attack
so she phoned an ambulance
and by the time the ambulance got there
everything completely started going black.
I just completely fainted.
I blacked out.
I don't remember the first few weeks,
the first week I was here, the first few days
'cause I was so sick.
So, I'm going on my third week now.
I'm starting to feel a little better.
I'm glad my husband's here with me
because we've been through everything together
and the first week he didn't know he was sick.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, he came in to visit you
and the doctor said, "No, you're staying."
- He ended up becoming my roommate
which was kind of good.
- [Interviewer] Now, when they see you're healthy enough
you're back homeless.
They exit you to the streets.
- After I leave here, yeah, it's back to the tent,
but we don't want that life no more
so we're just deciding to go to live up north
with my grandmother.
She was in here and she said that we can stay at her house
'til we can get ourselves together.
- [Interviewer] Awesome.
- Because I don't want to die
and I know if I go right back there I'll end up dead
and that's not the life I want anymore.
I have children.
The things that we've been through being homeless,
we have to steal our food from Safeway.
Most of the time we don't get enough to eat.
It rains on you and you get so cold.
- [Interviewer] That's horrible.
Nobody should have to be homeless.
- Exactly, you just don't know what to do.
You feel so lost and just feel nobody cares.
- [Interviewer] Well, if you had three wishes
what would they be?
- If I had three wishes, I would love to be able to
have a nice home with my family, to get better
and get well enough that I can go to school
and get a job and have a family
so that I can help kids and help people
'cause I've been through all of that,
homelessness and I've been through all of that abuse.
That's always been my dream
so I've been working on it already
with 601 at AIDS Saskatoon.
So, that's what I would love to do.
I love to help people because I've been there.
- [Interviewer] Well, thank you very much for talking to me.
- All right, you're welcome.
I could show you a couple place where I would stay in
if you want we can go drive down there.
Thank you.