From Homeless to Science Champ to the State of the Union:
Samantha Garvey Doesn’t let her circumstances stand in the way of her dreams

Not one to let her family’s homelessness keep her form reaching for her dreams, New York teen Samantha Garvey was named as a semifinalist for the National Intel Science Competition.  Samantha was over the moon after learning she has a shot at the science competition’s $100,000 prize.

News of her story spread quickly, as many learned the story of the Brentwood High School senior who had been living with her family at a homeless shelter since January 1.   Samantha told radio station WCBS-AM that being homeless motivated her “to do better.” Adding, “I do well, and I pursue my passion because it’s what I have, and it’s a way out, you know, and it’ll lead to better things.”  Long Island Congressman Steve Israel heard her inspiring story and invited the teen to be his guest at the State of the Union address on January 24th.

Garvey is one of 300 teenagers nationwide named this week as semifinalists in the prestigious Intel science competition. She spent more than two years researching the effects of the Asian short crab on the mussel population in a salt marsh on Long Island, east of New York City.  Once sponsored by Westinghouse, the Society for Science and the Public has been running the science competition since 1942. Over the decades, contest finalists have gone on to some of the greatest achievements in science. Seven have won a Nobel Prize.  The finalists for the competition will be announced later this month, but in the mean time, Samantha, along with her two siblings, parents and pets, will be able to move into their new apartment.

Samantha was evicted along with her family from their home on New Year’s Eve. Her mother, Olga, a nurse’s assistant, was out of work for eight months following a car accident in February, and her father, Leo, could not keep up with the bills alone on his salary as a cab driver.  Leo said that after the eviction he took his family to a hotel for a week because he did not want them spending New Year’s in a homeless shelter. But he finally had to contact Suffolk County Social Services for help last week; they were then placed in a shelter.

Housing prices on Long Island are among the highest in the country, even in Brentwood, which has struggled with gang violence in recent years. A three-bedroom home there recently sold for $291,000, according to Lisa Kennedy, a broker with Eric G. Ramsay Associates. A three-bedroom ranch is renting for $1,800 a month, she said.

The Garveys will pay 30 percent of their monthly income to rent the county-owned property, officials said.

Gregory Blass, the county commissioner of Social Services, said the family was already known to officials because they were staying in a shelter, making them eligible to move into the house. He said the county works to place about 30 to 40 homeless families a month from shelters into apartments or homes. He insisted the Garveys received no preferential treatment because of Samantha’s celebrity.

Before the eviction, the Garveys had rented a home for six or seven years, Leo Garvey said. Before that, the family had also lived in homeless shelters from time to time; Leo Garvey described himself as a recovering alcoholic.

Samantha said that she had worried for several months before the eviction, knowing that her mother was ailing and money was tight.

“I ordered a senior picture and I said, `I don’t know where to send it. I don’t know what’s going to happen. What if we move, what if we get evicted,’ which we did,” she said. “You’re out in limbo. You’re like, `What’s going to happen to my mail, what’s going to happen to my college applications. Where are they all going to go?’ It’s scary.”

The teen says she hopes to pursue a career as a marine biologists after attending Brown or Yale.

Most of Ralph John Perou’s photographs show celebrities living the high life. Bright lights, fancy cars, extravagant dresses. Yet, in his latest project, Perou focuses on homeless youth living in the United Kingdom.

Perou was asked to photograph for the campaign, “Homelessness and the Arts,” a project led by 20-year-old James McNaughton. At age 16, McNaughton found himself living on the streets, and he reflects, “I thought I was going to be homeless for the rest of my life.”[i] He slept in churchyards and tunnels for six months until a police officer offered him help.  The experience inspired McNaughton to lead the “Homelessness and the Arts” project, which is backed by O2’s Think Big youth program.  The campaign seeks to raise awareness about youth homelessness and change the stereotypes associated with homeless people through the campaign’s slogan, “Admit I exist.” The project examines the reasons behind youth homelessness, and the most cost effective ways to support homeless youth.

McNaughton reflects that while he was homeless, he felt that he no longer mattered to the point where he was invisible to society. Ashamedly, I know I can recognize the truth in McNaughton’s words, as I have walked past homeless people without giving them a second glance.  “Homelessness and the Arts” aims to address this stigma associated with homelessness and encourage society to not “succumb to convenient stereotypes, but instead treat young homeless people with respect and dignity.”[ii] Perou, explains how the project has exposed him to the realities of and challenged his perception of homelessness. He says, “I feel embarrassed…in the past, I’ve looked in the opposite direction…”[iii]

Perou spent time with homeless youth in Liverpool and Machester, getting to know them as people, talking about their ambitions, and understanding their struggles. His photographs show meaningful places to the individuals, and are on the “Homeless and Arts” online exhibition. Perou’s work will be displayed alongside photographs taken by homeless youth themselves.

While McNaughton recently launched this project, he plans to eventually establish the campaign as an independent charity.  He plans on using the media to raise awareness and challenge society’s perceptions of homeless youth.  In the future, McNaughton plans to work with other organizations in developing peer education programs within schools and hostels.

McNaughton and Perou’s work ask each of us to stop and think about our perception of homelessness. Ultimately, Perou explains that he hopes that his photographs make people realize “we do have a social responsibility to people who are less well off than ourselves” [iv]

To check out “Homelessness and the Arts” go to  :http://www.o2thinkbig.co.uk/Projects/Project-Home/?ClubID=103

To check out Perou’s photographs for the campaign got to:

http://www.perou.co.uk/

[ii] http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/11/16/photographer-perou-launches-youth-homelessness-campaign_n_1096728.html

[iii] http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/liverpool-arts/2011/11/23/celebrity-photographer-perou-turns-his-lens-on-liverpool-young-homeless-92534-29823399/

[iv] http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/liverpool-arts/2011/11/23/celebrity-photographer-perou-turns-his-lens-on-liverpool-young-homeless-92534-29823399/

Fedele Bauccio, CEO of Bon Appétit Management Company, with Lucas Benitez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida (photo courtesy of Bon Appétit Management Co)

Fedele Bauccio is the CEO and Co-founder of Bon Appétit Management Company, a leading food service provider with over 400 cafes in 29 states nationally.  He is also leading the industry in environmentally and socially responsible practices to create a more sustainable food system.  This October, he will be honored with a James Beard Leadership Award for his inspiring positive actions and commitment to quality food and socially responsible business practices.  The other nine recipients are: Michelle Obama, for her fight against childhood obesity; Alice Waters, for her Edible Schoolyard program; sustainable agriculture advocate Fred Kirschenmann; urban farmer Will Allen; and Debra Eschmeyer, Sheri L. Flies, Jan Kees Vis, Janet Poppendieck and Craig Watson.

Bauccio has spent more than 25 years creating more sustainable initiatives throughout his industry, developing programs addressing local purchasing, the overuse of antibiotics, sustainable seafood, cage-free eggs, and the connection between food and climate change. He has also worked to improve farmworker conditions in the United States.

“I’ve spent a lot of time dealing with that hidden part of our industry in terms of agricultural workers and how they are treated,” he said, citing wages, heat conditions and other fair labor practices.  Bauccio visited Immokalee, FL, known as “Tomatoland,” and saw the conditions farmworkers labored in first hand. “America’s agricultural workers do jobs that are far more difficult and dangerous than the average retail or restaurant worker, yet these jobs are critical to our entire food chain. When I met with workers in the fields and saw first-hand how difficult their lives are, I knew that I could not, in good conscience, contribute to such a system. We buy almost 5 million pounds of tomatoes a year. I decided to use that power to make a real difference in the supply chain.”

In 2009, Bon Appétit Management Company and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a farmworker organization spearheading the fight for more humane farm labor standards in Florida, created an agreement to use BAMCo’s purchasing power to better working conditions for Florida’s tomato harvesters.

The agreement included guarantees of real improvements in wages and working conditions, and provided preferential purchasing incentives for growers who were willing to raise the bar even further.  Highlights of the agreement include:

• A “Minimum Fair Wage” – Workers will be paid a wage premium that reflects the unique rigors and uncertainty of farm labor.

• An end to traditional forms of wage abuse – Through standards requiring growers to implement time clocks and to reconcile wages paid with pounds harvested, workers will be paid for every hour worked and every pound picked.

• Worker empowerment – Workers will be informed of their rights through a system jointly developed by the growers and the CIW. Growers will also collaborate with the CIW and Bon Appétit to implement and enforce a process for workers to pursue complaints without fear of retribution.

• Worker safety – A worker-controlled health and safety committee will give farmworkers a voice in addressing potentially dangerous working conditions, including pesticide, heat, and machinery issues.

• Third-party monitoring - Growers will permit third-party monitoring that includes worker participation.

In another key provision, Bon Appétit promised to give preference to growers that exceeded its minimum standards, for instance by paying overtime — a right that farm workers are not guaranteed — or providing sick leave, holiday pay and health insurance.

The growers “can do the right thing, and our five million pounds of business can go to them,” said Bauccio “Or they can let the tomatoes rot in the fields.”

The food industry needs more people like Fedele Bauccio who care enough about the health and well being of people to use their power to make a difference.

Other Awards:

The Natural Resources Defense Council chose him for its first Going Green Award, in 2009, and in 2007 he was named a Seafood Champion by Seafood Choices Alliance. From 2006-2008, he served on the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that brought together leaders in veterinary medicine, agriculture, public health, business, government, rural advocacy, and animal welfare. He is currently a board member of Compass Group North America.

For more information on THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA visit www.theharvestfilm.com
Twitter: @theharvestdoc
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheHarvestFilm

Roberto Romano: “The Dark Side of Chocolate”

Investigative photographer and filmmaker U. Roberto Romano is one of today’s foremost creative minds when it comes to capturing images of wrongdoings which words cannot describe. He’s also a committed and well-versed advocate for human rights, particularly with regard to labor and production conditions in various countries around the world. A widely respected expert, his impressing and profound documentaries focus predominantly on issues such as child labor and the contemporary slave trade.

“The Dark Side of Chocolate” is the name of a documentary which Romano jointly produced with Danish journalist Miki Mistrati about human trafficking, child and slave labor in connection with the cocoa industry in the Ivory Coast. Romano’s perspective always digs below the surface. His pictures tell stories that leave no one unmoved.

Interview

DW: You began with your activities on the issue of child labor in Pakistan as early as 1995. Since then you have documented cases of child slavery. Have the new media since then helped you to bring about a change for the better?

RR: Martin Luther King said: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”. For many of us seeking social justice, this long arc usually feels too long and change comes too slowly and at great expenses in terms of lives lost, potentials unrealized and dreams unfulfilled.

The media only seems capable of focusing meaningfully on a handful important issues at a time. When I was growing up it was civil rights and women’s rights. Today, we are still fighting for women’s rights around the world and the rights of children and the enslaved. But these are just the current manifestations of the twin demons of poverty and powerlessness that have plagued us all through history. And although there are new media out there that are raising awareness about many issues, much of it often lacks the ‘density’ to create significant change. That said; it is our responsibility to show the world as it is and to focus on issues of importance, always.

The media does bring change by raising awareness and by that awareness being channeled into robust and well-organized movements but that is a difficult combination.

DW: What action would the world have to take in order to confront the problem? Take the example of the South Asian carpet industry where thousands of child laborers are currently being exploited. Can a new label like GoodWeave contribute to increase consciousness, not only in the wider public but especially in the actual industry itself?

RR: GoodWeave served as part of a broader campaign against child labor and slavery that reduced the number of children in the looms by hundreds of thousands. This is what I meant by media being channeled into robust and well-organized movements. It is a great example about how a label evolves to fit the needs of the laborers, the manufacturers, the communities and the consumers by connecting the consumer to the carpet in ways that were unheard of before. At their best, labels create both change and consciousness and GoodWeave is one of the best examples of how to do this.

DW: You are a filmmaker and photographer, a man of visual impressions. Can the power of pictures attract the attention of policymakers and businesspeople? What was their reaction to your documentary “The Dark Side of Chocolate”?

RR: Pictures show us the world as it really is, especially when what you are trying to show is ‘unimaginable’.  We know the words child, slave and coca but the power of images can distill them into an undeniable and powerful moment that cannot be ignored. The abandoned boy who has been trafficked from Mali to the north of the Ivory Coast who sits alone crying and desperate with fear, the young girl, Mariam, whose open sores speak to the total lack of care she has gotten while she was being smuggled, the empty stare of the boy with a machete in one hand and a cocoa pod in the other, the life in his eyes all but sucked out of him all convey what words and studies and conventions and laws cannot: the unmitigated horror that is visited daily on much of the world. How can anyone not react when confronted by that reality?

DW: Would you say that this is the objective behind your documentaries, to confront decision makers with reality? What are the main tasks you want your movies to fulfill?

RR: All of the films that I have been involved with have an effect.  However important it is to gain access to government, gaining access to the consciousness of the public is important as well. To this end, I have always made portions of the films I have been involved in available to the international press. Since the release of “The Dark Side of Chocolate” there has been a huge boost in the demand for imports that are Fair Trade certified. I do believe that the film played a part in this increased demand.

The bottom line is: whatever model we adopt needs to be top down as well as bottom up. It needs to speak to those who make the rules and those who have to live under them.

www.urobertoromano.com

To Learn more about the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum please follow this link: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,14143,00.html

Ashley Judd

During the course of her memoir’s publicity tour this past month, Golden-globe nominated actress Ashley Judd opened up to the public, revealing the hard truths of her difficult childhood. Behind her enduring public facade has lain the reality of repeated sexual abuse, horrific traumas held in secrecy for decades.

In her book, entitled All that is Bitter and Sweet, Miss Judd recounts stories of forced molestation and advanced sexual exposure, laying out her experiences with candid faculty. Among the memories she recalls – often in raw, graphic detail – includes an incident in which she was pulled in by a dark and empty story; she was lured in by an older man offering her a quarter to play pinball. What ensued was Miss Judd’s first violent sexual encounter in a string of many to come.

Beyond unveiling the difficult details of her past, Miss Judd has proven equally open about the troubles they’ve caused her in her later life. She is forthright in sharing how her experience as an adult has been riddled by battles with severe depression and frequent descents into suicidal territories, eventually landing her in treatment centers during the most severe of periods. In one of the most harrowing instances, she tells of playing with a loaded gun, cocking the trigger and pressing it to her head. Her story is not unlike that of the hundreds of thousands of children falling victim to abuse every year, who then commonly face impossible struggles in their later life. Like her, these children are maliciously forced into a grim future.

The power and courage of Miss Judd’s actions in coming forward to the public cannot be understated. In sharing her own experiences, she not only serves to shine a light on an issue running rampant across the world, but also as an inspiration to those who so often find themselves without a voice, lost in a world of shame and secrecy.

Miss Judd has lived an exceptional life, managing to break free of the constraints of sexual abuse to achieve astounding success. In the field of acting, she has become a household name, at one time being the highest paid actress in America. It is commendable for her to stand as an emphatically involved figure against sexual abuse among minors, shedding her vulnerability and facing the unfathomable head on.

This is hardly the first time Miss Judd has made an effort towards the betterment of children worldwide. She is known to be an eager philanthropist, intimately participating in various international causes. Since her college years, she has involved herself in a number of social and political efforts, many of which focus on children’s issues.

Since 2004, she’s served as an ambassador for YouthAIDS, traveling to Cambodia, Kenya and Rwanda, among other nations affected by the HIV epidemic, offering her celebrity to bring much needed publicity to a dire worldwide issue. Additionally, Miss Judd selflessly donated her time and resources towards the production of three award-winning, internationally-aired documentaries for the organization: India’s Hidden Plague, Tracking the Monster, and Confronting the Pandemic – a project which garnered her a Distinguished Visitor award during her time in Guatemala. She is in the process of directing her first documentary project, focusing on a victim of traumatic fistula in Ethiopia.

After bearing first-hand witness to the experiences of the impoverished and uneducated during her initial travels to developing nations through YouthAIDS, Miss Judd has become a vocal advocate towards poverty prevention and international awareness of third world living conditions. She has been known to meet with key leaders across the globe, including heads of state, religious leaders, and diplomats, in a valiant effort to bring her message to the door step of those with the power to bring about progressive political and social change.

In 2008 Miss Judd gave the keynote address on the modern slave trade to the 2008 General Assembly of the United Nations. She is frequently invited as an expert panelist/moderator at conferences such as the Clinton Global Initiative, the International AIDS Conference, and the National Press Club.

Miss Judd has been a vital contributor to many charities and foundations. These include the Children’s Medical Research Institute, Creative Coalition, Five & Alive, Jeans for Genes, and Equality Now, among many more. As of this year, she serves on the Leadership Council of the International Center for Research on Women among 15 high-profile global leaders, advising the foundation on select issues. Her biography as a humanitarian is as honorable as it is extensive.

To learn more about some of the various efforts Ashley Judd is involved with, use the following links:
Children’s Medical Research Institute: http://www.cmri.org.au/
The Creative Coalition: http://www.thecreativecoalition.org/
Jeans for Genes: http://www.jeansforgenes.org.au/
Listen Campaign: http://www.listencampaign.com/
Population Services International: http://www.psi.org/
YouthAIDS: http://www.psi.org/youthaids/
Equality Now: http://www.equalitynow.org/
Five & Alive: http://projects.psi.org/site/PageServer?pagename=fivealive

Anaheim, California (CNN) — In the shadows of Disneyland, often referred to as the “happiest place on Earth,” many children are living a reality that’s far from carefree.

They are living in cheap motels more commonly associated with drug dealers, prostitutes and illicit affairs.

It’s the only option for many families that are struggling financially and can’t scrape together a deposit for an apartment. By living week to week in these cramped quarters, they stay one step ahead of homelessness.

“Some people are stuck, they have no money. They need to live in that room,” said Bruno Serato, a local chef and restaurateur. “They’ve lost everything they have. They have no other chance. No choice.”

While “motel kids” are found across the United States, the situation is very common in Orange County, California, a wealthy community with high rents and a large number of old motels. In 2009, local authorities estimated that more than 1,000 families lived in these conditions.

When Serato learned that these children often go hungry, he began serving up assistance, one plate at a time. To date, he’s served more than 270,000 pasta dinners — for free — to those in need.

“Kids should not be suffering,” Serato said. “[I had] to do something.”

Serato, 55, has always given back to the community where he achieved his American dream. When the Italian immigrant arrived in the U.S. 30 years ago, his poor English skills forced him to settle for a job as a dishwasher. But within five years, he had become chef and owner of the Anaheim White House, an Italian restaurant that is now a local hot spot.

In 2003, he created Caterina’s Club, which raises money for underprivileged children. The charity is named after Serato’s mother, who taught him how to cook at the family’s trattoria in Verona, Italy.
When she came to California in 2005 to visit her son, he took her to the local Boys & Girls Club, the main recipient of the charity’s funds. There, they saw a small boy eating a bag of potato chips and learned that this snack was his supper.

Bruno said his mother was shocked by the boy’s meager meal. She had raised seven children and always made sure food was on the dinner table, even during the lean years after World War II.

“My mama … her whole life was to feed kids,” he said.

The Seratos found out that the boy lived in a motel with his family. The situation was so common in the area that the Anaheim Boys & Girls Club had a “motel kids” program, where vans pick up the children after school and drop them off at the motels every night. While these children receive free breakfast and lunch through school programs, their parents often don’t have the resources to give them dinner.

Caterina found it unacceptable that the children would go to bed without supper. Speaking in rapid Italian, she made her feelings clear to her son.

“Mom said, ‘Bruno, you must feed them the pasta!’ ” Serato recalled.

To read more and to see a video please visit CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/03/24/cnnheroes.serato.motel.kids/index.html

Mrs. Barmaki, a law professor at Kabul University and human rights activist, was the Commissioner for Child Rights at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. She had dedicated herself to an Action Plan developed to abolish the recruitment and abuse of young boys in Afghan National Security Forces. Afghanistan was blacklisted by the United Nations and placed on their list of countries using child soldiers. Hoping to remedy this, the agreement protects children from the long-standing tradition of bacha bazi, where boys are dressed as girls and sold into prostitution, formally recognizing the child sex slave problem in Afghanistan. Her death fell just two days before the signing of the agreement on Sunday the 30^th.

The international pressure to expand Afghanistan’s police and military forces had the unintended consequence of increasing the conscription of children.  Afghanistan hopes that participation in the action plan will remove them them from the UN’s list of countries using children in armed conflict, a list of thirteen countries that includes Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“She was a courageous, principled fighter for children and her presence will be deeply missed,” said Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict at the singing of the agreement. A moment of silence was held for her and her family at the signing.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative Peter Crowley in Afghanistan said, “She was a close partner and critical ally of UNICEF Afghanistan in promoting and advocating for child rights in the Country. Her death is a great loss to the Child Rights Unit of the AIHRC,” in a statement.

Thousands of people from the community also came together to mourn the loss of Ms. Barmaki and her family at their burial.  A colleague spoke about her dedication to helping Afghanistan saying that she had the opportunity to stay abroad but had felt compelled to return to Afghanistan and even turned down subsequent fellowship offers.  In addition to her work to fight the use of child soldiers, she set up a charity that provided free legal aid to the poor and was trying to establish more programs for young lawyers.  “She was loved by everybody,” her colleague said.  “She was a very humble person, very quiet and soft spoken, but when she did speak, it was with great force and humility.”

To learn more please visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/world/asia/30kabul.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/world/asia/30afghan.html?ref=world

I was three years old when I first realized that my mother and father shared strange habits. They would retreat into the kitchen of our New York apartment and spread spoons and other objects across the table while communicating in quick, urgent commands. I was not supposed to bother them, but I watched from the hallway.
Water was needed – just a few drops from the tap – and so were shoelaces and belts. Then, at the very last minute, they would shut the door, blocking my view entirely.

One evening, when the door was closed on me again, I didn’t budge but sat and waited outside. When my mother finally emerged, I raised my arms in the air and said, in a singsong voice, ‘Al-l-l do-ne’. Taken off guard, my mother asked disbelievingly, ‘What did you say, pumpkin?’

‘Al-l-l do-ne,’ I repeated. She yelled at my father: ‘Peter, she knows!’ and Daddy laughed while Ma stroked my hair. Thrilled to have found my place in their game, I sat outside the kitchen whenever they spread the spoons from then on. Eventually, they left the door open.

I have just one black and white photograph left of my mother when she was younger. She was 17 when it was taken and beautiful with wispy curls and eyes that shone like dark marbles. But I also know that by then she had been using drugs for four years. The eldest of four children, she was raised by an alcoholic father and mentally ill mother and she had started smoking grass to escape the violence and abuse of her home life. Later, she ran away and, between sleeping rough and earning her living through prostitution, she moved on to speed and heroin.

Daddy was one of her dealers. They began hanging out together when she was 22 and he was 34. Daddy was also the child of a violent, alcoholic father but his middle-class mother had tried to secure her only child’s future by holding down two bookkeeping jobs in order to send him to private school. Midway through a psychology degree, however, he had abandoned his studies for the drug trade.

He and Ma connected immediately, but instead of going on dinner dates they would take cocaine to Central Park, where they would sprawl in the moonlight and get high anchored in each others arms.

A year or so after my parents met in 1977, my elder sister Lisa was born. By the time I followed in September 1980, Daddy was serving a three-year prison sentence for a fraud racket involving prescription painkillers. Amazingly, instead of falling apart, my mother proved to be a sober and houseproud single parent. But once Daddy returned home, dirty dishes sat untouched in the sink for days and we rarely went to the park any more.

Ma was legally blind due to a degenerative eye disease she’d had since birth. This meant she was entitled to welfare and our lives revolved around the first day of every month when her payment was due. On that day, food would be abundant. Lisa and I would dine on Happy Meals in front of the TV to the sound of spoons clanking on the kitchen table. We knew what they were doing.

Within five days, the money would be gone and for the rest of the month we lived on egg and mayonnaise sandwiches. Lisa and I hated them, but they got us through the hours when our stomachs burned with hunger.

I started school in the summer of 1985 and, from the outset, I tried to be a good student. It just didn’t work out that way. Maybe getting more sleep would have helped, but there was too much going on.

At nights, Ma would go to the local bars and beg until she had gathered the five dollars she needed for a hit. Daddy would then slip out to a dealer while Lisa screamed at both of them: ‘We didn’t eat dinner, and you’re going to get high?’ I knew what she was saying made sense. But things weren’t always so clear for me. Ma and Daddy had no intention of hurting us. They simply did not have it in them to be the parents I wanted them to be.

I remember once Ma stole five dollars sent to me from my father’s mother inside a glittery birthday card. I was furious and demanded that she gave me back my money. She responded by flushing the hit she had bought down the loo. ‘I’m not a monster, Lizzy,’ she cried. ‘I can’t stop. Forgive me, pumpkin.’ So I did.

I forgave her again when she sold the Thanksgiving turkey provided by the church so that she could buy another hit. And I forgave her when she attempted to sell Lisa’s winter coat. The drug dealer refused to take a child’s coat on principle, so Ma went back out later the same night and sold the toaster and my bike to get her cocaine instead.

At school I was clearly different. My dirty clothing hung heavily off my body and I was aware of the stench I gave off, so I knew the other pupils must have been aware of it, too.

‘Who cares what people think?’ Daddy said. But the shame gnawed at me. I pleaded with Ma and eventually she allowed me, against what she called her better judgment, to stay at home sometimes.

One morning, on one of the days I didn’t go to school, there was a knock at the door. I was the only one awake. From the hallway, I heard a woman and a man talking. They knocked again before sliding a piece of paper under the door. When they had gone, I picked it up. The letter ordered the parent(s) or guardian of Elizabeth Murray to phone a Mr Doumbia regarding her truancy from school. I ripped it into tiny pieces and shoved it in the bin.

As well as being blind, Ma turned out to have the same mental illness that her mother had had. Between 1986 and 1990, she suffered six schizophrenic bouts, each requiring her to be institutionalised for up to three months. The combination of her illness and her and Daddy’s chronic drug use pushed their relationship to breaking point. As their fights became increasingly bitter, Lisa and I locked ourselves in our rooms, her with her music, and me with my books – or rather Daddy’s ever-growing supply of unreturned library books. Slowly I read through his collection of true crime, biographies and random trivia. Eventually, I began reading fast enough to get through one of his books in a little over a week.

Just after my 11th birthday, I woke in the early hours to find Ma sitting at the end of my bed, a beer bottle in her hand. ‘I love you, pumpkin,’ she was saying as tears streamed down her face.

‘Ma, please, what’s wrong?’

‘Lizzy, I’m sick, I have Aids.’

A hot quiver shot up from my stomach. ‘Are you going to die, Ma?’

Abruptly, Ma stood up and reached for the door.

‘Forget it, Lizzy. We’ll be just fine,’ she said before walking out. I cried to her to come back. But she didn’t reappear.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1346184/From-homelessness-Harvard-University-How-Liz-Murray-turned-life-around.html#ixzz1BPDCOQR4