HOUSTON – Life on the streets is not easy. If you’ve been there, you know. But few people have walked in the shoes of the homeless.
Ayana Mack and Carder Price are KSBJ Radio DJs and wanted to know what it is like to be homeless. So, with the Star of Hope, they learned.
"Imagine you have a long delay at an airport where it's a hassle but you have to take your luggage with you everywhere you go. But imagine that's outdoors and you lost your wallet and everyone ignores and hates you," Price said.
Price and Mack set out with $10, a bus pass, donated clothes and two tents. They also needed safety so they called Harris County Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen.
In Rosen’s office, they found a deputy and a captain from the mental health unit who agreed to also live on the streets. On Wednesday and Thursday nights, they lived under a bridge along the Buffalo Bayou near downtown.
"When I see a homeless person I am no longer like oh, please hurry and get away from them or let me just act like they are invisible," mental health Deputy Rachel Wyne said.
The people who would quickly speak to Capt. Kevin Williams when he wore a business suit suddenly acted as if he did not exist.
"My dad always taught me growing up, don't judge a book by its cover. And that's kinda the way you look at a homeless person. They really are good people, they have good intentions," Capt. Williams said.
Rosen hopes this exercise will make interactions with the homeless more compassionate.
"I hope to get a better understanding so that we can train our officers ... especially in our mental health unit," Rosen said.
The DJs hope their time on the streets will change how you treat your neighbors.
"You are in a position to be kind and to look them in the eye and say, ‘Hello, how are you? God bless you,'" Mack said.