This week, in a special column, Sandi Tighello shares an important story with us. First appearing in Onya Magazine on January 11th, this letter will change the way you see the issue of homelessness. The homeless have many, many faces and Cate Bolt is one of them. This is her story and thanks must go to Cate and Sandi for allowing us to reprint the letter in full.
***
It’s important to mention, prior to you reading this letter, that the Bolt Family now have temporary accommodation via an organisation named 4 Walls – temporary accommodation which they pay for (rent) until they are able to find alternate accommodation. That, however, does not take anything away from the letter below, written by Catherine Bolt, from Queensland, Australia, that I stumbled upon just over a week ago …
The letter below is written by Catherine Bolt, from Queensland, Australia.
An Open Letter to The Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon Kevin Rudd and the Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh MP:
My name is Catherine Bolt and I am many things.
Firstly, I am one of the estimated 100,000 homeless people living in Australia today. I say estimated because homelessness in Australia is far from an exact science and for the most part these people live hidden and ashamed from the rest of society. I have made the choice to make my homelessness public through my blog and active online social networking. I do so because I am not ashamed of who or where I am and I know I have acted with honour.
I have been homeless since the 17th of December, 2009. I spent Christmas day under a make-shift shelter made from tarpaulins at a showground in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. I have survived several weeks of torrential rain, although my tents have flooded and much of our clothing and food was destroyed by damp, mould and mildew.
I have travelled around camping at showgrounds and in National Parks in South East Queensland – we cannot afford to stay in a conventional caravan park during peak school holiday periods.
I am a wife. A wife to one of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of small business owners who were offered no protection from the Global Financial Crisis and whose decade long careers were lost due to its impact. My husband is a proud 42-year-old man who has been employed since the day he left home at 15 and has worked hard and always provided for his family. He has paid taxes in this country for 27 years.
I am a humanitarian and conservationist who founded a not for profit organisation which exists to increase the quality of life of underprivileged and orphaned children through family placement, housing, education and emotional nourishment. And to lead the children to a life of compassion and understanding of the environment by creating sustainable lifestyles which enable them to live in harmony with the planet. Our Association is dedicated to raising enough funds to build an orphanage and wildlife refuge in Sumatra, Indonesia by December 2010.
But most of all, I am a mother and these are my children.
This photo was taken in happier times, in the backyard of the home from which we were evicted for rental arrears. Yes, you’ve counted right we have nine children. Nine children that we have raised independently and without assistance since we met in 1999. Nine children that are raised with compassion for their fellow man and who work in environmental and humanitarian awareness (as young as 6) and who have a more positive impact on their earth than most children who come from much smaller families.
Our only daughter is Ailish – she’s on the far left being held by our eldest son, Loki (he has just graduated from Nambour High). Ailish is 6-years-old and along with 14-year-old Ash (he’s the skinny smiley one on the right in the back row) they have created an amazing environmental & social educational program for kids aged 6 – 14. Both children are high achievers and academically gifted. As homeless children however, they are at risk of not achieving their full potential due to lack of sleep, anxiety and the lack of stability and familiarity that not having a fixed address causes.
Ailish and Charlie (3) sleep in a rented camper trailer with me, at a cost of $400/wk. According to Department of Housing guidelines they aren’t allowed to share a bedroom. As it is, they share a bed. The trailer has a sink, tiny fridge, a stove top and two beds but no oven or bathroom. It has a “living area” including the kitchenette that measures approximately four square metres - this is where my husband prepares 3 meals a day for 11 people.
They are both young and as such wake up several times each night to use the bathroom. This requires me to wake my husband and have him leave the tent that he shares with 5 of our other children and supervise one young child while I walk with the other up to 150m in the rain to the toilets. Toilets, which I should mention, we have shared with cane toads, mice and rats.
Kelsey is 8 – he is the smiley face in the Spiderman suit at the front. Kelsey has been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder, ADHD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder and Encopresis (fecal incontinence). Kelsey is terrified of the dark, spiders, snakes and all things that go bump in the night. Kelsey can’t go into a tent alone at night, nor can he come out of one. He has spent most of our homeless time terrified. I know you both have children, and as such you would understand how it feels for a parent to see their child so scared that they shake, cry and scream.
Bailey is 12-years-old (in the Sydney Swans t-shirt in the back row) – he has been diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome and ADHD, he too struggles with the instability of a transient lifestyle but is at the age where that begins to manifest in more aggressive ways than just becoming withdrawn or isolated. As a homeless child he is at risk of depression and as he grows older, perhaps even drug and alcohol abuse.
These are my children.
I maintained most of my pregnancies privately – self insured I paid for a private obstetrician and I paid several thousand dollars for each child to be born as a private patient in a public hospital. And although some of my children have special needs we have used private paediatricians and self-funded their treatment, only ever claiming the minimum Medicare benefits to which all Australians are entitled.
When four of our children required specialist medical attention in October and November in 2009 the cost to my family was crippling and regrettably we had to make the decision whether to put our children first, or pay our rent. Whilst we have empathy for the owner of the home in which we lived – the way our tenancy was handled by the real estate agent involved was negligent to say the least – I very much doubt that the owner is aware of the full extent of which the agency failed in its duties. None of which is relevant now.
We made a decision to have a large family and we take full responsibility for them, our children are not the reason we were evicted from our home but we are constantly discriminated against because of our family, and it is certainly a contributing factor in why we have not been able to secure a rental property.
The Australian public has no sympathy or compassion for large families. We are constantly judged and criticised by complete strangers that for the first time in 27 years my husband is unemployed and apparently I should not be wasting my time dedicating my life to saving orphans in Indonesia. We are criticised by half the community for now accepting Government benefits, and criticised by the other half for not applying for them sooner.
We originally agreed to a newspaper article foolishly assuming that humans have the compassion to understand our situation but instead we were subjected to public attack online and humiliated to the point where I honestly thought my husband would not survive.
I had previously believed that there is no excuse for people to be homeless in Australia and that those who are must do so either by choice or by sheer ignorance of how best to get what they need. The reality, which I’ve discovered, is that unless you are a cookie-cutter family, a menace to society, are a drug addict, alcoholic, beat your wife or have a gambling addiction – there is simply nothing available.
My point – how many houses have been found for Dennis Ferguson since he was released from jail? Our family, who are for the most part dedicated to community and environmental service, however, are no one’s priority.
The Department of Housing has told us that they have nothing available for us, based on their regulations of what we must be issued. Apparently it’s more appropriate for the children to be living day-to-day, sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder in tents than it would be for them to house us in anything less than 5 bedrooms.
The Department has contacted the local real estate agencies on our behalf to ask them to consider renting to us, but they have all refused – unless, of course, if we move to Gympie, where my husband has an even less likelihood of finding work.
Had we lost our home in a bushfire or flood we could expect our country to support us, we could count on our fellow Aussies to back us up and help us out. No one would question whether our rent was up to date, whether we were employed, how many children we had or the depth of our own personal character. They would be there – as they should be – because we’re Aussies and that’s what mates do. We might even get a visit from the Prime Minister or Premier to see the devastation, hear our story and offer their condolences.
Like most of the homeless people we have met – we expect no hand out from anyone. We just want a fair go – something this country used to be about. At very least, we need an affordable place to camp long-term with power, showers and toilets close to Maroochydore so that when school returns at the end of the month our kids can come home to the same place every day.
We do not drink, smoke, take drugs or gamble. We are not poorly educated or unskilled. We are not part of the estimated 70% of homeless people who are suffering from mental illness. We are just average, every day Australians. We are not perfect – but I am happy to be judged by anyone who is.
We welcome you Mr Rudd and Ms Bligh to come and visit us – spend a day and/or a night living as we do. I bring this to your attention only because I believe that no compassionate Australian who has the power to make a change would allow this to continue if they knew that it existed.
Sincerely,
Catherine Bolt
Writer/Humanitarian/Conservationist/Mother/Optimist
***
When I stumbled upon Cate’s letter on Saturday night, I almost couldn’t believe what I was reading. My heart broke. Two lines in that letter stand out to me, and continue to:
“We are not perfect – but I am happy to be judged by anyone that is.”
and
“I believe that no compassionate Australian who has the power to make a change would allow this to continue if they knew that it existed.”
I believe that same thing.
So, if you too read Cate’s story and were moved, saddened, touched, shocked, if you felt something, then you are not powerless. Write to the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, forward him Cate’s letter and your support, say something, anything, to help this amazing family:
The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
or email him by clicking this link.
Contact The Queensland Government and The Department of Housing and voice your concern and disgust at the treatment of the Bolt family – once again, bureaucracy and the people within it deliver no results, and continue to deem themselves completely useless. They have failed.
Up until yesterday, Cate had allowed all comments to be published on her blog – her blog documenting her journey through homelessness, warts and all – http://catherinebolt.com. She received many messages of support, and prayers, and well wishes.
Unfortunately, she has had to cut off all comments – for no other reason than the amount of negative, hateful and hurtful comments being left began to take their toll on the entire family’s wellbeing.
Cate has been nothing less than optimistic, positive and polite in all my dealings with her. Sadly, others have not been so in return to her – including some Australian media outlets.
People have accused Cate, and her beautiful family, of everything from not really being homeless, to having too many children, to all sorts of horrible, nasty things. If there was ever a time that I was embarrassed by my country, right now is about it.
As Gayle, who left a comment on Catherine’s blog recently, stated:
“So many people are missing the crux of the problem. The Bolts are NOT after charity. They are NOT after handouts. They are NOT even after a Department of Housing home. All they want is somewhere to live that IS permanent. They ARE even willing to live in a caravan park [would you in the same situation] but they cannot find any permanent accommodation in the Maroochydoore area. This area is where one of boys has been selected to join a special in-school program for talented junior cricketers. Imagine if he will never be able to realise his own dreams of trying out for the Australian Cricket team because he had to go to a different school not offering the same in-school program?”
I say all of this to highlight something: that homelessness does not just have one face. It’s not solely drunk men sleeping on park benches. And that in a matter of weeks people’s lives can turn upside down. I believe no one is in a position to judge the Bolt family – but we are in a position to help. Even if it’s just by a message of support, or an email to a Government body, or a prayer.
We need to. To support all the families, and people, that have come before the Bolt family, and all that will come after them.
No Australian could, should or can allow this to continue happening.
Great article. Thanks for spreading the word about the
humanity. Keep writing
Regards
Children Blog