Niya Uballe – Home Series

Name: Niya Uballe

Date: 26 February 2018

Place: Dore Street between Bryant and Brannon

Time without a home: I’ve been out of a place most of my life but in SF about 2.5 years

Age: 32

 

*What does home mean?

Home is a place to feel comfortable, to kick off your shoes and feel love, unconditional love.  Home is a place where you go to unwind, relax and enjoy yourself.

(Shelter), it’s not yours.  It’s somebody else’s, your just there and taking shelter.  Shelter is important, even since the dawn of time we’ve looked for shelter, cavemen lived in caves, you know.

Is there community here?

Of course, of course.  You have community everywhere actually.  It’s not just on the streets it’s at your family reunion, you have your certain clicks that click and that’s like your own community.  Even though I’m on the inside being incarcerated, or in a workspace even, you have different side groups that form their own community, so yah there defiantly is.

*How the city handles homeless/ness?

Shitty.  You know it’s not that homelessness is a problem; it’s just that society, the way that they view stuff and the way that we have been taught and raised are stuck to those views and ideas.  Like you’re driving down the street, you’re not supposed to see a fucking camp on a sidewalk, the way we grew up we’re supposed to see tents in the woods, camping.  (So) why is that there?  That shouldn’t be there.  This is a street somebody walks by and it needs to be cleared but we’re the ones that don’t have a “cave” to dwell in, so what are we supposed to do with that.  We’re going to find somewhere that looks like this, that looks already rundown, and we’re going to make it our own, and then we’re going to make it our home.

*What’s the hardest thing about being homeless/being moved around?

Finding a spot.  You know finding somewhere where you can actually be somewhere for an amount of days, months, years, I think that’s the hardest thing.

*What should people know about you?

I’m human.  That’s it, I’m human.