- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,261
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
Krystyna Maville sat on the sidewalk outside the Shepherds of Good Hope on Sunday morning, watching fellow residents at the ByWard Market shelter head inside for a ham dinner.
“It could be worse, it could be better. You know what I mean?” she said philosophically when asked how her Easter Day was going. She poked inside a shopping bag and pulled out a bag of mini jelly beans — “40 flavours!” — and a container of strawberry-watermelon MIO, a liquid flavouring that is added to water. She planned to share them later in the day with friends at the shelter.
“I don’t have a lot to my name,” Maville explained, “and it’s a little thing. But people do like to have a little flavoured beverage.”
Krystyna Maville, 29, rests on the sidewalk outside the Shepherds of Good Hope shelter, where she lives while searching for her own place, on Sunday morning.
Jacquie Miller/Postmedia
Maville said she had been homeless, living in shelters, rehab facilities and treatment homes, since Nov. 1, 2016. “I’m relatively new to this.”
The Shepherds program that provides alcoholics with a measured amount of wine every two hours saved her life, Maville said. She no longer has to steal vanilla flavouring from grocery stores.
She’s only 29 and was raised in Ottawa. “I come from a good family. This could happen to anyone.”
Maville started drinking eight years ago after her mother died. She dropped out of Algonquin College just “four credits, one easy semester” short of a diploma.
She was evicted from her apartment. A kind former high-school teacher is now caring for her 10-year-old cat until Maville can get back on her feet.
“I want to go back to school,” she said. “I want to acquire housing.”
In the meantime, Maville says she has found a community at the Murray Street shelter. “Karma rules here,” she said. “If you do something nice to someone, they’ll return it. If you do something bad, they’ll remember it forever.
“Honestly, in these places, people are very willing to share what they have and to share their wisdom.”
Volunteers serve an Easter lunch at the Shepherds of Good Hope on Sunday. Patrick Doyle/Postmedia
Inside the shelter, Jonah Aglak, 43, dined on ham, potatoes and coleslaw. He graciously shared some of his own wisdom. Aglak said Easter made him ponder a phrase from A Private History of Awe, a book by his favourite author, Scott Russell Sanders. He recited it from memory: “Unlike a maze which is designed to get you lost, a labyrinth is designed to lead you home. Home, here, is your true self, the abiding source of all that rises and passes, the sun forever shining behind the clouds.”
Home for Aglak is the tiny community of Hall Beach in Nunavut. He remembers Easter days when everybody headed onto the ice to play games. “Running races, dog team races, bannock-making contests.”
Jonah Aglak, 43, chatted with friends at the Shepherds of Good Hope Easter dinner. Jacquie Miller/Postmedia
A job with First Air originally brought Aglak to Ottawa. He has been here for a decade. He likes the city, but still feels caught between two worlds.
“I kept getting homesick, so four years ago I went home on Canada Day. Then I got homesick for Ottawa.”
Aglak has his own apartment, but came to the shelter on Sunday for an Easter meal. “I might see a friend,” said Aglak, who also volunteers at the shelter, washing cups and cutlery and helping to organize clothing donations.
The Shepherds of Good Hope, a non-profit organization that helps the homeless and vulnerable, served Easter meals to about 220 people on Sunday.
jmiller@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JacquieAMiller
查看原文...
“It could be worse, it could be better. You know what I mean?” she said philosophically when asked how her Easter Day was going. She poked inside a shopping bag and pulled out a bag of mini jelly beans — “40 flavours!” — and a container of strawberry-watermelon MIO, a liquid flavouring that is added to water. She planned to share them later in the day with friends at the shelter.
“I don’t have a lot to my name,” Maville explained, “and it’s a little thing. But people do like to have a little flavoured beverage.”
Krystyna Maville, 29, rests on the sidewalk outside the Shepherds of Good Hope shelter, where she lives while searching for her own place, on Sunday morning.
Jacquie Miller/Postmedia
Maville said she had been homeless, living in shelters, rehab facilities and treatment homes, since Nov. 1, 2016. “I’m relatively new to this.”
The Shepherds program that provides alcoholics with a measured amount of wine every two hours saved her life, Maville said. She no longer has to steal vanilla flavouring from grocery stores.
She’s only 29 and was raised in Ottawa. “I come from a good family. This could happen to anyone.”
Maville started drinking eight years ago after her mother died. She dropped out of Algonquin College just “four credits, one easy semester” short of a diploma.
She was evicted from her apartment. A kind former high-school teacher is now caring for her 10-year-old cat until Maville can get back on her feet.
“I want to go back to school,” she said. “I want to acquire housing.”
In the meantime, Maville says she has found a community at the Murray Street shelter. “Karma rules here,” she said. “If you do something nice to someone, they’ll return it. If you do something bad, they’ll remember it forever.
“Honestly, in these places, people are very willing to share what they have and to share their wisdom.”
Volunteers serve an Easter lunch at the Shepherds of Good Hope on Sunday. Patrick Doyle/Postmedia
Inside the shelter, Jonah Aglak, 43, dined on ham, potatoes and coleslaw. He graciously shared some of his own wisdom. Aglak said Easter made him ponder a phrase from A Private History of Awe, a book by his favourite author, Scott Russell Sanders. He recited it from memory: “Unlike a maze which is designed to get you lost, a labyrinth is designed to lead you home. Home, here, is your true self, the abiding source of all that rises and passes, the sun forever shining behind the clouds.”
Home for Aglak is the tiny community of Hall Beach in Nunavut. He remembers Easter days when everybody headed onto the ice to play games. “Running races, dog team races, bannock-making contests.”
Jonah Aglak, 43, chatted with friends at the Shepherds of Good Hope Easter dinner. Jacquie Miller/Postmedia
A job with First Air originally brought Aglak to Ottawa. He has been here for a decade. He likes the city, but still feels caught between two worlds.
“I kept getting homesick, so four years ago I went home on Canada Day. Then I got homesick for Ottawa.”
Aglak has his own apartment, but came to the shelter on Sunday for an Easter meal. “I might see a friend,” said Aglak, who also volunteers at the shelter, washing cups and cutlery and helping to organize clothing donations.
The Shepherds of Good Hope, a non-profit organization that helps the homeless and vulnerable, served Easter meals to about 220 people on Sunday.
jmiller@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JacquieAMiller
查看原文...
