ナショナルジオグラフィックのインスタグラム(natgeo) - 1月26日 00時28分

Photo by @martinschoeller
Martin: “How are you doing today?”
Ramon: "Okay"
M: "Are you also in TT’s crew?"
R: “Yes. Actually my husband is her friend. I don’t know them too much ‘cause I work all day long."
M: "Where do you work?"
R: "I work for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. I work at a thrift shop."
M: "And they pay minimum wage?"
R: "I get nine fifteen. After taxes, my checks are about like six seventy, six eighty."
M: "How long have you been on the street?"
R: "About a year and a half. I hate it. This is not my lifestyle. And I’m trying to get off the streets. I’m just. I feel like I’m running into a brick wall every time ‘cause I can’t get ahead. I can’t stand the way we live, I can’t stand sleeping in a tent every damn night. I get all these dirty stares. I hate it…One day I was comin’ home on the bus and I saw this elderly lady just shivering cold. And I took my sweater off and I gave it to her and said ‘Hey, do you want a sweater?’ and I gave her five dollars to buy something hot to eat. And the lady in front of her was like ‘Oh my God, you’re so nice.’. And I just [said] ‘See, you know what, I’m homeless too. I bet you have a nice warm living room to go home to. I’m only in a tent right now and I still have a bigger heart than you do. I’m giving her the sweater off my back.’ She said ‘Why would you?’ I was like, ‘If I don’t do it, who would? Look at the attitude you just gave me.' And she just turned around. But I feed a lot of homeless people. I give them money. I buy them breakfast ‘cause it’s hard. I know what it’s like. It’s tough.”
M:" Where are you from?"
R: "I’m from Pomona. My grandparents are from Mexico so they’re old fashioned…very close-minded. My grandfather tried to beat it [being gay] out of me and talking about church and God ‘cause he was an usher at the Sacred Heart Church. And then I find out he had a whole family on the side and I just laughed at him one day and I was just like ‘You’re trying to beat my sin out of me but you’re doing your own behind closed doors. Are you a hypocrite?’ He was just looking at me and it was like I’m tired of it. I don’t need you guys. I just left.”

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