Living on Atlanta Streets: Donald
The day I officially started my photojournalism project can be seen as the day I met Daniel Wise. I went to the heart of Downtown Atlanta to find someone I could interview. I was a little weary considering I was about to talk to people I don’t know anything about and they aren’t in the best situation in the world. While I was nervously carrying around thousands of dollars of equipment I was flagged down by a man right in front of the CNN center, who saw I had a camera and he asked that I take a picture of him.
Being a Georgia State University student and seeing homeless people on a daily basis I knew this was just a way to get my attention and maybe talk to me for a few minutes so he could get some help from me. So when I took the picture he came up and started his usual story but when I told him I was actually doing a piece on the Homeless in Atlanta he was blown away and wanted to talk to me extensively about his story and what he’s been going through.
Daniel came to Atlanta from Boston, Massachusetts about 8 months ago (4 months ago when I interviewed him) for a conference in the World Congress Center his company asked sent him to. He decided it was beneficial for him and headed to Atlanta for the conference only to find out the person who was actually going to be giving the conference was detained by Immigration and was being deported. He was told to evacuate from his hotel room, due to non-payment by the person running the conference. At this point Daniel had no money, no means of making any money since all his paperwork was back in Boston and his small company wouldn’t be able to secure the funds to send him some money for some time.
So after a few days in a local shelter he officially didn’t have anything anymore and his company informed him they couldn’t cover his return costs because they couldn’t afford it until they were refunded by the conference. Daniel, being able to see how he had no foreseeable way to return to his home, started finding places to stay in Atlanta. Since he had no money and the shelter needed money to keep him there. He knew he was going to have to live in the street for the next few nights and try to figure out what to do.
In a matter of days an Army Veteran (Vietnam) and a College graduate, from Boston College, was out in the streets in Atlanta with any hope to return to his life of normalcy in Boston. Having to learn his way around Atlanta at a very fast pace he found a fellow Vietnam Veteran who allowed people to stay at his home as long as they take a drug test to show they are drug free and pay $17.50 a night. Though Daniel didn’t have the whole $17.50 he was able to secure 8 dollars from begging on the Interstate-75 on-ramp. He convinced the fellow veteran to let him stay for the night at a discounted rate and the guy obliged.
It had been a month and Daniel knew he wasn’t going to be going back to Boston for a while since he had no money and the time he did manage to make some money he had use it for a place to stay. He was now a homeless person in Atlanta. Although Daniel had no insurance he learned that there was a Veterans Affairs Hospital not to far from Atlanta. On his first trip to the VA he found out that he had lung cancer and was given chemo and had a pneumnectomy, which is the removal of a lung. Missing his left lung Daniel quickly realized he no longer had his health, which didn’t help his situation.
Daniel talked about some doing things he never thought he would do. ” I peed in my clothes, I defecated in my clothes from fear of other homeless people.” Said Daniel. “This isn’t the most trustworthy environment and though there are a few people here and there you befriend you have to be careful most of the time.”
Daniel was also upset at the system and how it left him unable to do anything for himself.
“I will never serve this country again,” he said. “I’ll never serve this country ever again.”
Daniel said he has gotten somewhat used to his homelessness and has learned many of the ins and outs of being homeless. He said he misses being a productive part of society and misses woodwork. Daniel also explained how he felt about his situation and he said ” I’m angry and really mad but I know I’m full of grace and mercy that allowed by God.”
Daniel has taken up reading the bible and said he feels much better after reading it.
“The Bible tells me that foxes have holes and birds have nests but Man has no place to lie his head.”- Daniel Wise
