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鈥淐an you be healthy on the street? Exploring the health experiences of Halifax street youth鈥� was published in the Canadian Journal of Urban Research in the summer of 2007.
Did you read it? Most of us didn鈥檛.
Youth are the fastest growing sector of the homeless population. In Halifax, you see them at busy intersections with their hard-luck signs or sitting on the sidewalk on Spring Garden Road with their change cups and calls of 鈥榞od bless.鈥� They are also turning up in increasing numbers at shelters, like the Out of the Cold Shelter at St. Matthew鈥檚 United Church on Barrington Street. The volunteer-run emergency shelter can accommodate 15 people, although twice as many turn up each night desperate for a clean bed with a roof overhead.
And then there are those whose feet don鈥檛 really touch pavement and instead couch surf at friends鈥� places and move on. 鈥淲e all know people like this,鈥� says Dr. Hughes, associate professor in the School of Nursing. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a fun way to grow up.鈥�
With more and more kids hitting the street, the professors felt there was urgency to their research and wanted to disseminate it more widely. And so they embarked on an unusual project: a collaboration with street kids in a summer film camp run out of a store front on Agricola Street in Halifax.
Now the culmination of that work has just been posted to Youtube. is an animated short running just under seven minutes that depicts with a mixture of realism and surrealism what it鈥檚 like to live on the street. (Search 鈥榳alking through wonderland鈥� on Youtube.com)
鈥淎ll the young people were really interested in animation and we liked it too,鈥� says Dr. Karabanow, professor in the School of Social Work. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a more creative way of telling a complex story.鈥�
鈥淧lus, the youth had a lot to say in terms of the research,鈥� says Dr. Hughes. 鈥淲hat they told us verified our work and enriched it.鈥�
Filmmaker Bryan Hofbauer was brought on board to work with the street youth and write the script. Derek Jessome directed the piece, based on storyboards and character sketches developed out of the participants鈥� own experiences.
In the film, a homeless kid walks the streets of a nameless city looking for his next meal. He looks a little like Shaggy in Scooby Doo with a mop of dirty blonde hair, whiskery chin and bags under his eyes, An old-man of a teenager, he鈥檚 haggard, stooped and constantly walking. 鈥淛immy鈥� reveals he鈥檚 been on the run for three years.
An acquaintance with a shaved head and a kind heart takes him under his wing, pointing out a place to sleep and another to hangout. He asks him how he鈥檚 feeling; when he had his last check-up; if he鈥檚 got a health card. 鈥淵ou gotta get your shit checked out, man,鈥� he tells Jimmy.
The film highlights the dualistic nature of the homeless culture among youth, says Dr. Karabanow. On the one hand, there is a sense of community and caring for each other; on the other, there is danger, poverty, poor health and, inevitably, a traumatic past. AV俱乐部 half of the kids on the street have a mental illness of some kind.
鈥淭hese young people are not throwaways; they have real talents and incredible survival skills,鈥� says Dr. Hughes passionately. 鈥淭hey are people like anyone else.鈥�
The professors hope to show the film wherever they can and invite people to take a look at it online. And while on Youtube, check out , a two-and-a-half minute piece which was also emerged from the summer film camp. Creator Melanie Barron gives a poignant, poetic impression of the street using stop-motion animation.