Christina (SF)

Backstory:
I first met Christina in May 2018 as part of my Strawberries For Smiles project. She was on my path to work - usually sitting just beside a bin on the corner of Bush and Samsone Street (in downtown San Francisco) - so every 2nd or 3rd week I'd give her a box, and quickly realized there was something unique and lovely about her. I wanted to sit down and chat, but since I am always running late for my job I usually only had time for a simple "Hello Christina, how are you".

Then covid happened. I stopped giving boxes. I didn't see her anymore, because I was mostly inside, but soon I started jogging and I jogged past her near the Ferry Street Building. I wanted to stop, but I also am pretty task focussed on jogging for 30 minutes to stay healthy. On May 9, I didn't jog past. I decide I wanted to sit down and chat. She always had a happy smile about her... maybe she just really appreciated someone taking an interest. She had a piece of cardboard with a photo of her two children and talking about her heart surgery. Even as she told her sad story... somehow she had a bright energy about her. She could have hated the world. Yet she had some hope. I wanted to give her a hug, but because of covid I just said goodbye and we tapped out feet together. Next time I see her I'll ask if she has an email that we can tidy up this story and post it on Medium - somewhere where it might be discovered. I was pretty touched by her story.

Interview Notes:
Christina wasn't always from California. She was working for "Toys R Us" on the east cost, and it makes sense that with her happy disposition she was doing really well there. Customers loved her and she was working up to assistant manager. She met and fell in love with a man at work. They had a beautiful boy and he convinced her to pack up and move to San Francisco for him to pursue his dreams. They worked their way up to an apartment, but then the universe took a turn. Toys R Us was going bankrupt and so, like many, she was abruptly laid off. At about that same time they realized she had Scoliosis. Her mother had had it too, and she had recently passed away. Her grandmother too. At that same time she became pregnant with a second child and her husband then abandoned her. She tried hard to find other work, but they all said the same thing. Because of her condition she was a "walking liability". At one place she was even escorted out because they were afraid she might sue them just by being on the premises and having fragile bones.

Tragically her son was born with the umbilical cord around his neck - the same thing that happened to my sister - and that has caused some permanent damage to him too. I asked how Covid had affected her and she says it has been pretty bad. Usually she spends more time with her kids, but instead she had a friend babysit while she went out to ask for money every single day of the week. People are less willing to give money when they realize their own jobs might be insecure and they are terrified to come within 6 feet of someone homeless. On the home front, it sounds like Christina has some friends to help, but all her other family has gone, and she could barely afford to get by on her heart surgery. Covid has also delayed her back surgery. The courts have rejected her application for disability support twice. She's trying a third time. But in truth. Christina is on her own. Asking for money is her only real option.

As Christina told me this, I noticed her hands were a little shaky, her back was probably still in pain as as she hunched over, but yet she didn't seem overly mad at the world. She is a pretty girl and she has a great smile. She smiled at me and said she appreciated all the strawberries from pre-pandemic times. I said it was just a tiny gesture, but she said she took them home and her friend and kids would open the box, eat the strawberries and loved the gesture.

Christina was articulate, alert and very much switched on. I wish I could have done a little more, but in a state with 100,000 homeless people I think she appreciates just the little gestures... people who give $10 here or there, but especially people who acknowledge her as a human being.

I told her my theory that covid should make more people realize just how easy it is to become homeless. She says most of her friends on the street imagine what it would be like to be rich. She said: "Everyone likes to imagine what it would be like to have more money, nobody looks down and thinks about what it would feel like to be homeless". It was very deep.

I recently wrote my first book - a silly first world comedy coffee table book - and hopefully I'll write another book soon. I don't want to just do comedy though. It would be nice to compile a few stories from other people like Christina. "Without a Home in San Francisco: Stories of being down on your luck in silicon valley". Maybe I would have her picture on the front cover to remind people that America still has such a long way to go to help its own people in time of need. And yet she has a radiant energy about her that made me walk away in good spirits... and an excitement about the next time I see her to say hello and tell her about this article.

Disclaimer: This is just my account of what Christina told me, so I'm sure some of the details are wrong. I'm not always the best listener, but with Christina I remember most of the story, except the name of her lovely children. Blame that on a bad memory. If you'd like to help, this is her on Facebook - Christina Mia Van Sise (Christina Marie Van Sise)