As part of Year of the Young People, 15 youngsters from the Barra Youth Cafe project in partnership with Education Scotland ‘s Community Learning and Development initiative took part in the national campaign to highlight the issue of homelessness in Scotland.
The night of the “wee sleep out” on 9th November had forecast winds of up to 50 mph as well as torrential rain so with safety in mind the sleep-out was re-arranged to take place inside a garden poly tunnel courtesy of the Garadh project in Northbay. A total of £600 was raised from sponsorship and will go directly to helping rehome homeless people in Scotland in secure and safe housing.
S1 pupil Anna Maclean said: “I did this sleep out because I want to help people who are homeless and try to stop it. I think it is very important that homeless hostels are not violent and safe for kids and adults and I think it is important that people have a bed to sleep on and a place that they can call home.
“When I was packing to go out to the sleep out it was scary to hear the rain and the wind crashing on my bedroom window. I was thinking that with youth club and youth café being cancelled it made the fact a bit scarier that I was sleeping in a polytunnel with all that bad weather.
“When I woke up, I was extremely cold, and I was shivering. I was also a little hungry and I had a sense of relief when I realised I was going home to my warm bed. I was really grumpy too. Despite this, I would definitely want to be part of another “Wee Sleep Out” again as I think for people that have to sleep homeless it would be hard and I think that they would feel sad that they do not have a place to call home. It is important to raise awareness and help to fundraise for this. Let’s work together to stop homelessness.”