"It's where I'm free": Choosing to live homeless

Dean Parker doesn’t own a phone or have a phone number. He does not have any social media accounts; he doesn’t even have an address.

Dean is homeless.

By choice.

Dean grew up in Samoa and New Zealand. He went to university on a scholarship and finished at the top of his class with an accounting degree.

                                  Dean reading a passage at the Anonymous X warehouse

“Academia was my gift from God.”

He then moved on into work in commercial real estate and climbed the corporate ladder up until he was 28 years old.

“I could sell anything. Not only could I sell ice to Eskimos, I’d ask them which flavour they wanted.”

Any time I wanted to organise a time to meet up, I would text Keira Morrison. Keira helps run Anonymous X, a homeless support service organisation where Dean volunteers a lot of his time.

Keira would get the message to Dean for me and then let me know what time he would be at Anonymous X’s warehouse.

I walked into the warehouse on a particularly cold Tuesday night and was greeted by a very enthusiastic, smiling Dean.

“You know, just the other week I was wondering when you were going to show up again. I thought you had forgotten us, most people do. It’s funny though. Anytime I start wondering where a person has gone, they show up a few days later,” he says laughing.

I’ll be honest; it’s not easy to forget Dean. With his towering height and long two-toned beard, he’s hard to miss. Unfortunately, by ‘us’ he meant those homeless.

Over 115,000 people in Australia are currently homeless and those numbers having been rising steadily.

The streets aren’t known to be kind, and there is a lot of evidence to suggest that those living rough are more likely to experience mental illness than those with fixed accommodation. So why would anyone ever choose to live homeless?

“I had an epiphany, essentially I became ‘born again’ in my bedroom and Christ revealed himself to me; this is my testimony.

Dean's Bible

And he showed, like every Christian, ‘here’s a plan and a purpose for you’. So when he revealed the truth to me, I was like, ‘Well shit, no one’s going to stop me now”

Dean lives his life close to his spirituality and feels his purpose given to him by God, is what helps him, help others.

“Once He showed me what my purpose was, what my calling was, what my destiny and what I’m built for, I was like, I’m all in.”

As I sat listening to him, I was transported effortlessly back and forth through different times of his life. He spoke of Samoa with a great fondness.

“I’m Samoan. I grew up in third world conditions. To me living on the streets is ideal. I love the rigorousness of it, I love the hardness of it, sometimes living in a house is too soft for me…I just love living on the streets, because it’s where I’m free.”

Growing up in Samoa taught Dean the values that have helped bring some cohesion to the homeless community here.

“Being Samoan, we’re natural community builders so I use that skill. I’ve sat under chiefs and real good leaders and I’ve learnt how to be a leader through them.”

“In Samoa we have a saying, ‘o le ala ile pule o le tautua’, which means ‘the way to be a leader is through service.’ It’s all about building trust and gaining trust.”

Building that trust in the homeless community here is what has helped him forge his own crew and family, who he looks over and guides.

“When I came in, I came humble and learned how the homeless community operated, learnt who’s who in the zoo. I started small; I just started by looking after people’s bags…showing them that you’re a person they can trust, one more friend, is one less enemy, on that wisdom.”

“Now I’ve got my street family, street sons, street daughter. I just love hearing my street daughter call me ‘dad’, because I’ve never had kids, but I almost had kids. It’s different with my street daughter, because if I had a child, it would be her age."

Dean's crew, "HWA: Homeless with Attitude"

Dean says was tired of the “rat race,” making money was boring to him. He was more interested in hearts and helping others find a more positive pathway. Being immersed in the community was the only way he felt he could truly make a difference.

“If you’re living in a house, the person that needs you is out on the street. How can you help them? The (support) services can only do so much, to really build a nation or a community; it needs to be done within.”

                            Dean and his friend chatting during an outreach night

Dean does not need much to get by. He prides himself on his wit and resourcefulness. The freedom living homeless offers him, is sufficient for his soul but this does not come without a price.

“There’s the stress of having to move, being kicked out. Finding clothes is hard enough as is, but to get an outfit, it’s not an easy thing. I like my style; I’m never going to just wear anything. Just because I live in the streets does not mean I drop my dignity, or my standards or integrity. It’s more of a challenge to keep it there.”

There is one item of Dean’s that is his pride and joy.

"The Dragon and the Chief"

“You have to tell them that I ride ‘The Dragon’.”

‘The Dragon’ is Dean’s bike, adorned with symbolic rings.

“With my bike, I can just fly across the whole city…I used to wear rings they were like my samurai swords. I’ve got the dragon on the front there and this is the chief ring, it kind of represents my leadership.”
   

                                   Dean and "The Dragon"

Dean’s fighting spirit is unparalleled. He charges through life with the “boldness of a lion”, being a stable pillar in a community that is often misjudged and forgotten.

He measures success by seeing the ideas he has helped plant, flourish into change.

“To me it’s success when a community starts to heal and people start to pull their weight, when they stop taking peace and start building peace.”

                           "The 10 Homeless Community Commandments" provided by Dean

As we started to wind down the conversation, I had one final question.
“What’s your favourite food?”

“I’m Samoan. Anything that’s on the table.”